Pax East is mostly for the Independent developers and this year was no exception. I was able to get some time with Yacht Club Games, of Shovel Knight fame, to see their newest venture, Cyber Shadow. The best way to describe Cyber Shadow is a mix between Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania. Ninja Gaiden in terms of how the game looks and plays and Castlevania by being able to destroy things that remind me of the candlesticks in Castlevania to gain attack power.
Let me dive deeper into this now in terms of the comparisons to Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania. The level design and character design of a ninja are very similar to Ninja Gaiden and that isn’t a bad thing. Ninja Gaiden was one of the better NES games and I’m sure it has inspired plenty of developers. You’ll need to be on point with your platforming skills while you play Cyber Shadow since there will be plenty of enemies and hazards blocking your path. In one level you had to dodge robot bugs and lasers. Another level you need to dodge pits of fire and other robotic enemies along the way. It also has cut-scenes during the story that is reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden too.
The game also reminds me a little of the Castlevania franchise in terms of finding power-ups/attacks during gameplay through things that remind me of the candles in Castlevania. You also hack and slash your way through each stage similar to Simon Belmont with his whip and upgrading weapons.
You’ll have the ability to have aerial attacks and weapon throws that you can combo to do more damage to the enemy forces. You will also have to plan how to wall-jump into your strategy to avoid enemies since there will be plenty of forces coming at you during the adventure. The game varied in difficulty as the first boss was a robot that didn’t move too much and it felt like it was easy to pick up the attack pattern. Whereas the other boss looked more humanoid and was a lot more difficult to read, attack wise.
Cyber Shadow, as I mentioned reminds me of classics Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania. It also reminds me of Yacht Club’s own Shovel Knight in terms of platforming, adventuring and a cool game all around. It was also interesting that I think I was playing when Arin Hanson of Game Grumps fame stopped by the booth to see what the game was all about so I thought that was pretty cool. Just like when I first saw Shovel Knight, I feel like Yacht Club has a winner on their hands with Cyber Shadow.