Shinobi Art of Vengeance Review – Joe Musashi Returns in Style

2025 truly feels like the year of the Ninja. First came the revival of the 2D Ninja Gaiden titles by The Game Kitchen, and now SEGA has brought back Shinobi with LizardCube, the co-developers of Streets of Rage 4 and the Wonder Boy remake. The demo already left a strong impression, but the full release of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is sharper, denser, and practically a character action game in disguise.

Art of Combat

I want to talk about the gameplay first, because that’s easily the highlight here. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance doesn’t waste any time getting things going and presents Joe Musashi as a highly capable warrior with plenty of punch and precision behind each blow.

What’s most surprising is how closely this plays like a character action title despite its more grounded origins. As you progress, you unlock multiple combo strings along with mechanics such as dash cancelling, launchers, aerial attacks, dive kicks, and crowd-control tools. The Ninpo skills each serve a clear purpose, and the assortment of special abilities provides valuable situational benefits.

You can pull off flashy combos, juggle multiple enemies in the air, change directions mid-combo, dive into another target, mark them with Kunai, and finish with a clean execution that cuts through each. Every combat encounter feels like a canvas for experimentation, giving you the tools to get creative. Still, there is also a very boring way to play, but even then, the stellar animations and responsive controls ensure it remains enjoyable.

In the original games, the Kunai was a powerful projectile, and that remains true here. It can eliminate smaller enemies in one or two hits while also building a stagger meter on tougher foes and eventually marking them for execution. Executions grant instant kills and greater rewards, and it’s clear the game’s combat loop is designed around incentivizing them.

Your starting kit can feel a bit limited, but unlocking new abilities and combat skills doesn’t take long. There are some RPG-lite elements here, but I don’t mind them since your move set expands regardless of which amulets or Ninpo skills you equip. Speaking of Ninpo, these are special abilities that consume a smaller meter and have very situational uses.

For example, I love the bomb Ninpo because it crushes the armor of heavy enemies. The catch is that it can only be thrown while you’re in the air, though that also helps since it launches the impacted enemy in the process. Against unarmored foes, though, it’s not very useful, and I usually end up swapping to the Fire Breathing Ninpo instead.

What I’m getting at is that your choice of Ninpo really matters. They aren’t overpowered skills you can just spam. Some are great for building stagger but do little against armored enemies, and others flip that balance. The same goes for finishers. One of the earlier ones sets everyone on fire, but it doesn’t do much against armored enemies, which is why there are plenty of moments where I just prefer using the one that fully heals me.

It can feel a bit overwhelming at first, but you don’t need to use everything. Learning just a few combo strings provides enough damage output, and the dash-cancelling mechanic lets you keep chaining into new strings. Overall, the combat is approachable yet deep, offering room for flashy combos, while the enemy variety keeps you on your toes and forces you to strategize.

Stunning Visuals and Rewarding Exploration

Look, do I even need to say anything here? One glance at the trailers should tell you everything. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance’s art direction is nothing short of sublime. Streets of Rage 4 was co-developed by several studios, but its striking art came from LizardCube, and Shinobi may be their most impressive work yet.

Every level is brimming with detail, composed with confidence, and layered with artwork that begs to be admired. Whether you’re gliding across the rooftops of a neon-lit city or sliding down the crimson hills of a desert, the variety ensures you’ll never grow tired of what’s on screen.

There are plenty of unique enemies, each with its own attacks and reactions. The animation work overall is excellent, though at times I found some enemy hitboxes a bit confusing. That said, it’s nothing serious and doesn’t hinder the experience once you’ve learned their patterns.

Compared to the original 2D titles, which averaged around two hours, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a much longer and denser experience. This might be its most divisive aspect, as fully exploring the game can take 15 to 20 hours.

Some areas in earlier levels remain locked until you’ve acquired the required ability, meaning you’ll often return to older stages. That said, you can fast travel between checkpoints at any time, so it’s not like you’re replaying levels, but rather exploring them more.

Outside of combat, there is a lot of platforming here, and while the critical path does offer a moderate amount of challenge when it comes to your maneuverability skills, seeking out the additional platforming challenges for completion and rewards will really test your movement skills. Some of the platforming challenges are brutal and will take you plenty of tries to complete.

Since there’s no strict requirement to revisit levels, the system works well. It provides an added layer of difficulty for players who want to see everything, battle elite squads, and collect every upgrade each stage has to offer.

A Story True to the Originals, for Better or Worse

Joe Musashi has always been the face of the 2D series, and while the older Shinobi games had stories, they were never the main focus. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance aims for a richer narrative by introducing a villain who has directly harmed Joe, the Orobo Clan, and everyone close to him.

It’s not Hamlet, but it works by making the stakes feel real and Joe’s quest for vengeance believable. The ENE Corporation, led by Lord Ruse, serves as a threat to the entire world, with the Orobo Clan just one more victim of their global takeover.

Joe doesn’t utter a word throughout the game, but he has several companions who aid him in his quest to take down Ruse. They don’t actively participate in gameplay, but before and after each mission, you’ll get some dialogue that occasionally sheds light on their own struggles. For the most part, the story is passable, but there’s nothing particularly remarkable about it.

In a way, this feels true to the originals, where you had a fairly generic setup of a hero against an evil corporation, slowly weakening it until the final showdown. The problem is that I didn’t really care about any of the characters the game tried to set up.

There just isn’t enough substance here, and while there’s nothing wrong with a simple premise, it’s disappointing that so little was done with the story when reviving such a classic franchise, because the opportunity was there. It’s also significantly longer than any previous Shinobi game and allows greater space for narrative development, but it’s never really capitalized on in a memorable way.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a fantastic action game with remarkable depth, built on long combo chains, the tactful use of Kunai, and a wide range of Ninpo skills that offer strategic value during combat. LizardCube has expanded the series in scope, delivering the longest Shinobi game yet, with extensive exploration and challenging platforming woven into the experience. The art direction and animation quality stand well above most contemporaries, though the generic story and thin characterization hold it back.