Genre: Action, Stealth
Year: 2012
Developed by: Klei Entertainment
Published by: Microsoft Studios
Platforms: XBOX 360, XBOX One, PC, PS4, Switch, Linux, macOS
#177
Feeling Like: Remarkable
I hate stealth games.
Mark of the Ninja is a stealth game.
I love Mark of the Ninja.
It all comes down to the fair set of rules you’re given. In many three dimensional stealth games, I always found myself being found out when I thought I shouldn’t have been. I obeyed the laws of the game, stayed in shadows, but I’d often be rudely interrupted by some guard who miraculously saw me in pitch dark and killed me. What the hell?
So that meant I was never clear on the rules. I didn’t want to try and be extra sneaky for fear of being found out. I wasn’t confident in my abilities to take down a group of enemies, or experiment with the various gadgets I was given. I never got that power progression you’d find in something in a Metroid game. The Arkham Batman games were sublime examples of this, add in the fact that if you’re spotted by enemies, it’s not an immediate game over. Instant-fail stealth sections will plummet your game down any list I’m in charge of. Stealth should be an advantage, not a requirement.
Mark of the Ninja sidesteps any and all frustrations in this regard through beautiful, simple design. Every source of sound and light is explicitly shown. You find out very quickly when your mercenary adversaries can and cannot see you, or when they’ll open fire or when they’ll investigate a noise. Because their sightlines are shown, and every noise has an animated circle accompanying it, I was never uncertain about the dangers. I was never found out due to a crappy camera, controls, or murky rules. It was always my fault, and death results in an incredibly fast respawn anyway.
Right off the bat, I knew I’d enjoy this game because I felt comfortable with the ruleset given. Because of its two dimensional nature, I never was confused about where I was, or where the obstacles lie. The challenge then was getting through these levels unseen, or undamaged by predicting enemy behavior, using the tools at my disposal and perfecting the timing of both. Getting through a particularly tough room unscathed is incredibly thrilling.
God, there are so many great touches here. Like how the Ninja will be in black and white when in the shadows, but in the light his costume will show up in color. Every visual cue is meant to clue you in that hey, you’re visually exposed and about to get shot. Move.
It’s such a breath of fresh air. Even random birds that land near you will caw and potentially alert your enemies. There are enough hiding spots and vents to duck into, so you’re not constantly stressed, but there are very few moments that relax the tension. It is fantastic.
The kills are surprisingly brutal. Some stealth kills in other games are quickly shown, or the camera is behind so you don’t exactly see everything. Here, you see the surprise in your unfortunate victim’s eyes as you slowly slice your sword into their skull and draw it back out. It’s stylishly animated, so it’s not going for realism, but it’s still a cut above what you’d expect to see in a game that looks like this. It adds to the game’s menace and reinforces how the baddies become more heavily armed and terrified of you. I would be.
I think Katana Zero was going for a similar feel, though failure there is far more punishing and I didn’t find the same satisfaction when going through each room. Mark of the Ninja got nearly everything right; I felt like a badass ninja in the shadows, a murder machine that could only be caught if I didn’t pay attention and respect the laws of light and sound. I didn’t love the ending, but that’s about the only critique I had. If more stealth games were like Mark of the Ninja, it would be one of my favorite genres instead of one I generally stick my nose up to.
The 500 