One of many best delights in gaming is undoubtedly being utterly shocked by a brand new and unknown title. The type of factor the place your studying of a recreation’s existence and changing into extraordinarily excited for the complete launch are separated solely by a matter of minutes. It’s a troublesome feeling to impress, and so isn’t that widespread – however this week it occurred to me once more, with slightly indie referred to as Ninja or Die.
Coming from one-man Japanese developer Nao Video games, Ninja or Die is a type of indie I do really feel we’ve seen earlier than – a tough as nails roguelike with pixel artwork so sharp you are feeling like you could possibly lower your self on it. And but, it stands aside as distinctive – and as a completely killer twist on this idea.
A lot of what units it aside is all the way down to its management scheme and the skill-set of the titular ninja, which provides a quite simple idea: each core motion is tied to a single button and motion. Leaping, attacking, and parrying are all dealt with with the identical enter and motion. The protagonist can’t even stroll – motion is achieved via stringing collectively leaps, wall-jumps, and ground-based dashes, all triggered with that one single button.
This isn’t a lot the protagonist responding to your inputs in a context-sensitive method as a lot as it’s the ninja making use of all abilities without delay with each button press. Holding allows you to cost up, too, which powers up assaults and makes any leap journey additional, and with much less of an arc. In case your leap sends you passing via an enemy, it’ll deal harm based mostly in your present tools and the energy of the leap. If it takes you into the trail of an enemy assault, you’ll parry. It’s all about that one motion, and tight management pairs with quick responsiveness and wonderful crisp pixel artwork to imply that straightforward act feels extremely satisfying.
The flip facet, after all, is that with out the power to in any other case transfer, the spry hero is susceptible each time they’re not on the transfer. This may sound prefer it isn’t an issue – however given it’s essential to fastidiously and manually goal every bounce earlier than executing it as a way to keep away from obstacles that’ll damage you upon touchdown, the strain is all the time on to maneuver once more – and shortly – with out additionally touchdown your self in scorching water.
It’s a fragile dance, then, between frantic, keen motion and staying nonetheless in short moments of tranquility. It shortly turns into an exciting back-and-forth – the type of recreation the place you end up subconsciously shuffling forwards in your seat, toes curling in your footwear as the intense focus takes over.
A couple of ranges really feel extra like puzzles, the place it’s important to do issues like kill all enemies on a map to unlock the door to the subsequent stage. Some phases carry non-obligatory rewards for many who undertake in-depth exploration. And others are brutal checks of your traversal talents and mastery of the sport’s single ability – like clambering up a vertical stage via a collection of tough wall jumps to flee an ever-rising on the spot loss of life from beneath – however for those who’re careless, the obstacles and enemies on the best way will kill you first.
Video games like this are all the time troublesome to do justice in trailers, or certainly in textual content. Usually, you simply must see them for your self. Such might be the case right here, however I can on the very least impress how a lot I liked the brief twenty minutes or so I performed. I used to be rocking forwards and backwards as I repeatedly tried to greatest a very attempting stage – however I additionally by no means hit a threshold of feeling it unfair. Furthermore, I performed Ninja or Die at Gamescom, a busy present the place I noticed loads of different larger, increased finances video games – however that is the title that has caught in my head. I like it.
To some extent it channels that outdated Nintendo mind-set typified within the tales of how an enormous chunk of the event of Tremendous Mario 64 was simply spent in a sandbox, ensuring that the straightforward act of controlling Mario in 3D felt enjoyable even in environments devoid of some other distractions. In that occasion, Mario had a surprisingly broad skill-set – however the idea is probably much more necessary in a single-skill recreation reminiscent of Ninja or Die. By tightening and tuning the core mechanic to excessive precision, Nao Video games seems to be on the cusp of delivering one thing actually particular – and I now can not wait to play the ultimate factor.