Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, the reimagining of one of the oldest Sega franchises, is shaping up to be one of the most highly rated games of 2025, with a "Mighty" rating on OpenCritic. Such a strong critical reception has put Shinobi: Art of Vengeance in a prime position to carry on with the same momentum once it rolls out on August 29.
In 2023, it was announced that Sega and Lizardcube were collaborating to release Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, a reboot of the classic Sega IP Shinobi, which first appeared on the gaming giant's arcade machines in the 1980s. The upcoming action-platformer is the third vintage franchise associated with Sega that the French indie developer has worked on, besides 2017's Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap and 2020's Streets of Rage 4. As a matter of fact, these games make up Lizardcube's entire portfolio, which has been critically well-received so far. While the Wonder Boy game holds an OpenCritic score of 79, the Streets of Rage sequel boasts an 84 on the review aggregator website.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Reimagines the Ninja Franchise Through New Brushstrokes and Blade Strikes - The Best War Games Advance
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance reimagines the classic IP in a new context but with a reverent understanding of what made the IP great in the first place.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Set to Launch as One of the Best-Rated Games of 2025
Adding another feather to Lizardcube's cap, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance has garnered highly positive reviews across the board, reaching an average OpenCritic score of 87 based on 65 reviews at the time of writing. Moreover, per the source, an overwhelming 97% of critics recommend playing the 2D side-scroller. Impressively, the Sega-published title is also the second-highest-rated side-scrolling game of 2025, only behind Earthion, and comes in at 21 among the overall highest-rated games of the year on OpenCritic. In The Best War Games's Shinobi: Art of Vengeance review, the reboot was described as sporting "gorgeous anime-style visuals" and offering "satisfying" gameplay.
From the looks of it, the new Shinobi game seems to be rather entertaining and worthwhile, especially for longtime fans of the series. It's worth noting that the Lizardcube-developed title has also slightly beaten out the 86-rated Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound by The Game Kitchen, which is another new side-scroller featuring a ninja protagonist and another title belonging to a classic IP. All in all, it appears to be a great time in gaming for fans of such retro franchises.
With the early reviews now out of the way, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is shifting its focus towards its public launch across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. Following such a favorable welcome by critics, Lizardcube devs would next hope for the game's fan reception to be as warm and reassuring, too.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 94%
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action, Platformer, Hack and Slash
