Cyjin: The Cyborg Ninja

Genre: Action

Players: 1

.

Review:

Cyjin, released on PC in 2021 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2022, is a game that’s a bit hard to pin down to a genre, but I’m leaning toward calling it an Action game. In this game, players control a futuristic ninja in an abstract setting, with players aiming their trajectory to leap across the screen to any surface, destroying enemies on the way, with the ultimate goal being to reach the end of each of the game’s levels.

Cyjin’s presentation makes use of a 2D art style that’s colorful and stylized, but not especially distinct, backed by a soundtrack that mixes traditional Japanese instruments with electric guitars and fast-paced percussion, which all works well for this game’s theming, but doesn’t really come across as memorable.

As for the gameplay, the easiest point of comparison I can make here is Dandara, which uses a similar style of controls that has you using line-of-sight to leap from floor to ceiling to wall to ceiling to wall, and so on. This type of movement takes a lot of getting used to, with something as simple as moving to a platform near you can seem unnecessarily difficult at times.

Overall, I feel like the gameplay here is fine, it works, but there’s little about it that’s especially thrilling or enjoyable. This is no doubt due to how methodical it all is, which makes doing what you want to do often seem more tedious than it needs to be.

Overall, Cyjin is a decent Action game that some may find will suffice as a time-waster, but beyond that I can’t say much for it. It is not in any significant way a bad game, but neither is it one that’s particularly good. It is merely passable.

tl;dr – Cyjin is an Action game where players must direct a cyborg ninja leaping from surface to surface via line-of-sight, destroying enemies he passes in mid-air. This game is a decent time-waster, but the tedious nature of movement in this game really keeps it from being much more than that.

Grade: C

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}