![Shinobi no Okite [忍の掟] Game Sample - PC/Doujin](/images/yt/k6/shinobi-no-okite-game-sample-pcdoujin-gbt4x.jpg)
Shinobi no Okite [忍の掟] Game Sample - PC/Doujin
23"Ieyasu Tokugawa, who ended the era of Sengoku and unified Japan. This man created a highway connecting the capital of Kyoto and Edo. It is called the Tokaido-53-tsugi. On this Tokaido, three ninjas will travel from Edo in this present day with a secret mission."
This is the setup for "Shinobi no Okite", one of the first games released from "Panther Software" in over fifteen years. Also known as "The Three Female Ninjas", this game is one part history lesson, one part advertisement (on why to visit Japan) and one part mediocre "Qix" clone, and is incredibly Indie in just about every way. Nevermind the heavy usage of stock photos, almost incomprehensible localization, SD assets in this day and age or the campy self-promotion of Yumeville (the publishers, though to be fair, nobody else was probably gonna release this in Engrish, so it's whatevs), what gameplay is present is fairly lopsided even within the scope of Qix clones. The game has quite a few levels spread out through three different gameplay styles (play by percentage capture, finding treasure, or defeating certain enemies in order) and three playable characters each with different stats and skills, and the game starts out as decent derivative fun, but it quickly becomes unbalanced not just cause of the characters, but because the number of enemies, their speed and the obstacles scale unreasonably.
Each character comes from one of three revered clans (Iga, Koga, and Negoro) and they have different speeds and three levels of special techniques which you build from clearing sections of the screen and gaining items. "Kunai" of the Iga clan is fairly balanced with a low cost speed-up skill and her powerful invincible attack at max level which makes short work of enemies and levels. "Karin" of the Koga clan moves slowly and has abilities to slow enemies down or bind them (a level 2 skill, it's her most useful ability), but she moves very quickly when cutting the board. Then we have "Yuri" of the Negoro clan... she is arguably OP as her cheap skill makes her invincible long enough to clear most levels and her ultimate skill has a 1/3rd chance of instantly beating a stage. Even her level two skill protects her from enemies walking along your borders, and she has the best odds of clearing the game's advanced stages. Several skills have their powers based on a chance roulette, though more outcomes are favorable than not.
When you clear the game, you get a basic ending and then, in dramatic fashion, the game... ENDS! Players can revisit the story without the levels if they choose to, but the game feels like it's missing some basic features: you can turn on female and male (?) voices, but there are next to no voices that play during the game, even though it feels like the story was supposed to have spoken dialogue. The game's "help" file doesn't even help you, but takes you to an unrelated game's page... not that you should need the help, but still... the game was only released on Steam a few weeks ago. At least you can speed through dialogue even if you can't outright skip it. If you like simple 2D games, the presentation is also inoffensive and what little music is here is decent.
At $3, the game is still pretty hard not to recommend but... if you like what you see, then by all means. This is a video of different aspects of the game with the ending tacked on. You can get the game at:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1258410/Shinobi_no_OkiteThe_three_female_ninjas/
Enjoy.
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