Mark of the Ninja (720p HD) NK, NA, NSC, NG+ Walkthrough - Part 1: Ink & Dreams
2Hello and welcome to my first new guide in a while! Since I'm a fan of stealth games and indie games, it's no surprise that Mark of the Ninja would hit my radar eventually.
So what exactly is this guide? Specifically, I'm primarily aiming for No Kills, No Alerts, No Special Costume, and New Game Plus Difficulty on every level. What this means is that I'm basically going for maximum stealth on each level, while also making it harder on myself by avoiding or at least minimizing the most powerful options the game provides you. There is no reason to limit yourself like this if you're just looking to maximize point or honor score, but it's more challenging to play the game this way and that's how I like it.
Now, if you're just looking to go for 100% stealth rankings with less difficulty, the Path of Silence costume is pretty handy for that. It offers no sword, but who cares when you can run to your heart's content and can carry two sets of distraction items? That costume allows you to clear levels stealthily faster than I will in this guide, but I opted for the default Path of the Ninja costume to make things harder. Picking a costume that offers no distraction items whatsoever is even more difficult, but I feel it's impossible (or nearly so) to get past certain sections non-lethally without at least SOME distraction items. The Path of Wisdom DLC offers other non-lethal options, but I scoff at that as I consider those tools nearly cheating. The challenge of non-lethality lies in not using your sword, but things like melee knockouts and very effective dusk moths let you get through many sections "stealthily" without hassle. It defeats the purpose IMO, and that's why I definitely won't be using that!
1:10 - One of New Game +'s annoyances is that anything not in your direct line of sight is obfuscated. Since it is easy to change your view at a moment's notice, even when hidden, this is a rather silly restriction, and it makes most of the levels look like crap as a consequence.
1:31 - Removing noise markers is a more legitimately challenging addition, but since the game was designed around providing the player with lots of information in order to make good decisions (and since various other markers remain in the game even in New Game +), it seems weird to omit them here.
2:13 - While I'm not in this to maximize score (especially because certain lethal options are more valuable), I will often distract enemies even when not strictly necessary as that helps boost score for the score "star" requirements. You probably won't have to do it as often as I do to meet the bare minimum, but I figure it probably doesn't hurt to do so when I can. Since I'm not using the Path of Silence, this is definitely not a speedrun.
4:45 - Though I've already collected all of them in my earlier run-through of the game, I'll show how to get all three scrolls per level anyway (with this being #1 for this level). It's a bit of a score boost and can be challenging to do non-lethally at times, so that's good enough incentive for me.
7:10 - I've always found this room interesting because it's the only time you see this kind of locked-door setup in the entire game, at least if you're stealthy anyway.
8:17 - You could use a Cardboard Box, Dusk Moth, or Smoke Bomb here, but I wanted to show a maneuver that's feasible though less trivial: the same height jump in which you just barely avoid enemy detection. It's never strictly necessary, but it can be handy in a pinch if you're low on items.
9:24 - Scroll #2, easy to miss.
9:32 - This is the first room of the game where it is tricky to proceed non-lethally, so that's why I opted for a smoke bomb. The gong will only distract one guard, and the wide light makes it difficult to sneak by even if you can distract both guards with a bamboo dart or something. For situations where you'd have to otherwise really exploit the enemy AI, I grant myself the use of the occasional distraction item.
9:53 - In regards to the dev commentary: And yet you decided to take away the ever important sound markers in NG+...
10:22 - Since many of the optional objectives (AKA "seals") in this game involve killing, I'm going to avoid showing how to do those to preserve my no kill bonus for each level. However, since I've already completed them in my normal difficulty run-through of the game, I can still provide tips on how I accomplished them. That said, I will try to cover most other objectives that can be done stealthily and/or that involve an extra bit of challenge. I'll be more specific in the relevant videos about letting you know what I did and did not visually cover. Here, I didn't bother with the four wooden frame gongs you need to hit for the first seal of the game. You should have no trouble spotting all four throughout the level.
11:23 - Scroll #3, take out the lights for an easier time recovering it.
16:37 - I could've tossed another smoke bomb for an easier time, but it's not necessary if you move fast.
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