Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut Reviews

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut is ranked in the 60th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Ian Howarth
Top Critic
5 / 10
Aug 8, 2015

Overall, Shantae: Risky's Revenge is a nice throwback, even if it's not really that old, with a single glaring problem – being 'Metroidvania' style comes with some responsibilities that this title just couldn't hold up its end of the bargain for.

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Nov 4, 2020

"Classic revenge story, but just a bit better than last time."

Review in Finnish | Read full review

Cubed3
Athanasios
Top Critic
6 / 10
Nov 16, 2020

Part culmination of old-school classics, part a simplistic form of them all, Shantae: Risky's Revenge is not exactly the best title in WayForward's, otherwise charming, line of platformers. If a fan of Shantae do check it out, but you won't miss much by skipping it, and simply trying any other instalment - 2002 original included.

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7 / 10.0
Nov 5, 2020

Risky’s Revenge is a traditional Shantae experience, on a smaller scale. This is indeed a fun metroidvania with all the humour and charm of the latest Shantae games, a well-built world, and a unique cast. However, it’s difficult to forget we’re face to face with an old game, as compared to later entries Risky’s Revenge features less variety, an annoyingly simplistic map system and, of course, the several small improvements that WayForward made to the series with this game’s successors.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

Evan Norris
Top Critic
7 / 10
Oct 15, 2020

Ten years later, Risky's Revenge remains a solid, gorgeous action-platformer.

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7 / 10.0
Oct 12, 2020

Risky's Revenge is very much the Australopithecus of the Shantae series-something of a transitional form between the GBC game and Pirate's Curse. It's fun to play if you're a fan of the series, but I'll say that the next three games easily eclipse it.

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Az Elias
Top Critic
7 / 10
Aug 2, 2014

[T]he fact that this delightful game is now readily available to even more players through Steam means they can be glossed over by the majority that haven't had the pleasure of playing Risky's Revenge before. If this is a taster of what to expect in Shantae's next two adventures, platform fans are in for a treat.

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7 / 10.0
Dec 23, 2015

Shantae: Risky's Revenge – Director's Cut is an overall solid game with charming gameplay and wonderful presentation values. It's hindered by its somewhat repetitive design, cumbersome map system and lack of innovation or surprises, but it still manages to offer a good time for anyone looking to delve into the newest Metroidvania release.

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7 / 10.0
Apr 16, 2016

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut is a good action game, but it looks and feels a bit primitive next to Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. It's still worth playing if you're a fan of action titles, and that especially applies if you're a fan of Shantae who missed out on the first release of Pirate's Curse.

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7 / 10
Apr 11, 2016

Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut does not stand out as much as its predecessor did, which is no shame as this is a game that features a good balance between exploration of locations and backtracking and Shantae's magic spells and transforming skills are delightful. It could go further on the boss fights and in terms of content but that doesn't stand on its way of being a very enjoyable game for those who like exploring and backtracking in a metroidvania style.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

7 / 10
Jul 4, 2015

Shantae: Risky's Revenge is a solid game. Inoffensive gameplay and a light challenge paired with pleasing retro art and music blend to create a thoroughly pleasing experience. The game isn't particularly innovative or surprising, but at the end of the day, it's good fun. Given that this is a slow period for new releases, you could do much worse than shaking your booty to this.

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7.1 / 10.0
Oct 15, 2020

Having been introduced to the Shantae series on the Switch and enjoyed the hell out of each entry thus far a throwback title sounded interesting...

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7.5 / 10.0
Oct 24, 2021

Shantae: Risky’s Revenge clearly isn’t as featured-filled, polished, or exciting as its more modern counterparts, but it’s still well worth your time if you’re curious about the wonderful history of the Shantae franchise, or if you’re just a fan of 2D platformers in general. Why did this specific version need to have a brand new PlayStation 5 build is beyond me, as there is very little in here that justifies it being a “next-gen” game, but that doesn’t affect its overall quality.

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7.8 / 10.0
Nov 7, 2020

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut brings back an old school and very challenging platformer, improving it with a new hi-res presentation layer. Other than this it doesn't change or improve the original game, but it remains a suggested buy for all lovers of the saga and action-platformers in general.

Review in Italian | Read full review

7.8 / 10.0
Jun 29, 2015

Shantae: Risky's Revenge is a modern classic and this Director's Cut version is a great way to play it on a contemporary console.

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Feb 16, 2021

Overall, I quite enjoyed my time with Shantae: Risky’s Revenge – Director’s Cut. It was a fun little Metroidvania-style adventure that took me the majority of 10 hours to complete. I collected all of the Magic Jams and got all of the abilities and perks from the shop. I had a lot of fun with the game, and it still holds up pretty well by today’s standards for the most part. The biggest flaw is probably just that it could use a better map system. You can download a copy from the Nintendo Switch eShop for $9.99. Can you put a stop to Risky Boots’ evil plot in order to save Sequin Land, Scuttle Town, and your uncle?

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8 / 10.0
Oct 15, 2020

If our review convinced you, I wholeheartedly recommend giving Shantae: Risky’s Revenge – Director’s Cut a try. And if you like it, I even more wholeheartedly recommend Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse (also available on Nintendo Switch). It does everything Risky’s Revenge does but even better — with a few gameplay changes, too.

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8 / 10.0
Oct 23, 2020

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut is not just “another one” in the Switch library: it's a game with its own style, charisma and identity that arrives at the hybrid ten years after its original release and relives the magic of one of the best adventures of the half-genie without giving up the charm of the 16-bit era.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

Jul 4, 2015

While this title may not take full advantage of the PlayStation 4 hardware, 'Shantae: Risky's Revenge Director's Cut' is an enjoyable platformer adventure that's worth the time for most anyone that enjoys the genre. It is not a perfect title, and it's also not a particularly long game, but anyone who considers themselves a fan of Metriodvanias, platformers, or wishes there was a sequel to 'Monster World IV,Shantae: Risky's Revenge Director's Cut PS4 review' should not hesitate to pick this up.

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4 / 5.0
Jul 7, 2015

Shantae: Risky's Revenge: Director's Cut could have used some help with its map system, but literally everything else is spot-on. Much like Shovel Knight and Mighty No.

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