Out of its ten levels, there are usually two bosses for each stage. One of Cyber Shadow’s most impressive sections is its numerous bosses. These are all optional, so you can make the area more or less difficult for yourself depending on how you wish to play. Save stations also serve as a store where money can purchase health and item restoration or temporary upgrades. It makes clearing sections rewarding, though, when you finally make it to that next save. Savepoints can feel generous some moments and feel a world away in trickier areas. Luckily, you have infinite lives, so you get a chance to try again and again. Several enemies require a bit of familiarity and strategy to take out, and with many enemies on screen at once, Cyber Shadow asks you to think and move quickly. They may seem deceptively avoidable but add in noticeable kickback when hit by enemies, making platforming a lot more precarious.Įnemies and projectiles swarm the screen, compounding precision platforming. Lava, spikes, and other instakills cover levels. After these initial early stages, though, the difficulty ramps up.Īrguably some of Cyber Shadow’s most significant challenges come in its instant death pitfalls. I can see where diehard platformers may find upgrades turning early levels into a cakewalk, but there are still plenty of challenges to be had even with these handicaps for the average player. On early levels, I managed to keep some of the upgrades until bosses which made the encounter infinitely easier. These extend your blade range or give you a shield to deflect long-range weapons and last as long as you aren’t hit three times. There are also temporary blade upgrades that can be game-changers. It’s risky and requires you to time the d-pad perfectly with the oncoming bullet, but it is incredibly satisfying when you get it right.
One of the standout techniques is the bullet deflect, which not only stops projectiles coming your way but can actually send them back at your enemies. Other moves like the double jump, wall-glide, and dash are unlimited to use. This forces you to use them sparingly, which makes sense given the range and power some of the moves inflict. Offensive special moves are limited and must be refilled by blue gems from item drops. The same can be said for the other moves in the game, where your skills seem to evolve alongside Shadows. This only took some getting used to on my end and did add to the originality of the adventure. It’s not totally out of line with the era of games it’s emulating, but I was thrown off by the lack of the action when compared to a particular other ninja game on the NES.
CYBER SHADOW RELEASE TIME UPGRADE
There is always only one pre-selected upgrade available to purchase and certain checkpoints don’t even offer these for sale at all.The trade-off is there is a slight lack of maneuverability, like crouching, which forces you to jump and move more to avoid obstacles. It’s an interesting idea - restarting a difficult area several times over may prompt spending some essence for a leg up - but it’s fairly restrictive.
These can include a health restore (usually unlocked at each checkpoint by default), a skill point restore, or a special temporary upgrade like a stronger sword or an attacking drone. The checkpoint/save system in the game means that certain junctions allow players to spend in-game currency on a slight bonus which can help the upcoming portion of the level. Still, most of the level design and difficulty spikes in Cyber Shadow feel nicely balanced. To be fair, Shovel Knight had its share of these sudden game overs as well, but considering the constant knockback damage in Cyber Shadow and the occasionally unkind checkpoint, certain sections will test player patience and even feel outright unfair.
There are plentiful insta-deaths, either via bottomless pits or hazards that may not immediately seem as dangerous as they are. However, there are plenty of antiquated design elements in the game as well, which will feel comforting to some but exasperating to others.
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