Within the Blade [Xbox]
Developed by Ametist Studio, Within the Blade is a 2D stealth platformer where you play as Hideaki, a member of the “Black Lotus” ninja clan. Hideaki must defend his land from the Steel Claw clan, who have called upon demonic forces to help them seize control of the realm and caused a massive civil war in the process. You will have weapons such as your Ninjato sword, as well as Kusarigawa, which are satisfying to use, but you can also utilise hand to hand combat, and a wide variety of other weaponry and throwables as you progress.
Strangely, as well as a dedicated Tutorial section, there’s also tutorial scrolls that you will pass through upon starting the main story, and will be guided through a tutorial to cover the basics of movement and combat. The tutorial has some flaws, in that it advises certain controls for things such as directing you to press right on the d-pad rather than at a slight diagonal, but once you get past these and figure out those bits for yourself - you’ll continue on as normal. Likewise, even after learning how to do things in the tutorial section, such as learning to dash, etc. you will not be able to do these things until they have been unlocked using experience points - which just makes it feel pointless having the standalone Tutorial at all.
With a very chunky pixel style, and plenty of gore as you slice through enemies, with heads flying off and bodies being split in half - it’s very visually pleasing. Seeing enemies explode into huge blood splats against walls really adds to the lethality of Hideaki’s skills, showing just how powerful he is as a force against the enemies. Enemy designs are varied, from the other human enemies you’ll come across, to the larger, demonic entities that make up the ten bosses. The levels themselves are mostly very similar looking, with not a lot of variety in the environments aside from in a few specific areas. The soundtrack is well suited, although not overly memorable.
Being able to slice through bamboo feels satisfying - and using the grappling hook not only to reach higher areas, but to pull enemies closer to you is another well-done option. Movement feels great as Hideaki is quick and nimble, jumping through the trees to catch enemies by surprise, and creeping through the long grass to assassinate them. Wall running seems to be the one part where the movement falls down a little, as you’ll often find yourself unintentionally backing away from the wall once you get near the top, sometimes leading to your own demise as you fall into spikes below. Kills can be done in a variety of ways as you unlock more moves with the experience you’ve earned, and making full use of everything in your repertoire is fun.
Between levels you’ll return to your little village, where there are a variety of things to do such as buying recipes, items and weapons from street vendors, as well as having access to an extensive crafting tool in your home - although these recipes will have to be unlocked first. You can craft a wide variety of items, from throwables to health items, and these will come in handy as you progress through the story. You can also view your inventory back at your home, allowing you to choose items to bring along with you and if there are any you wish to leave behind. There are chests to be found all throughout the world, containing various items as well as coins - however these are very much luck based, as if you die and replay the same section again, the chest will still be there for you to open, but will contain something different this time around.
Overall, it’s a lot of fun to jump around the world, wiping out all of the enemies you come across. As well as the main story objectives, there are optional objectives for certain levels too - such as completing the level without being discovered more than five times - which can really add to the experience. If you wish to restart a level, this can be done by committing seppuku in the pause screen, which is a unique (yet somewhat relevant) way to do this, but takes time and can be interrupted by enemies, which can become quite frustrating. At the end of each level you are given a breakdown of how you scored, as well as a rating out of three shuriken, which can encourage you to replay the level to get a better ranking. Within the Blade is a lot of fun, offering a decent level of challenge with lots of replayability, so if that sounds good to you - you can pick it up for £9.99 on the Xbox Store.
In the end, we decided to give Within the Blade the Collecting Asylum rating of 7.5/10.
Have you played Within the Blade yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Ratalaika for the Within the Blade Xbox review code!
