Within The Blade | PS4 Review

Stealthy, stylish, and stumbling is Ratalaika's newly published ninja platformer, "Within The Blade". This pixelated indie with a simplistic narrative about a lone ninja in training overcoming an all powerful evil ruler is one with multiple features that builds upon it's base bloody combat, and tricky platforming gimmicks. Offering up a skill tree, and crafting vendor to compliment it's core mechanics it enhances what would otherwise be a basic experience. In a back and forth fashion you, the gamer, will be controlling the trained ninja protagonist Hideaki as he clears areas of enemy foot soldiers, and returns to his village to spend collected coin and use found or bought ingredients on item or weapon recipes. Additionally applying earned skill points on unlockable combat skills, crafting abilities, and improved stats or immunities. Perfection is the key to capitalizing on the game's reward system, and by ending a run in the most stealthy fashion while not taking hits you will earn a respectable rank as well as a title befitting of your efforts alongside the perks.

Gameplay in "Within The Blade" is broken up into two key modes of play. A main mode where the story unfolds via actions rendered, and a challenge mode to test your ability to masterfully use the game's mechanics. In the main mode of play, which you can continue from via passed checkpoints, you will be traversing various stages. Clearing them of enemies, and bosses before returning to your village to spend loot, and ingredients on preparing for the next outing. As a ninja you have a few base abilities at your disposal. You can engage in melee combat through your fists and feet or use weapons that will eventually break to mortally wound and mutilate unsuspecting enemies of varying types. You can also double jump, wall run, block, and throw projectiles. Using healing items also comes in handy as you have limited life within the game.

Each stage you encounter is filled with enemies that will be alerted to your presence if you do not approach them stealthily. Stealth comes with unlocked skills as well as a blocking approach, and crawl. The environments also harbor obstacles, and vantage points that can be used to sneak up on foes who are initially unaware. If an enemy becomes slightly aware of your presence a question mark above their head will fill up first, and turn into an exclamation mark which also fills up when they've definitely spotted you. Going from the starting area of a stage to the end in the most stealthy manner will reward you points, a shuriken rating, and a title according to your efforts. Stealth executions factored into that. One thing you have to keep in mind is that using stealth will allow for one hit bloody dismemberments or executions whereas being spotted will cause enemies to take more hits to be killed.

After a few outings into enemy populated stages you'll encounter a boss fight. Boss fights require strategies to overcome. Mainly due to the fact that each boss has a certain weakness, and a unique attack or defense pattern. Defeating the boss will return you to the village where you can speak to your sensei, learn more about the story, and train or unlock skills from the branching skill tree. The same thing that can be done after returning from a regular stage. It should be noted that returning to the village after a stage is optional, and not automatic. You can opt to continue onward to the next stage if you like. The same can't be said after a boss fight though as you are promptly returned to the village for a conversational plot update, and a treasure chest full of goodies for your achievement.

As you progress, and return to the village more residents will appear as will more vendors, and options in regards to crafting. Progress will also open up the challenges back at the main menu which must each be cleared in order to unlock the next. Challenges are single stage affairs where your ability to use the mechanics at your disposal are put to the ultimate test. It's a challenge gauntlet filled with obstacles, environmental hazards, destructible blockades, and sometimes even enemies. 

The Verdict ...

Ratalaika's "Within The Blade" is a game not without it's share of flaws. At times the wall climbing mechanics, character movement, and combat can feel crude or loose by design. This is ever more evident in the flawed, and misguided tutorial which in one early section tells you to do a string of inputs for wall climbing sake that do not help you meet the required objective. It's misleading, but thankfully there is not an instance in the stages that I played where this misinformation will hinder progress. Plus the tutorial itself is optional. That being said... for a game that rewards for stealth execution your character is not suited to perfection for such a precise approach early on. You basically build Hideaki up to that point as you train, and unlock skills on the skill tree. 

Considering what the game offers I feel it's an alright indie and that the developer shows competent ingenuity as well as design know how. I do wish though that the wall climbing/running was done differently. It feels a step behind what most established action platformers have already achieved and perfected. It feels purposefully complicated for an artificial difficulty spike. Speaking of which the game does offer three difficulty settings including Easy, Normal, and Permadeath. The latter for the players who are glutton for a punishing playthrough. My final verdict, with all things considered, sees "Within The Blade" earning a barely passing grade.