QCF: Within The Blade

fter first loading up Within The Blade on my Switch I was not sure what I was getting myself into. The title formally known on PC as Pixel Shinobi from indie developer Ametist Studio has a reputation for being a difficult but deep stealth action platformer with RPG elements since its initial release in 2019. My initial playing brought back some memories of playing fast paced indie platformers such as Super Meat Boy and Shovel Knight, with a Souls style combat and timing all wrapped in a ninja world and story. Now with time and experience to better form an opinion, I can say this game is hard, but fun to play and even with some lack of polish dulling its blade does not take away the overall feel and accomplishments it provides.

Traps are just as dangerous for you as they are for your enemies.

The story begins with the leader of the Steel Claws, Wamoru Imai using the powers of darkness in order to become the new shogun of the time. The protagonist, Hideaki will use the teachings of his Sensei of the Black Lotus Ninjas to stop this reign and bring back order to the people of Japan. The game starts with learning basic maneuvers and attacks, leading to utilizing various skills to maximize stealth, attacks and crafting. Difficulty is an important aspect of the game and will lead to multiple attempts of the more challenging traversing and boss battles. Easy, Normal and PermaDeath difficulties will make the experience more or less of a stressful time but through my playthrough the game seemed fair in its mechanics. I often got through a level by simply surviving and trying to find the exit as quick as possible. The ranking system after each completion of a level will reward or punish being detected, taking attacks or overcoming enemies, allowing for score chasers to have more opportunities for best run attempts. For my style, just overcoming the base difficulties was accomplishment enough for me.

Boss battles require strategy and timing to proceed.

One hinderance of WTB is the inventory and crafting systems. On the Switch it was extremely hard to make out each pixelated tile that would display each item in the inventory. It was also very unclear on how to retrieve or place items in storage, or to combine items to complete all the various recipes to create weapons, traps and chemicals. Navigating the menus was clunky and lacked any clear direction, often frustrating me to a point where my loadout for each level would be lacking in some form. There were also plenty of misspellings in the text while reading through descriptions and in the dialogue boxes of the story. Just some things that could have been avoided with several QA passthroughs that took me away from enjoying the game and having more trouble than was necessary while progressing.

The inventory and crafting menus were a real bummer.

Another element of challenge for me is more based on my lack of experience playing difficult games, and not at the fault of the game because I think it is a unique element of the genre is that the levels and inventories of the merchants are randomly generated. It was frustrating for me at times to not have ingredients or specific levels at the ready to make the playthrough easier however this is something seen often in rougelikes and it creates a unique experience each time. It is not a mechanic I have heard about in this type of game though, so I thought it really added to its depth but also to its already challenging difficulty. I am just not the player that seeks out this type of punishment in their digital downtime, so it made the split-second wall runs and jumps and enemy attacks something I had to prepare for each time the level loaded. However, this did make later progression in the twenty-five levels of the game more satisfying to complete and did train my playstyle to be more cautious and utilizing assassinations instead of an all-out attack.

Extra objectives can lead to more money and more challenge.

The skill tree opens plenty of new options to explore and helps to tackle various enemies and bosses with unique strategy and attacks. I personally would set up mines and other traps to my advantage and use distance to lure my opposition into taking loads of damage and avoiding any close-range attacks. Unlocking upgrades to blacksmithing and assassination was also very satisfying to accomplish and keeping in the shadows would help to eliminate unnecessary attention. This is truly where the game shined, each downed foe really feeling earned and not a cheap or exploited maneuver. This type of game play would never be my normal go-to for the Switch, but the sense of accomplishment and progression made me very invested in seeing it through to the end. The best part is that there are so many unseen circumstances and endings that can only be obtained by playing through and completing objectives that are not immediately defined by the game. Completing the story does unlock New Game Plus for more skills and weapons to obtain. 

I often used stealth and speed to avoid many battles.

Patience, precision timing and a mastery of weapons and skills are all aspects I would normally steer away from in a game. Within The Blade was able to use a good blend of platforming and action to teach me this and ultimately created a sense of achievement that I have not had from a game in many years. It is not without its faults and is lacking in some areas but did not take away from the overall excitement I had once the credits cleared. Anyone looking for some challenge and depth in their next indie game on consoles should seek this title out.