Shovel Knight from Yacht Club Games managed to evoke the same sense of wonder and fun as the classic action-platformers of yesteryear. Due to the game's success, the developers behind the series about knights wielding odd weapons have branched out into publishing games from other creatives that share a similar passion for the 8- and 16-bit eras. Coming from one-man developer Aarne "MekaSkull" Hunziker of Mechanical Head, Cyber Shadow focuses on fast ninja action, while also showing a surprising amount of depth in its core action-platformer gameplay.
The premise may sound similar to The Messenger, which released last year that focused heavily on fast ninja action was The Messenger. However, Cyber Shadow is its own beast with a darker story set in a post-apocalypse where synthetics and machines have taken over the world. You'll play as cyborg ninja who must battle robots, cyborgs, and other dangerous enemies of the new age. Over the course of the game, you'll upgrade the ninja's skills, allowing him to use powerful ninjutsu abilities.
The action in Cyber Shadow is very fast and precise, which can lead to some challenging moments where you'll need to engage in combat across some perilous platforms. It's clear that it's tonally different from the whimsical and somewhat self-aware Shovel Knight and The Messenger, but with that said Cyber Shadow still maintains that focus on offering some satisfying action-platforming thrills that will take time to master. While a release date hasn't been set at this time, Cyber Shadow will eventually make its way to PC, PS4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch.
For more on the games that made PAX East 2019 a stellar show, check out our roundup of fun games we saw, along with some of our coverage on the reveal of Borderlands 3.