Mark of the Ninja: Remastered Review

Mark of the Ninja Remastered is a stealth side-scrolling video game Developed and Published by popular Indie game studio Klei Entertainment, also responsible for the original Mark of the Ninja game which released back in 2012 under publisher Microsoft Studios. The game revolves around an unnamed ninja who happens to be the protagonist cursed with tattoos all over him helping him sense imminent threats and dangers. The remastered edition was released on 9th October, 2018 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Linux and Microsoft Windows.


First Impressions

Mark of the Ninja : Remastered has been engineered with brand new 4k Full HD textures with enhanced background and character art, better cinematic and artefacts, for the hardware that supports it making it a visual delight on standard 1080p monitors, compared to the previous version of the game which was compressed at 720p. A lot of generous bug fixes has been made by the developers, making it currently a very smooth and flawless experience on the PC platform with re-engineered better enhanced 5.1 Hi-Definition surround sounds. The game also features additional story mode where you can play as master tattooist Dosan with the ability to unlock new items including extra developer commentary notes on the sideline.



Story (Spoilers Free)

Mark of the Ninja : Remastered revolves around the story of an unnamed ninja protagonist who serves the Hisomu Clan as its protector. Throughout the game he is helped by a female ninja named Ora. The Ninja has cursed tattoo marks over him which gives him enhanced senses and supernatural powers but like all good things, his tattoo's also has consequences that will be revealed later throughout the story. The Ninja is trained by his master Azai.

Gameplay

Mark of the Ninja : Remastered is a stealth action side-scrolling video game, but can be played on various different playstyles ranging from going all out and brutally killing enemies with no stealth, being an invisible ghost slipping through the shadows of unaware enemies or as a silent assassin slicing through your treacherous enemies, using various environmental elements such as grappling, hiding behind obstacles, wall climbing and using surrounding elements, blending and hiding in the shadows while using your "Sword of Tetsuji" to cut through and perform stealth kills on the go. The protagonist has to traverse through various laser beam traps which he can disable by attacking its power source with a ninja Kunai, he has to make good use of gutter pipes and walls to climb over rooftops and balconies. The character can hide behind several dark objects and shadowy doors to make good use of the environment as a form of stealth. The city that the character travels through has various different guards patrolling, and halogen lights that look over pathways for intruders. Triggering any enemies, or accidentally stepping over tripwire lasers may result in an alarm. The player is also awarded with various kill bonuses and points depending on each assassination he carries out being from Peasant's Death to Ninja Tool kill. The game has different ranges of tools ranging from Attack Items to Distraction Items and has a perk system known as Techniques. The game has 7 different costumes with different usage and performance that the player can unlock through various challenges throughout the game.



Verdict

Mark of the Ninja: Remastered has an ESRB rating of Mature 17+ for containing Violence, Blood and Gore, and Strong Language. The game has a Nintendo Switch review score of 89/100 on Metacritic, PS4, Xbox One and PC being TBA. The game has an outstanding rating of 94 % positive reviews on steam store and 4.9/5 rating on the Microsoft store. It is a great game to play if you are a stealth video game fan with a lot of beautiful art to admire as you play-through making it a benchmark for a complete 2D side-scrolling stealth game of the modern gaming era.