Salmon Ninja

This is a really solid, cute little platformer with a hook mechanic and low-res art style. Controls are keyboard to move and mouse to attack and aim the hook. The character movement is quick and not the easiest for precision platforming, but the game (mostly) doesn't demand anything beyond the tools it gives you. The story and dialogue is adorable. It's a one-sitting game, so the $9 price tag might seem like a high ask, but if you're looking for a fun speedrun project, I recommend giving it a look. You could stretch the 1-2 hour playtime to dozens of hours trying to get to the top of the leaderboard (or especially do full game runs). I really enjoyed it.

Salmon Ninja, developed and published by Krax Games, is a fast-paced indie platformer that builds its identity around precision movement and momentum-driven gameplay rather than narrative or spectacle. At a glance, it presents itself as a simple, almost understated experience, but once you begin playing, it becomes clear that the game is designed around mastering a tightly focused set of mechanics. You take control of a small ninja navigating a series of increasingly demanding levels, accompanied by a quirky salmon companion that adds a light layer of personality to an otherwise mechanically driven journey. The core of the experience revolves around movement, and this is where the game truly shines. Instead of relying solely on standard platforming actions like jumping and running, Salmon Ninja introduces a grappling hook that fundamentally changes how you approach traversal. This mechanic allows you to swing across gaps, latch onto surfaces, and maintain momentum in ways that feel both fluid and satisfying once mastered. The game encourages players to think in terms of flow rather than isolated actions, chaining movements together to maintain speed and efficiency. When executed w…

Maybe fine if you play platformers on keyboard anyway but if you care about speedrunning/getting the gold medals then playing on kbm is a must because the controller support for this game is terrible.

Honestly a pretty good game on paper, but for whatever reason it just wasn't doing it for me. And I am a massive fan of this style of platformer. It looks great, and mechanically feels "solid". Has leaderboards and speedrun medals which is awesome. BUT No controller support is a big con for me, could have easily had controller support with right stick for aiming the grapple like "dandara". Also the game looks pretty nice and is well put together. But the level design, enemys, and bosses are incredibly generic and boring in terms of gameplay. This isn't necessarily a downvote because it's bad, it's more that I would recommend probably 50+ other similiar games over this one at this price point, and honestly even at a heavy discount.

I have played through this game only once playing each level only once, which I'm sure is rather shocking looking at the amount of hours I've put into this game, but what can I say? I'm a video game enjoyer, not a gamer. Games like this one, which require conventional skill in playing video games, are games that I don't tend to be very good at. When it comes to platformer games, modern Mario and Sonic are more paygrade. However, despite having hundreds of deaths on levels that others can not only beat in one try, but speedrun repeatedly getting increasingly better times, I very much enjoyed this game. The game requires quick thinking and precision for sure, so if you like that sort of thing, you should definitely give the game a try. There is no controller support as far as other reviews are saying, which may be a turnoff for some, but I didn't notice that there was no controller support because the mouse and keyboard just worked so well for this game that I never even thought to try controller, and this is coming from a person who has played VERY FEW platformers on mouse and keyboard.

One of the better difficult platformers on steam. Feels really good to play, even if you're not good it makes you feel like you're doing something really cool.