Within the Blade Review

Within the Blade is a ninja-centric game that, weirdly, had an entirely different name before its arrival on the Nintendo Switch.

Previously known as Pixel Shinobi: Nine demons of Mamoru, it seems developers Ametist Studio were obliged to change their game’s name when porting it, in order to avoid legal problems with Sega over the use of the word ‘shinobi’. Weird, if you ask me, but at least Within the Blade has a nice ring to it. What hasn’t changed, though, is the content of the actual game.

In Within the Blade, you control a ninja from the clan Black Lotus, who has to face an unprecedented threat that is devastating the whole of feudal Japan. With ninja-skills and an ever-increasing arsenal of gadgets at hand, you will explore forests, cities, fortresses, and other locations as you try to uncover what’s behind Steel Claw clan’s sudden increase in power.

This narrative is expanded with some cool pixel-art vignettes that appear between each chapter, not to mention new dialogue with NPCs when you go back to your home-village. But the truth is that Within the Blade’s narrative works more as a context to each level from the campaign, than a story that you would be looking forward to unveiling. This simplicity wouldn’t be a big problem considering that the game’s narrative at least adds some flavour to the ninja-based gameplay. Unfortunately, though, Within the Blade features some awkward dialogue where sentences don’t feel natural, almost as if they were badly translated.

A few other elements of Within the Blade share this same stigma of having lots of potential, but falling short due to design problems or poor implementation. The gameplay itself, for instance, works perfectly well on paper. Imagine yourself as a nimble ninja, who can use stealth and multiple tools to outwit every single enemy. In practice, however, it almost feels as if you’re constantly fighting against the controls.

This is not a real problem when you consider Within the Blade’s side-scrolling controls. Your character is indeed fast, and you can blend different movements such as double jumps, wall-running, and climbing. However, each one of these movements demands a precision that the game doesn’t consistently deliver. For example, if you want to wall-run and grab a platform ledge to get to another level in the scenario, you need to get the correct angle and inputs for that manoeuvre. If you fail, you’ll see your character plummeting to the ground.

The real problem lies in how many unfair traps are present in Within the Blade’s level design. Some of these result in an insta-kill, and a few seem to be strategically positioned below trick platforming sections. To make things worse, Within the Blade’s enemy AI is equally inconsistent. Trying to progress through a level in a stealth fashion becomes a true challenge when you can’t really be sure if an enemy will be able to spot you or not. Sometimes they may see you even if they are turned in the opposite direction. Others, you can almost face directly. To compensate for these mid-level issues, Within the Blade does, at least, have a nice array of bosses, which are varied and fun to battle. 

Although it has just a three-hour campaign, Within the Blade encourages replays with a huge array of craftable items, as well as skills that you can unlock every time you revisit your home village. Its pixel-art style, while simple, does a good job of presenting a vibrant world. It’s really a shame that all this is hindered by some frustrating issues when it comes to the basics.