Cyber Shadow is created by Aarne Hunziker, who worked on this passion project for years. Bringing back the good old 8-bit era where platformers weren’t always that easy and you had to work hard in order to achieve your goal. Right from the moment you start playing, you’re catapulted back into the early days of gaming where every step could be your last. Really bringing back that classic feeling is Yacht Club Games’s (Shovel Knight franchise) forté, so it’s no surprise Cyber Shadow quickly found its publisher. Are you ready for a blast from the past? Time to jump in!
Wake up Shadow
Cyber Shadow is a true blast from the past, taking inspiration from classics such as Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, and even Megaman. All the elements are there but the game still manages to make it its own. You play as Shadow who wakes up from a cryo station. The world he woke up to isn’t the world he remembers. This world is overrun by mechanical life that sucked the force out of all living organisms to thrive. Shadow is one of the sole survivors and quickly goes on a quest to save the world and defeat the mechanical beasts once and for all. It’s a fun and entertaining story that is told in a classic way. Don’t expect high-paced cutscenes or tons of dialogues here. Everything about Cyber Shadow is created to mimic the good old 8-bit games. This also means the story is told with extremely short cutscenes and is made out of stills and texts for most of the time. Combine this with the 8-bit soundtrack and you’ll instantly understand the atmosphere. The story itself isn’t extremely unique or original but it gets the job done. It gives Shadow and the player a purpose to push forwards.
Die, and die again
As I said in the introduction, Cyber Shadow tries to mimic games from an older era and does this flawlessly. Although a lot of 8-bit fans will enjoy every second of it, it’s worth pointing out that the game is far from easy. Every level is packed with enemies and you’ll face boss battles at an extremely high pace. Dying is a huge part of the learning curve and if you’re quickly demotivated, this game probably isn’t your cup of tea. It comes close to the level of difficulty of Shovel Knight at the beginning but the more you advance, the harder it really gets. Remember the classic Ninja Gaiden games? Well, that’s the level of difficulty you best keep in mind. The game really likes to throw danger after danger at you and if you’re not prepared from it, you’ll be transported to your last checkpoint almost instantly. In all honesty, I didn’t really like the level of difficulty at the beginning of my adventure. The more I played and the more I adapted to the rules of the game, the more I started to enjoy it. It’s extremely hard but never unfair. If you’re willing to put in the time, you’ll be rewarded. On top of that, the developers did include some mechanics to keep you motivated.
First things first, the world of Cyber Shadow is literally filled with checkpoints so if you fall in combat or fall down in a pit of spikes, you’ll never need to retrace a lot of your steps. Having this amount of checkpoints really helps to keep up the momentum of the game and the motivation of the gamer. To make things even better, you can also buy certain updates at the stations. Those are never obligatory, so you can try to clear the game without spending your resources on some upgrades to make your life easier. Although they never result in an instant-win, those upgrades can really help out the less experienced or more casual gamers. Keep in mind however that those upgrades won’t come cheap.
In true Castlevania manor, you’ll also upgrade your core abilities along the way, adding new weapons to your arsenal to conquer the world. Everything is created with a challenge in mind and at some point, the level of difficulty really spikes to new heights. Only by continuing your quest and by trying over and over again, you’ll make it out victoriously.
Conclusion:
Cyber Shadow is far from an easy game to master and I’m sure not everyone will like this level of challenge. It’s an unforgiving game that gets even harder the more you play it, which can become rather demotivating quickly. If you push forwards and never give up, you’ll find a lot of fun in Cyber Shadow. It’s a true blast from the past and really nails that classic 8-bit atmosphere. It wasn’t easy to start but it was even harder to put back down. If you’re up for a challenge, this game is certainly worth playing!
