I spent around an hour playing through two levels of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and despite it being one of the smaller titles featured in Summer Game Fest, it quickly became one of my favorites because of its gorgeous art style, slick controls, and stylish gameplay that made me look forward to its August launch with anticipation.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Preview

Lizardcube, the team behind the hit brawler Streets of Rage 4, has done some quality work on Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. The game looks amazing, and the vibrant visuals really pop from the screen. There’s always a concern when things are too colorful, but despite all of the elements (background art, characters, enemies, sprite and particle effects, etc), they all work together to provide players the experience of looking at a moving painting.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance reminded me so much of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown in ways that matter most. Controls are ultra-responsive and fluid, allowing players to move the protagonist Joe Musashi whichever way they choose. Players can dodge mid-attack, traversal is easy because the controls are accurate, and even just moving from map to map is a joy.

Combat is a big focus in Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and also just like The Lost Crown, Joe Musashi is adept at taking on Lord Ruse and his paramilitary faction, the ENE corp. Joe can attack, jump, double jump, and dodge – standard stuff for games of the type. As players progress, they can learn new techniques that can extend his combos, launch enemies into the air, stun them, and more. There’s a lot of extra abilities to discover, each with its own benefit when dealing with the enemy.

When the going gets tough, Joe can unleash special attacks through his Ninja and Ninjutsu stances. One of these attacks is an execution style technique that would instantly kills foes once their stun bar is full. The demo I played also allowed me to play around with a fire-breathing attack that would deal heavy damage to enemies in front of me.

The first of the two levels I played was what I assumed to be the first level as it provided a full tutorial of the basic movements and attacks. It was easy and straightforward, and culminated in a boss that introduced a purple unblockable/undodgeable attack that players will need to fully avoid. Thankfully, patterns were easy to learn and didn’t pose too much of a problem.

The second level, Lantern Festival, was a longer and more interesting level because it introduced trickier traversal and platforming that would require players to use their full suite of abilities like wall climbing, air dashing, and more. The level also introduced sections with barriers that can be destroyed once you acquire the necessary ability for it, platforms that drop when stood on for too long, and even portals that zip you towards a direction.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is looking to be another quality release from SEGA, and despite its smaller scope compared to some of the company’s more premium titles, this game is poised to surprise a lot of players who are interested in 2D action platformers.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance will launch on August 29, 2025, for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam.