The whole concept may not necessarily be an original one, but in two-dimensions, it’s certainly a practical way of expressing the gameplay.Įach level has an objective that differs in context, but pretty much has the same outcome nonetheless. One nice little feature, as a result, is the ability to lean against a closed door to “sense” the presence of enemies that may be lurking behind it. On the other hand, your ninja can only see his enemies if his line of sight isn’t blocked in some way. For example, running along a rooftop will cause large ripples of sound that will attract a guard’s attention should the ripples activate near them. The visual language that bleeds across the screen notifies the player’s hidden presence by displaying any sound and sight reached within a certain radius. The team down at Klei Entertainment has done a wonderful job at sinking the player into the shoes of what a ninja assassin is traditionally portrayed as. This all leads to a lot of sneaking around and the assassination of enemies that even Solid Snake would tip his eye-patch to. The burden itself lies within the special power contained in such ink, for it will eventually send the host insane if he doesn’t agree to take his own life once his job is done. The plot of the story has the lead protagonist heavily burdened with a special responsibility to protect the Hisomu Clan and rescue his sensei, Azai.

In this stealth-puzzle adventure, you play solely as an unnamed male ninja etched with a fleshy canvas of badass dragon tattoos. Sound is a dead giveaway of your position after all. Just remember to bear in mind to make sure that you keep the volume down. What does make this particular version special though, is that, for the first time ever, you can now play the game while perched in a tree at nightfall waiting for that bully who used to steal your dinner money to gormlessly wander past. There’s a few quality of life improvements such as improved audio and visual upgrades, along with the small amount of downloadable content that was released to support the game back in the day. It certainly did so for me at least, as I had no idea of its original existence before Nintendo had spotlighted it earlier this year.įor many new players like myself, Mark of the Ninja Remastered probably won’t feel like much of a remaster at all. Despite receiving critical praise in its own right, the shadow-dwelling original may have easily passed you by in 2012. The first was the excellent, time-swapping Ninja Gaiden-esque adventure The Messenger, and, of course, Mark of the Ninja Remastered – a remastered port of the original Xbox Live Arcade game. When Nintendo had broadcast their Nindies Showcase Spring 2018 presentation back in May, there was not just one, but two side-scrolling indie adventures starring a lead ninja protagonist.

Ninja remastered