Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Dev Details What You Can Do After…

In Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, players can once again look forward to an adventure as the famous shinobi Joe Musashi, avenging the Oboro Clan again as they've been turned to stone. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is another joint effort between Sega and Lizardcube, the studio behind Streets of Rage 4, and it translates the sidescrolling gameplay of the original games into a stronger 2D platformer.

The Best War Games spoke with lead game designer Fred Vincent from Lizardcube about Shinobi: Art of Vengeance's combat, movement system, and post-game replayability. Mastering Joe's skills will be critical both in terms of seeing his story to its conclusion and besting the post-game challenges.

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By Priye Rai

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Will Have Time to Master Their Ninja Craft

According to Vincent, Lizardcube aims to have Shinobi: Art of Vengeance be "spectacular." Lizardcube has kept Shinobi's legacy with players in mind, and the game is meant to have a pace that keeps players moving throughout the gameplay. Fans will find a careful balance of platforming and rich, varied combat choices that blend together in a way they know and love from the series.

The difficulty that the Shinobi games are known for has a place in Art of Vengeance as well, having players pick and choose which enemies to take down strategically for an extra layer of challenge in its 2D platformer gameplay. Those who end up hooked to this formula will have plenty of content to go through from collectibles to one prominent additional mode. As Vincent said,

"The game is quite generous. Completing the game and finding all the secrets and challenges can take a lot of time. You can also replay all the stages in “Arcade Mode,” a new mode where you get a ranking according to your performances: how many enemies you killed, how much time you spent in the stage… It’s a new way of enjoying the game, as you try to optimize each playthrough to get the best ranking."

Vincent also stated that fans can use later unlocks in earlier stages to find alternate paths that lead to tougher challenges. This sets up a gameplay loop that encourages and rewards mastery, be it through the main campaign or through Arcade mode.

Sega has already stated that if Shinobi: Art of Vengeance performs well, then there will be a sustained revival of the IP. There's quite a lot on Art of Vengeance's shoulders, but from its presentation to how well Sega and Lizardcube seem to work together, fans of Shinobi might be able to rest easy until launch. Art of Vengeance' s launch in August serves as the beginning of Sega's huge IP revival initiative, serving as the smoking gun for Shinobi fans who miss Sega's other classic IPs as well.

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