Digital Shorts: ‘Within the Blade’ Review (Xbox Series S)
In DIGITAL SHORTS we review some of the latest video games that are only available digitally (at least in the UK), in a short-form review format. In this edition, we take a look at the ninja platformer Within the Blade, which is available now on multiple platforms.
In 1560 A.D – Japan’s last Shogunate lost full control over the realm causing an eventual explosion into a massive civil war with other provinces of the once mighty empire. Anarchy reigned through the country as the different clans waged an all-out bloody war for supremacy. One clan “Steel Claw” in particular led by their Daimyo (Military Leader) Mamoru Imai, began seeking the knowledge of old forbidden practices and worshipping dark entities in order to try and place a curse upon his enemies. Mamoru was soon to be infected by the spirit of a vindictive and very malevolent Samurai warlord. Through this infection, “Steel Claw” began a campaign of total chaos and hatred spreading vile darkness through the lands, infecting other nations along with it. The demonically possessed Daimyo allies himself with nine other powerful demons and forges a massive army born from hatred and fueled by blood. No one army can withstand him. All hope is on the detachment of the shinobi clan “Black Lotus”, operations of sabotage only can weaken the power of Mamoru. The warlord must be assassinated or Japan will crumble into dust.
Oooooh that’s sounds good doesn’t it? That’s the official synopsis for Within the Blade, a game that was – reportedly – originally titled Pixel Shinobi, which is one of the reasons I wanted to try this game out; after all, who doesn’t want to play a pixel-based Shinobi-style platformer? To me, Within the Blade looks, on paper, like a winner. Harkening back to the days of side-scrolling beat ’em-up, platform-based action this game sounded like my idea of heaven. Guess what? It wasn’t. In fact, it was anything but!
Whilst we’re all familiar with the use of pixel sprites in indie games these days, a throwback to gaming of yesteryear, there’s one part of that era of gaming I don’t enjoy… and that’s bad controls. Yes, Within the Blade, from the get-go, is a b*stard to control – you character seemingly floating around the landscape like he’s on ice; the god-forsaken wall-climb/jump system is ridiculous broken, making doing such a task feel more like luck than anything; and then there are the enemies who’ll die one minute then take a four hour beating the next – and woebetide if you’re not in the EXACT spot you need to be, at the EXACT sword’s length to hit your opponent correctly. Why? Because they’ll beat the crap out of you and your attacks will have ZERO effect!
And if you do manage to come to terms with the terrible controls, you’ll find that Within the Blade is ridiculously short. Like mobile-game short. Or at least I think so… OK, so I’ve seen people say that the game is replayable, allowing you to find or craft new weapons (there’s apparently over 100 weapons for example) etc. to change how the game plays, but after fighting the game all the way to play through it once, why the hell would anyone want to replay it?!
Couple a short game with bad controls, that will often behave in completely different ways each time you even attempt a move, AND the fact there are inst-kill traps, shoddy enemy AI, and imprecise, inconsistent, gaming all-round and it’s hard to recommend Within the Blade, especially given how many really good indie ninja-based games there are out there!
If you’re a masochist then you can buy Within the Blade from the Microsoft Store now.
