Ninjas Against the Machines

[b] Update: [/b] the devs fixed the softlock at the end so I am updating the review to reflect the bonus content. It's a rogue-lite, after you finish the game on normal you can access a harder mode and the boss rush, but the difficulty does not change much. There are a lot of unlocks, granted most of them are not very relevant. I think the game needs higher difficulty scaling to really take advantage of it, it gets kinda too easy after you beat it on hard, it needs more bullets and patterns for enemies per mode. For a "ninja" platformer with $8 tag, it's not that bad, even though I think it has a lot of room for improvement - I mean, it's not going to compare to Cyber Shadow and The Messenger in terms of overall feel, but you know, it's 1/3 of the price, and it still hits that retro itch for me. I actually think the gameplay mechanics and power-ups are pretty fun, that said, I think the developer needs to work on some of the character frames, and the enemies will need at least 2 patterns so you not just killing everyone with a spear, perhaps some homing attacks, or maybe enemies that can teleport toward you. I beat the game on my third attempt, it's not too difficult, and the run…

Game has the issue that many smaller indie roguelikes have, that being a severe lack of content. The only way roguelikes work is by having a lot of content and variation to make each run a somewhat new experience and challenge. This game is just massively lacking in variety. And the content that is there isn't really even interesting enough for even a single playthrough. I think I did probably 7 runs total and made it to the 3rd boss. The stages are incredibly bland and repetitive, combat is meh, same bosses every time. If this game was just converted to a standard linear action platformer with preset levels and checkpoints the game would at least be decent and probably at least worth a single playthrough. The roguelike design though just does not work in this case and just makes the game extremely unenjoyable when everytime you die its a full reset and every run looks and feels 99% the same.

The javelin bounce mechanic is super satisfying, and overall movement feels nice. Good amount of challenge. Boss design is really well done.