Vikcen Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Review

Coming from the creators of the fantastic Streets of Rage 4, I expected exactly that: those graphics, that artistic style, those animations, those well-crafted impacts, those combos… and they have achieved a very characteristic and unique identity, which is already their trademark. Personally, I love it. It should be mentioned that this is not easy to achieve, and it reminds of the golden age of arcade games, where companies like Capcom or Konami had a genuinely impressive audiovisual identity in all their games. But here there is a key difference: that classic spirit is now brought into a hand-drawn 2D in high definition, with an outstanding level of detail and fluidity. That said, after completing 100% of the game, if you like titles from this studio, here you will find exactly that: a spectacular visual section and a combat system very agile focused on combos that is simply brilliant. The action is impactful, dynamic, fluid and, above all, very fun and satisfying. And it is not an especially difficult game (boss rush aside), but I think it has the right level of challenge, which in my opinion does not suffer in this regard and maintains its balance to continue being fun, making your skills match the level of challenge that the game proposes. This balance is perfect between challenge and skill, allowing the player to fully immerse themselves in the experience, which is not easy and very few games can boast of that. I liked it so much that I even ended up buying the recent DLC, which I also recommend, especially if you are one of those who grew up with SEGA classics. Pros: - Visually and artistically beautiful. - Spectacular gameplay that holds up perfectly. - Fun and satisfying combat system. Cons: - An extra higher difficulty level would not have been a bad addition for more hardcore players. - Maybe some songs are not at the same level.