Pixel Shinobi Nine Demons of Mamoru

Review

Shinobi or Ninja as most of us know them, were the equivalent of the CIA and Delta Force combined in Feudal Japan. These highly trained individuals (mercenaries) could work alone or in groups. They were hired by Daimyō (Japanese Lords) to spy, sabotage, attack and even assassinate. Well, there is an untold story of the Daimyō Mamoru Imai, who allied himself with Nine powerful Demons to plunge Japan into chaos. And only one Shinobi can defeat Mamoru and his Demons. You guessed it - it’s YOU - and it will be a deadly ride in Pixel Shinobi Nine Demons of Mamoru!

Pixel Shinobi Nine Demons of Mamoru is a Pixel platformer game developed and self-published by Ametist Studio on 18^th of August 2019 on the Steam platform.

After selecting which level of difficulty you like to play first - easy, normal or permanent death (which needs to be unlocked) - you’ll watch a small introduction and go through a very short tutorial.

As you arrive at your village, which is more or less like a ghost village, your fist point of call will be to go to the temple and talk to Genshi, your Sensei, and check out your house. At the temple, you’ll receive your next mission, and it is also where you’ll get additional skills as you level up. In your accommodation, you’ll be able to craft new items, as long as you have the correct ingredients, which you can find within levels by smashing wooden crates, vases and chests, and occasionally by eliminating enemies. As you save people, your village will come to life and additional buildings, such as the merchant shop and blacksmith, will start to be occupied, allowing you to purchase ingredients, recipes, weapons and other things.

Most of the missions will take place in buildings and in a few in villages. If you haven’t found or crafted a melee weapon, your main weapons will be your hands and feet. You can carry up to 9 items on you through each of the levels; things likes health potions, shuriken (normal or poisonous), bombs and plenty of other goodies, and it seems that you don’t have a limit imposed on each of the 9 items you carry with you, with the exception of katanas. Be aware that your katana or any melee weapons will suffer from wear and tear. So make sure to look carefully at the blue gauge next to the Ninja avatar located on the top left corner of your screen. And let me tell you, it is a bit of a bummer to fight a strong enemy and loose your main weapon in the middle of a battle.!

Each of the missions will have objectives to complete, which may be to assassinate a certain number of enemies, not be detected (bloody hard in some cases), free prisoners, don’t kill the infected, finding an object and others. There are usually two to three objectives per mission.  If you manage to do all of them at the end of the stage, you’ll score big points in gold and experience points. If you don’t, well no big points for you!

I really like the building's mission as you have to find your way through rooms, collecting keys, finding secret rooms and of course fighting plenty of enemies along the way. You can go absolutely mad and attack your enemy on sight or you might be a silent assassin and stealthily sneak your way through and perform the perfect kill unnoticed. In my case, as I am a bit of an overweight Ninja, they could hear me from a fair distance. Mind you, I did try the silent method, but my belly seemed to elevate my bum in the air and the effect of surprise was eventually there but not in my favour!

You’ll be fighting kung-fu masters, archers, swordsmen, Samurais and even . . . Zombies! At the end of every 3 to 4 levels, you’ll be confronting one demon and it will be quite an interesting fight, to say the least, especially if you haven’t unlocked the dash-and-attack combination skill.

Superb pixel artwork and the game runs very well. I would recommend playing this game with your gamepad. Personally, I haven’t encountered a gameplay issue so far, but it seems that the achievements are not working for me. Also, the developer is very active and listens to the community and keeps updating the game which is very good to see. The big downside for me is the English translation, not great! I have the feeling they have used google translator or Manuel from Faulty Towers.