This Metroidvania-tinged old-school 2D action game is more than another Sega retro revival: it's the highlight of my Summer Game Fest

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is the best game I played at Summer Game Fest. This is a confident hybrid of Metroidvania and traditional 2D action games that looks incredible and controls even better, and 45 minutes of hands-on time has pushed it all the way to the top of my wishlist.

It's been 14 years since the last Shinobi game and even longer since the series' heyday in the late '80s and early '90s, but Art of Vengeance hasn't skipped a beat. Developer Lizardcube is building on the incredible look it established with other Sega revivals like Streets of Rage 4 and Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, returning us to original series protagonist Joe Musashi with serious style.

The basics will be very familiar if you played the original games – there are still up-close sword attacks, ranged kunai throws, and a variety of ninpo magic to unleash – but they're translated through a modern lens that makes the game feel far more robust than simply another retro revival. It reminds me a bit of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown in how it blends old-school action with modern mechanics, and with how excellent that game proved to be last year, that's high praise indeed.

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Ninja terminating

Within a few seconds of getting control in the Shinobi: Art of Vengeance demo, I was involuntarily making the American Psycho 'oh yeah' face at how nice it all felt.

Air control is perfect, you have immediate access to movement options like double-jumps, and there's a satisfying heft to Joe's running animations that still manages to avoid making the character feel clunky to move. There's even a little dodge roll that you can use to launch over waist-high objects like crates, and while I didn't find much explicit use for that, it's the kind of little detail that goes a long way to making the game feel great to control.

Art of Vengeance consists of discrete stages that each culminate in a boss fight, true to its old-school stylings, but there's a light dusting of Metroidvania here too. The stages are sprawling enough to justify a Super Metroid-style map that you can pop open at any time, and you'll get abilities later on that'll give you a reason to revisit old levels to find new items.

The world isn't interconnected, though, so each stage ultimately stands alone, and there's some notable variety in pacing between each. The first level I played felt pretty open-ended and exploratory, but the second was a much more straightforward rush to the end, culminating in a fun platforming escape sequence from an encroaching wall of fire.

In each level, you'll regularly be stopped to fight your way through big arena battles full of enemies, and this is where we can start to unpack the game's robust combat mechanics. You've got a light and heavy attack that can be chained together in various combos, you can throw out a kunai to attack foes at a distance, and your attacks fill up a ninpo meter you can use to unleash magic attacks, like a quick gout of flame or a defensive stance that can counter an incoming attack.

The key consideration here is the execution gauge, a meter that appears below each enemy's health bar like a sort of guard break, which fills as you attack but goes up even faster from heavy attacks and kunai strikes. Once full, you can tap a button to execute that enemy and be rewarded with a shower of gold, kunai ammo, and health pickups. You can also chain together these executions on multiple enemies for bonus rewards, so you've got a big incentive to wear down each foe, move on to the next, and quickly execute them all at once for the greatest rewards.

It's tremendously satisfying to chain those executions together, and it works almost like an adaptive difficulty setting. The basic fights aren't that hard on their own, but juggling a bunch of enemies to fill up their execution gauges without actually killing them can be quite challenging, and there are commensurate rewards. The bonus gold can be spent unlocking new moves at shops, which continually expand their offerings based on collectibles you find in the stages, tying exploration and combat together nicely.

I'm an easy mark for retro action, but what I played of Art of Vengeance stands confidently above a sea of other throwback games thanks to its impeccable movement feel and satisfying combat. I found another Summer Game Fest highlight in Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, which offers a more old-school challenge and structure in contrast to Shinobi's modernized, Metroidvania-infused feel. If I had a nickel for every time an indie dev blew me away with a classic ninja action game revival for a notable Japanese studio in 2025, I'd have two nickels, but it sure is weird that it's happened twice.

If you're looking for something more fully devoted to the genre, check out our guide to the best Metroidvania games.