Video Game Review - Within The Blade

Rob reviews Within The Blade on Nintendo Switch...

Much like Zombies, Ninjas have been a video game staple for a good few years now. With titles ranging from Shinobi to Tenchu, these mysterious assassins have been fairly well covered. Whether it be tales of revenge or the more exotic of saving the world from demons Ninjas have been there and have gotten the t-shirt. Yet aside from the recently released Ninja Gaiden Trilogy the humble Ninja has stuck to the shadows. 

Thankfully this is about to change as Ametist Studios leaps from the shadows accompanied by Within The Blade. Originally released as Pixel Shinobi: Nine Demons of Mamoru on PC the title is now known Within The Blade charts the games first port to consoles. However aside from the name change, everything else has remained largely the same. 

Within The Blade is a 2-D side-scrolling stealth action-platformer that's all presented under a pixel artwork banner. The game sees us play as veteran Black Lotus Clan Ninja - Hideaki. Hideaki has been tasked with defeating a rival clan who has made a pact with some nasty demons. To top it off Japan is also falling into a civil war which if left unchecked could see the Steel Clan (the bad guys) take control of the entire country. As Hideaki, we will be tasked with subverting the clan's plans whilst rescuing hostages, destroying buildings, assassinating targets, and plenty of crazy boss battles. 

Hideaki is quite a capable Ninja and as such he has a wealth of skills and equipment at his disposal. Everything from swords, bombs, poisons, throwing weapons, and grappling hooks can be utilised in a fairly brutal manner. Much like Minecraft, Within The Blade features a hot bar that can be filled with the various equipment and weapons that we may need at the time. I learnt very early that weapons unless crafted are few and far between. With this in mind utilising both your hand-to-hand skills and equipment are vital until you need to use a weapon. Whilst it's a bit daunting, to begin with, the gameplay does allow for a lot of experimentation and variations in how to play. 

Do you go stealth? Or attack from the shadows with shuriken and stars? Within The Blade doesn't penalise you for playing how you want. If you play stealthy then Hideaki can hide within the shadows to perform assassination techniques. These one-hit-kill abilities are pretty cool to watch play out and also net you with some coin and extra experience - which all comes into playback at the village. Yet, if you fancy going all swords blazing then you'll have various combos and skills available. These will see Hideaki leaping off of walls to slice his foes, or going toe-to-toe with the outcome being plenty of pixilated gore flying about. 

In-between adventures we're able to head back to the Black Lotus village to spend our coins and experience. The village hosts plenty of merchants that sell all manner of items and recipes for Hideaki to use. Naturally, any earned experience can be spent with the clan's leader to learn new skills. These skills range from your basics of gaining more health to fleshing out your hand-to-hand skills. There's a whole host of variations for you to choose from which can see your ninja specialise in one style or become a jack-of-all-trades. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the overall outcome is different, just the way you approach each stage will be. The crafting system also feels a bit tacked on as most things that you can craft you can also purchase. And with coins being in plentiful supply you don't have to be thrifty. 

For those looking for more of a challenge Within The Blade features a few options to up its difficulty. The top tier difficulty is permadeath which does exactly as the name suggests. You have one shot to get through the game, with death resulting in you having to start again. There are also a few challenge areas that up the tempo with added traps and enemies. Whilst these aren't impossible they are fairly difficult.

One thing I will mention is that the menus don't seem to have any indication as to what your selecting. This means that accessing your storage and buying items becomes a game of "guess the tile". Many times I ended up either buying the wrong item or spending 10-minutes selecting gear. And considering the fast nature of the game, this slows it down. 

Level design is a bit of a mixed bag. Throughout the journey, you'll be hacking your way through various woodland, castles and villages. Whilst each level has a different layout each location offers the same style. For example, castles offer a more traditional platforming style that'll have you searching for keys or hostages whilst avoiding traps. Yet woodland areas are more combat-oriented and see you attacking from trees and long grass whilst racing to the end. It doesn't take you long to experience everything that Within The Blade had to offer - which is a real shame. 

Even with the repetitiveness of the levels, the pixel art is pretty impressive. It's incredibly detailed and offers some fantastic character designs. At one point you battle a band of Samurai and even with the pixel style they looked incredibly formidable whilst clad in their pixel armour. The same can be also said for the games of many bosses. Each feels straight out of Dark Souls as you'll be fighting various floating heads, witches, and super-powered humans. Each has its style which needs to be learned to successfully defeat them. This learning curve isn't particularly steep, you just have to be patient - something I lack. 

When it's said and done, Within The Blade is a competent action-platformer. There's quite a high skill curve which can make the game feel daunting at time. Yet once mastered you'll be a literal Ninja warrior. There's plenty to do here with a lot of skills to learn and equipment to buy. Whilst the overall game is let down by a repetitive level design, everything else more than makes up for it. For fans of both Ninja titles, or those looking for a challenge Within The Blade is one I'd highly recommend. 

Rating 7/10 

Within The Blade is out now and can be purchased via the Nintendo Switch eShop by clicking here. (Also available on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4)

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev