Shinobi: Art of Vengeance – Joe Musashi’s Grand Return From The Shadows

It’s been a long time since Sega’s ninja hero, Joe Musashi, graced our screens. After years in hiding, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance finally pulls the franchise back into the spotlight. Developed by Lizardcube, this 2025 revival promises fast combat, stylish visuals, and a proper modern twist on a classic series. 

What we have here is a brilliant revival that feels like a love letter to longtime fans and a bold re-imagining for new players. It takes the essence of what made the classics special, precision, fluidity, and flashy combat, and redesigns them with modern gaming methodology and style. The result is a game that’s instantly familiar yet brimming with fresh energy, a title that balances retro difficulty with sleek presentation.

While I am a fan of fast movement-based games like The Rogue Prince of Persia, I wasn’t the most familiar with the series beforehand. I went into Shinobi with no expectations and found myself thoroughly enjoying the game. So whether you’re a long-time fan of the series or just find yourself wanting to try out a new game, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is quite the fun experience.

TL;DR

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a gorgeous, fast-paced action game with fluid combat and flashy style, held back only by a thin story and some late-game pacing issues. It delivers one of the most satisfying action systems in years, making it a sharp and stylish return that both newcomers and veterans will enjoy.

Gameplay & Combat – Fast, Fluid, and Fierce

The real core of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is its combat system, and it’s nothing short of exhilarating. The entirety of Shinobi’s gameplay revolves around fast-paced melee skirmishes, where every strike, dodge, and counter carries weight.

Unlike many modern action games that lean heavily on cinematics and flashy effects, Shinobi demands precision and rewards skill. That’s not to say the graphics and animations aren’t good, but they really add flair to the clean and fluid combat that already exists in the game.

The controls are responsive and smooth, with animations that link together seamlessly. Sword slashes can chain into air combos, shuriken strikes interrupt enemies at just the right moment, and finishers detonate in a spray of hand-drawn explosions. What you’re left with is a precise rhythmic combat system that puts you into a “flow state” of sorts.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance perfects the art of combat to ensure that even fighting the most basic of grunts is rewarding. The further you progress in the game, the more creative freedom you have to perfect your combos. Suddenly, the game transitions from how you can survive these deadly encounters, to how can I execute the flashiest of combos for the best highlight reel.

One thing that I personally found odd about Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is how much the combat changed when it came to boss fights. Some boss fights really highlighted the combat system and mechanics quite well. However, there were others that I felt missed the mark and really slowed down the pace of combat.

I appreciated the diversity in many of the boss fights, but there were more boss fights than not that devolved into dodging and utilising the same basic combos before getting out of the way of the next attack. This is a fairly minor gripe, but it was worth noting. I found the Elite ENE fights to be a lot more engaging and fun to do than some of the boss fights.

(The) Shinobi: Art of Vengeance – Hand-Drawn Excellence

If the gameplay and combat are the body of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, then the visuals are the soul. We are treated to a beautiful hand-drawn aesthetic that really distinguishes itself from other games in the genre. Every frame looks like it could be plucked from a high-budget anime, with amazingly crafted environments that come to life.

Rain trickles down neon-lit rooftops, snow falls from mountaintops, and deep-sea bioluminescence flourishes behind the reinforced glass of an underwater base. Enemies stand out with sharp silhouettes, making the chaos easy to follow, while cinematic finishers explode with visual flair that makes you want to save them for your next YouTube compilation.

The art style reinforces the mood of the game. A dark revenge tale needs a sharp aesthetic, and the definitive flourishes really give a sense of grit and seriousness. Whereas many action games opt for photorealism, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance’s bold visual identity sets it apart.

Not only is the art on another level, but the level of diversity itself is quite amazing. You can start a level in a murky swamp, battle your way into a city, through construction sites, and engage in an epic showdown surrounded by fireworks and explosions.

You can enter a high-tech military base, fight through snow-covered mountaintops, fall through a massive canyon in a level where you need to constantly manoeuvre onto other falling objects, and fight a giant head in a deep cave. While there is a limited number of stages, each level is unique and diverse.

The stage diversity is not purely aesthetic as well. The game blends combat sections and platforming seamlessly. You’re constantly introduced to new traversal methods, taught how to use them, challenged to perfect the methods, and tested in the final stages of each level. Platforming and combat merge to create fast-paced gameplay that keeps you on your toes.

A Tale of Vengeance – Story and Atmosphere

Probably where the game stumbles a bit is the narrative depth, or perhaps, the lack thereof. Much like many of the classic games from the 80s, the story isn’t much to write home about. In fact, the story is as straightforward as it gets. Joe Musashi’s home, Oboro Village, is destroyed by the sinister ENE Corporation, led by Lord Ruse.

Lord Ruse is the main antagonist and is the head of a major corporation with advanced military, demonic powers, and abilities he stole from the Grim Reaper himself. The village’s destruction only served to prevent the Oboro Clan from stopping him from taking over the world. The setting is over the top and chaotic, with the centre of it being a story of revenge and saving the world.

It’s chaotic, funky, simple, and leans heavily into Saturday morning anime vibes. And this is what it’s meant to be. It’s not some complicated narrative with deep characters and fleshed-out villains. It’s a silent protagonist stopping an evil guy from taking over the world, and sometimes that’s all we need.

The story is janky, fun, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are well-voiced cut scenes and cinematic touches, but don’t expect deep character arcs. The story sets the stage; the real star here is the action, and that’s enough.

Secrets in the Shadows – Replay Value & Exploration

One of the game’s most pleasant surprises is how much it rewards exploration. Stages may look linear at first glance, but they’re full of branching paths, hidden collectables, and bonus encounters. In this way, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is akin to a Metroid-Vania. Very early on, you’ll find obstacles you just can’t quite pass, or walls that you can’t break. As you progress through the game and unlock more unique methods of traversing maps, you can go back and explore older levels for cosmetics, upgrades, abilities, and pieces of lore.

Over the course of the game, you unlock new abilities, equipment, and traversal options to streamline your play experience. What starts off with you hacking and slashing your way through grunts leads into whirling through the air, spinning and juggling enemies, and launching them across the map. Environmental hazards become chain extenders, and I often found myself playing a little minigame of how long I could go without touching the ground.

For the die-hard fans of the old Shinobi games, after completing the main story, you are treated to an arcade mode of the entire game. You can go through all of the stages, going for faster times, better combos, higher scores, and so much more. You can utilise all the upgrades from later in the game to discover hidden shortcuts and tough challenges that you may have missed early on in your play-through.

Final Verdict – A Sharp Return

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance isn’t a perfect game, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a focused, stylish action title that knows exactly what it wants to deliver. Tight, fluid combat, dazzling visuals, and the thrill of being a ninja on a path of vengeance is all the fun I could have asked for in an action game… The thin story and occasional pacing hiccups are minor blemishes on an otherwise polished blade. While some have the opinion that combat can drag on too long and platforming can be a break in pacing, I feel this is a matter of personal opinion.

In the modern day of the gaming industry, where games have quotas, checklists, and deliverables that are needed, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance cuts out the noise and delivers good, solid gameplay. It’s not the longest or the deepest game out there, but every moment counts. And when you’re slashing through enemies in a flurry of steel and shadows, that’s more than enough.

A very special thanks to Zegetron for allowing us to review Shinobi: Art of Vengeance