REVIEW : Within the Blade (XBOX Series X)
Within the Blade, developed by Ametist Studio and renamed Pixel Shinobi: Nine Demons of Mamoru for its 2019 Steam release, has arrived on the console. This game aims to combine fast-paced 2D action with ninja stealth. It’s an intriguing idea, and with its console launch, it’s about time I put my ninja talents to the test.
Within the Blade is a 2D stealth action platformer where you take on the role of Hideaki, a Black Lotus clan ninja tasked with defeating generic nasty McBad guys. These foes are the “steel clan,” who vowed to pursue knowledge of dark creatures as Japan descended into civil war after the death of the last Shogunate in 1560.
The steel clan’s commander summons demons and forges a large army after attaining the powers of an evil samurai warlord, leaving the player’s family as the only one who can defeat them.
To defeat these adversaries, you must complete a series of stages that require you to employ a startling number of ninja talents. Aside from some fundamental movements like a double leap, wall jump, and wall climb, you can also attack, block, and use an item.
The object you’ll use is determined by what you have on hand, and you can scroll between them. There are a few weapons to choose from, but you’ll mainly be using swords and fists. Blades have an essential combination, but the stealth component is the crucial purpose. Hide in the grass or the shadows, then jump on your adversaries for a juicy one-hit kill. Enemies drop cash, items, and experience, which will all help you later.
Obtaining assassinations will grant you extra gold and experience when you complete a stage, which you can use to your advantage when returning to the village between locations. Coins can be used to purchase things, weapons, or recipes for crafting new items, and experience will level you up and earn you points that you can use to buy new skills at the dojo.
The talents are the lifeblood that allows you to draw blood and life from your enemies. You have essential stat upgrades that make you harder to kill, offer you more movement options, fill out your fighting options, and transform you into a force of nature that the opponent only speaks about in whispers (lest your name be a jinx that summons you to strike them down from the shadows). The pixel visual style in The Blade is highly intricate and very exciting to watch, significantly as you gradually improve your skills and take down adversaries quicker and faster.
Each level grants you a possible skill, and there are far more abilities than levels, even if you are the most outstanding player on the planet. “Oh, replay value!” one may assume. Upgrade your character in a variety of ways to move through the game. This means you should save those two skill slots for stuff that will genuinely aid you.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case; there aren’t enough options to provide you with various methods to win so that any replay will seem mostly the same. The actual item creation also appears to be a waste of time. While there are a few levels where an item or two will be pretty helpful, you may also purchase those goods from the store for coins. Finally, you may as well save those two skill slots for stuff that will genuinely help.
The only way to mix things up is to try an upgrade-less challenge run, which I accidentally did once since I’m insane and didn’t talk to the teacher at the dojo. Would you please not make the same error as I did? Unfortunately, this is also when you’ll catch a glimpse of the game’s tale, which is primarily an excuse plot and wafer-thin. It’s a shame because the pixel art is fantastic.
This, though, may catch the interest of action-platforming fans. However, if you want to push yourself further without losing access to the game’s major features, you have two possibilities. There are challenge levels, a succession of horrific stages where one wrong step means death, and the permadeath difficulty, which is precisely what it sounds like. A run through the main game, but just one shot is allowed. There is an easy option for less talented players, but its primary purpose is to keep you from being one-shot by the stages’ various death traps. The design of the levels is a mixed bag. While there are various landscapes and exciting stories, they tend to drag on because each level design depends on the surroundings; they’re all quite similar and sequential. For example, each outpost level is a “platforming between rooms to find keys” level; each forest level is a straight shot, and each village level is a deadly trap-filled setting in which you must be quick. However, once you’ve completed the first two levels in a given area, you’ll feel as if you’ve met them all.
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