It’s not as crazy difficult as Ninja Gaiden or even the Soulsborne series, but what makes Cyber Shadow enjoyable is that while it is challenging at parts, once you figure it out, it feels like a mini achievement. That’s until you start watching the pro speed runners on Twitch, but we’re all friends here, and we’re here to help you git gud.

Here is a guide to the first few boss battles and challenges you’ll encounter in the game. Take note that this is not all of the starter bosses, but the beauty of the game is learning as you go along. We’ll hold your hand for a bit, but you’ll need to take every step after.

Without further ado, here are the first few challenges that await you in Cyber Shadow.

Smasher

Smasher is quite easy, first take out the two turrets at each side to avoid extra projectiles. You may choose to keep them there to receive a trophy/achievement. Then wait for the “smasher” part to drop and there you can spam the attack button on the glowing red dot.

The attack pattern on the unreachable gun pods is predictable, but once its life is critical it will start to spread projectiles all over the screen. Once it does that, hang by the smasher platform and make sure you jump away once it’s ready to smash as it unleashes splash damage this time around. Keep hitting the glowing dot until victory.

Apparitor

Apparitor is the boss of the first chapter and also is a recurring boss later in the game. His pattern is simple: he throws two fuma shurikens followed by a dash attack. He leaves himself open after that so you punish him for maximum damage.

He will counterattack by throwing several shuriken at you then repeat his main attack. When he does his shuriken counterattack, if you’re playing with a PS4 or Xbox, take care not to attack him from behind else lose the “Fight With Honor” achievement. If you’re playing on Nintendo Switch, do what you want, you’ll probably beat him faster that way.

Repeat the attack pattern until he gets to critical life where he throws three fuma shurikens instead of two where the third one almost instantly damages you. Once you defeat him, you receive the Shuriken Throw special.

Laserbrain

This boss is annoying as everything is designed to hurt you. Rocks will rain from the sky, but you can use them as platforms to reach the main Laserbrain part. Make sure you take out the cannons to mitigate the projectiles you’re trying to avoid and once they’re both out, take care not to get crushed by the falling debris. Breaking the rocks give you SP, and once you fill up your SP bar, throw shurikens at Laserbrain. Keep hitting the damn thing until it’s dead.

Biohunter

Don’t be intimidated by this aerial boss, he’s a bigger pushover than you may think. Make sure you equip the Swag Blade from the checkpoint to chip away at his health. Use the fire attack (Down+Attack) special in order to reach him, he will usually hover after an attack to the corner of the screen. Fire twice and then move out of his way as he will bombard you with bombs and fire from his cannon sword.

Continue with this pattern until he’s on his final life bar where he’ll switch to his second form. His second form is much easier as he leaves himself wide open after a sword strike. By this point, you can just spam the regular attack until he dies and he leaves you with the Air Strike special.

Monkey Shrine

This challenge involves you racing a spectral monkey to the top of the shrine. It might take you a few tries to platform your way up. Make sure you keep about two SP bars to use an Air Strike on two lanterns on the second and third areas to land the long jumps. Just make sure you get to top either before the monkey or at the same time as the monkey to earn the “Slide On Walls” special.

Cyber Shadow is now available for digital download on the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.