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Cyber Shadow

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Cyber Shadow
Developer(s)Mechanical Head Studios
Publisher(s)Yacht Club Games
Director(s)Aarne Hunziker
Designer(s)Aarne Hunziker
Composer(s)Enrique Martin
Engine
Platform(s)
ReleaseJanuary 26, 2021[1][2]
Genre(s)Action, platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Cyber Shadow is a side-scrolling action-platform game[3] developed by Finnish indie studio Mechanical Head Studios and published by Yacht Club Games. Using an 8-bit aesthetic, the game follows a cybernetic ninja named Shadow who sets out to rescue his clan in a world overrun by machines.

The game is mostly developed by Aarne Hunziker, who is the sole member of Mechanical Head Studios. It was first shown at PAX East 2019, having been in development from years before and silently announced before that event. It contains stated inspirations from other platform video games such as Ninja Gaiden. The game was released on January 26, 2021 to mostly positive reviews, citing the graphics and gameplay as highlights.

Gameplay

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Cyber Shadow is a side-scrolling action-platformer in which players control a ninja character who battles enemies with a sword and various special abilities acquired as subweapons. It features an 8-bit aesthetic which shares similarities to Shatterhand[4] and contains several gameplay elements of Shadow of the Ninja, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Castlevania and similar games, which include snaking paths and occasional backtracking.[5][6] Several bosses are present.[6][7][8]

The game's story is told primarily through cinematic cutscenes, though in-engine ones are used as well.[9]

Plot

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The game's plot follows Shadow, a cyborg[10] ninja who sets out to free his fallen clan from synthetic lifeforms harvesting them for their powers.[5][7] It is set in the ruins of the fictional Mekacity.[8][11][12] Shadow travels across Mekacity, fighting the cybernetic beings as well as a traitor from his ninja clan called Apparitor, and ends his captured clanmates lives to free their spirits. His ultimate goal is to find the Master of the clan, with whom the original human Shadow had a seemingly romantic relationship. Shadow discovers that the Master was dying of a mysterious spiritual disease, and her father, in a mad scheme to save her life, attacked the city with his synthetic army and betrayed the Clan so as to drain their mystical powers, and use the drained energy to keep his daughter alive. Cyber-Shadow sets out to defeat him so that he can free her spirit from her dying body and reunite with her in the Ethos, the spiritual realm.

Development

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Cyber Shadow was developed by Mechanical Head Studios, a team consisting purely of the creator Aarne Hunziker, and published by Yacht Club Games.[12] Aarne Hunziker, having already been developing the game for years on his own, initially had no intention of teaming up with a publisher; he was first discovered by Yacht Club while posting about the ongoing development on Twitter,[13] and later was convinced by them to "join [their] little family".[14] Although most of the development is handled by Hunziker, the music will be composed by Enrique Martin and produced by Jake Kaufman;[8][12][15] in addition to their usual role as a publisher, Yacht Club is giving design feedback from their previous experience developing Shovel Knight.[8][13]

Hunziker's first experience in game development was hacking the ROMs of classic games to manipulate their visuals, effectively customizing them.[5][10] He later decided to create his own game, but scrapped it. Four years later he began coding from scratch what would become Cyber Shadow. He has had continued difficulties with the development of the game due to its scope and having to do it almost entirely alone.[5]

Hunziker has described the game as one that combines "the level design principles of Mario, the skills and action of Ninja Gaiden, the enemy designs of Contra and the dark visual aesthetic of Batman",[8][15] but has also said that it is more deliberately intended as a callback to Shadow of the Ninja.[6] In an interview with Siliconera, he said that "[t]he story is about exploiting carefully nurtured ancient knowledge with logic" as a reason why it involves both ancient ninjas and futuristic robots.[10]

The game was first shown at PAX East 2019,[13] though it was announced less publicly earlier.

In the "Yacht Club Games Presents" on February 26, 2020, it was revealed that the game would release in 2021, and that the Shovel Knight Amiibo would be compatible with the Nintendo Switch version of the game.[16] It was released on January 26, 2021 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5,[17] Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows.[11][15][2]

Reception

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All versions of Cyber Shadow have received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic.[18][19][20][22][21] IGN summed up their 8/10 review by saying "Cyber Shadow's excellent gameplay, level design, variety, and music make it a great modernization of the classic Ninja Gaiden formula."[27]

According to Nintendo (which runs the Nintendo eShop), Cyber Shadow was one of the 15 best-selling indie games of 2021 on the Nintendo Switch.[28]

Further reading

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  • Shea, Brian (August 22, 2019). "Cyber Shadow Is An Indie Action Game That Wears Its Ninja Gaiden And Contra Influences On Its Sleeve". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.

References

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  1. ^ Goslin, Austen (February 26, 2020). "Cyber Shadow is a 2D ninja action game published by the makers of Shovel Knight". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved March 5, 2020. Cyber Shadow is scheduled to be released in fall 2020[...]
  2. ^ a b Romano, Sal (December 15, 2020). "Cyber Shadow launches January 26, 2021". Gematsu. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  3. ^ Winslow, Jeremy (March 27, 2019). "Shovel Knight Dev Reveals Its Next Project". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  4. ^ LeClair, Kyle (April 16, 2019). "PAX East 2019: Cyber Shadow Delivers More Goodness Straight Out of '91". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d Gach, Ethan (March 28, 2019). "Hands-On With The Gorgeous New Ninja Gaiden-Like Cyber Shadow". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Ronaghan, Neal (April 1, 2019). "Cyber Shadow Might Be The Next Great Throwback Ninja Platformer". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Tailby, Stephen (March 28, 2019). "Shovel Knight Dev Yacht Club Games Announces Cyber Shadow for PS4". Push Square. Gamer Network. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e Wales, Matt (March 27, 2019). "Shovel Knight dev unveils 8-bit-style ninja romp Cyber Shadow in new trailer". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  9. ^ Peeples, Jeremy (March 27, 2019). "Yacht Club Games Announces Cyber Shadow". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  10. ^ a b c Couture, Joel (January 28, 2017). "Cyber Shadow Developer Talks About The Work That Leads To Pretty Pixel Art". Siliconera. Curse LLC. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  11. ^ a b Romano, Sal (March 27, 2019). "Ninja action platformer Cyber Shadow announced for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC". Gematsu. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  12. ^ a b c Doolan, Liam (March 28, 2019). "Yacht Club Games Reveals Cyber Shadow, A Thrilling New 8-Bit Ninja Platformer". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  13. ^ a b c Bailey, Kat (March 31, 2019). "How Cyber Shadow is Benefiting From the Expertise of Shovel Knight's Developers". USgamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  14. ^ Doolan, Liam (April 2, 2019). "Cyber Shadow's Publishing Deal With Yacht Club Games Didn't Happen Overnight". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  15. ^ a b c Winslow, Jeremy (March 27, 2019). "Shovel Knight Dev Reveals Its Next Project". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  16. ^ Velasco, Sean; Faulker, Alec (narrators) (February 26, 2020). Yacht Club Games Presents 2.26.20 (YouTube video). Yacht Club Games. Event occurs at 2:24. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  17. ^ Wales, Matt (January 13, 2021). "Meet the one-man studio behind Cyber Shadow". PlayStation Blog. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Cyber Shadow for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  19. ^ a b "Cyber Shadow for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  20. ^ a b "Cyber Shadow for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  21. ^ a b "Cyber Shadow for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  22. ^ a b "Cyber Shadow for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  23. ^ Carter, Chris (January 30, 2021). "Review: Cyber Shadow". Destructoid. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  24. ^ Stewart, Marcus (January 25, 2021). "Cyber Shadow". Game Informer. Retrieved February 15, 2021.[dead link‍]
  25. ^ Kemps, Heidi (February 3, 2021). "Cyber Shadow Review". GameSpot. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  26. ^ LeClair, Kyle (January 25, 2021). "Review: Cyber Shadow". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  27. ^ a b Mitchell, Saltzman (January 25, 2021). "Cyber Shadow Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  28. ^ Hernandez, Patricia (December 29, 2021). "The Best-Selling Indie Games On Switch In 2021, According To Nintendo". Kotaku. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
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