Ninja Outbreak Reviews

⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄

Funk, time just flies, huh? I finished this about a month ago (after owning it for a couple months), and it's a captivating game! However, life had other plans for me, much like it did for the protagonist of Ninja Outbreak, stranded in a lab after an experiment gone wrong. Such a typical story, especially when it involves work towards creating supersoldiers, right? Yet what's interesting about this game is how it plays into a low-fi survival horror-esque style and gives you the tools to fight back. Not only that, but where it tries, and succeeds most effectively to some degree at creating this survival horror tension, is through the ninjas' unusual ability to [i]silence[/i] everything as they approach, complemented by their use of smoke bombs to largely knock out two of your senses. Two senses one relies on so heavily in a game, just ripped away from them completely, with the only hope of survival being to lash out till they see some spark of contact and reestablish their orientation in the world. At times, it's both an unnerving and swiftly satisfying sense, almost of catching an object before it hits the ground, when you pierce the ninjas' ambush and strike back against them. All things considering, it is this frequent sense of overcoming the odds that perhaps makes the game the most enjoyable, even as one may get a tad turned around at times in the labs. Speaking of getting turned around, what's most important to remember is that you [i]don't[/i] need to thoroughly scour the labs before setting off to face the final boss, despite the game cautioning you to be prepared before going forward. So long as you have more than a single clip of ammo left in whichever weapons/gadgets you have, and some food, you should be fairly good to move ahead. What simply moving ahead also ensures is that, should you wish to revisit the game, there's absolutely more to find, such as hidden ninja hearts that I imagine may do something more when all are acquired, but I couldn't find all of in my first playthrough (due to also missing some weaponry/gadgets that may have opened more paths). Finally, I haven't mentioned this until now, because I wanted all of the above to guide you to whether or not you may want to pick this up, but this is definitely a semi-sequel to the developer's previous work, Venusian Vengeance. I say semi-sequel, because you can easily play this without ever playing Venusian Vengeance and, I believe, enjoy it as much, if not more. The reason's simple: the gameplay styles are totally different, with Venusian Vengeance being a faster paced shoot'em up, and Ninja Outbreak being a slower paced, survival horror-esque game. That said, what's probably most interesting about these games is observing just how [i]different[/i] they are from one another. Venusian Vengeance feels more drawn out & distanced from what one is doing across Venus, whereas Ninja Outbreak feels drawn into & intimate to the aftermath of things gone wrong (as one would hope, given the game's focus!). In some respects it's almost like, say, if Bungie hadn't been pushed ahead to make Halo 2, were more experimentally minded, and instead had doubled down into the brief horror aesthetic of Halo's Flood levels, except from the perspective of a rookie soldier that first encountered the Flood alongside his troop, only to see them get wiped out & try to make the best of a terrible situation. Nobody would expect that coming from the more guns blazing style of Halo 1, and that's roughly speaking what Ninja Outbreak is like following Venusian Vengeance. Guns blazing, to carefully scraping by & doing what one can to overcome supersoldiers gone wrong. Thankfully, Ninja Outbreak makes the stylistic transition rather well, and in a number of ways is all the more interesting for it, so do give it a look on its own, but also don't hesitate to check out Venusian Vengeance as well! Both are short, and well worth it!

Ninja Outbreaks is one of those games that is a slow burn. There are mechanics that will definitely frustrate you at first, but once you get a better understanding of how things work within the game, you'll enjoy it a lot more. You may have to redo your entire playthrough because of how badly you messed up. But you end up playing better and conserving your limited resources. Who knew that encountering ninjas would take on a sci-fi horror feel, but here we are. It works.