Cyber Shadow by Mechanical Head Games is an 8-Bit masterpiece entangled in a beautiful, dystopian world of ninjas action and deadly automatons.

Cyber Shadow is a game that wears its influences on its sleeve and brilliantly weaves together the best elements from the 8-bit era of action-platforming titles. It is able to tell a story with more heart and depth than usually possible through this specific aesthetic. With a soundtrack that sounds like it came out of a lost Nintendo cartridge, following Shadow's journey is a thrilling ride with edge-of-your-seat combat hiding behind every corner. The game's difficulty may turn players away, but that has always been the case with older games such as Castlevania or Master Blaster. You may perish a lot, but the game is so good, you're going to want to keep trying to see how it all plays out.

Playing Cyber Shadow is like stepping through a portal and being transferred back to the late 80's - early 90's. High nostalgia factor aside, it's a finely crafted sidescrolling action platformer in and of itself and should not be overlooked by fans of the genre.

Cyber Shadow's excellent gameplay, level design, variety, and music make it a great modernization of the classic Ninja Gaiden formula.

There's a lot I like about Cyber Shadow. Its soundtrack is amazing, its environments are impressively designed, and its story steadily pulled me along. What holds it back, to some extent, is that it feels like it's made for people who've already played a hundred games just like it. Cyber Shadow is a product made for fans of an incredibly specific sort of gaming experience, and effectively no one else.

Cyber Shadow is a hell of a ride for those who worship 8-Bit aesthetics. Yacht Club Games and Mekaskull deliver a splendid homage to the NES, even though many checkpoints will heavily punish your ego.

Cyber Shadow is a solid retro throwback with a few things that drag it down. The feeling of becoming more powerful and being able to take down huge enemy threats with your wits and skills is very rewarding, and the levels when you can use your abilities more freely to overcome challenges are quite fun. It's the trial-and-error areas littered with cheap deaths, demanding exact precision over long and frustrating stretches, that hamper the experience. Still, if you're looking for an old-school-styled ninja game that will test your skills (and sometimes your patience), Cyber Shadow is a worthy contender.