Shinobi Ops

Does Tenchu return?

Sony had their State of Play show and it had a lot of games to show; and good thing too because the show ran for a little over an hour. There’s a whole lot that we could talk about, but the game that caught my eye perhaps more than any other was Yakoh Shinobi Ops. It’s a stealth game that includes ninjas, and if that wasn’t enough the team developing Shinobi Ops is Aquire, the same Aquire responsible for the original ninja sneak ‘em up, Tenchu.

So is Shinobi Ops the return of Tenchu that I’ve been waiting for: I’m not sure. There are obvious similarities to be drawn, but it looks like Aquire are looking to give their new game it’s own identity. To start with, Shinobi Ops has a zoomed-out perspective, closer to an isometric view, then there’s the online co-op—Shinobi Ops does have single player too, and finally there’s the ‘Pursuer’, an unstoppable monster that stalks levels as spells doom for any ninja unfortunate enough to be found by it.

I’m very interested in how Yakoh Shinobi Ops will turn out, especially since it’s not releasing until 2027, so there’s still probably quite a lot to see from veterans Aquire; and that’s something Playstation and PC fans can look forward to.

Playing videogames, writing about videogames, considering videogames—that about sums it up. Videogames are the one hobby that I’ve kept since I was only little, zapping ducks on the NES or knocking out MR. X. And when I’m not enjoying classics from the bit generation of games or checking out those earliest of polygons, I’m probably playing something from today’s age of modern gaming: if I’m not complaining about it. Something I’m doing at the moment? Finally tackling Octopath Traveller 2.