However, it does remain a satisfying option when the opportunity presents itself. This left me feeling like the inclusion of stealth may have been implemented late in development. Movement is very fluid, with players able to double jump, wall jump and also wall climb – but unfortunately they create noise. Often times being forced to jump to specific ledges for enemies would alert them, forcing you into combat. It doesn’t always work out so smoothly though. Hiding in grass, waiting for the perfect moment to execute your foe. Attacking unsuspecting foes for a one-hit kill always felt great thanks to the excellent animation I spoke of earlier. Whenever a stealth route is possible, I go with it. I always got the vibe that this was how the game was intended to be played, but with stealth as an available option I just couldn’t help but gravitate towards that. Bombs, throwing stars and other such projectiles pad out the route one approach. When you connect it feels great, but sometimes I was left feeling punished for what looked like a clean hit. Gameplay is fun and varied, although the melee combat is at times a little less precise than I would like. After gaining the powers of an evil samurai warlord, the steel clan’s leader then summons a demon army, leaving Hideaki’s and his chums as the last hope. You play as Hideaki, a ninja of the Black Lotus clan, who is tasked with defeating the steel clan who decided to seek the knowledge of dark entities as Japan fell into civil war. The animation is also on point, with executions proving the highlight. The procedurally generated levels are always detailed well enough, not distracting from the action, yet providing a decent backdrop throughout. Kills look brutal with ample blood on display. It’s not a big problem for most sections of the game, but it’s still a pain when your well-crafted run is hampered by an ill-timed fall, only for you to land in the middle of a group of enemies who are more than happy to take away a chunk of your HP in a blink.The first thing you’ll notice about Within the Blade is the beautiful 16-bit graphics. Should you wish to do so, you can use the momentum to jump to another wall, and doing this can prove to be very difficult during some platforming sections. You can use X to jump or double jump against a wall and press up to run up the wall for a little bit. Movement becomes an issue when it’s time to wall run. You use the D-Pad to move, the Square button to execute attacks, and the X to jump and double jump. For the most part, everything works perfectly. For me, the main annoyance comes from the controls. Within the Blade is a fun entry from Ratalaika Games with only a few niggles that detract from an otherwise enjoyable experience. This skill tree has a lot of options for you to tailor your experience based on your playing style, so you can go for increasing your ninja’s hit points so that you can withstand more damage – which can save you from your mistakes – or unlock new combos and abilities that will allow you to destroy groups of enemies in a blink. There will also be the option of visiting your Master to spend the experience points you get from leveling up – from all the enemies and bosses you defeat along the way – so that you can unlock new abilities, skills, and boosts. Like any good action platformer, you are given a map dotted with enemies and are expected to make it from one side to the other while taking down as many as you can, but you are expected to be as stealthy as possible. What you have here is a game that really wants you to take note of the stealth aspect, treating each encounter as a puzzle at a more measured and controlled pace. Within the Blade is a little more nuanced and deserves a bit more consideration than being seen as another 2D action platformer. When entering the sprite world of Within the Blade, you would be forgiven for wanting to treat it as just another action platform much akin to contra and the likes. Excited to learn more about my subject of choice, I decided to play the stealth-ish action-platformer from Ratalaika Games and Ametist Studio. It was during my research I came across a game called Within the Blade, a game in the non-existent genre of Ninja-em-ups. Who was this dyed hair…somewhat good-looking American guy? In an attempt to find out more about this world-renowned internet personality, I decided to keep digging. As I was doing research for my homework, I typed “Ninja” into a search engine, and I was surprised to see some guy called Richard Blevins plastered all over my screen.
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