Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider Review

Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a 2D action platformer developed by JoyMasher Studio. The specialty of this small developer is the making of retro-style games. One of their best titles is Blazing Chrome which has a wonderful fast-paced side-scrolling shooter similar to the old-school Contra games. Now JoyMasher is back with another game that this time reminds us of the Shinobi games on good old 16-bit consoles. Of course, it has been inspired by Megaman games too, but we are dealing with a product more similar to Shinobi 3.

Vengeful Guardian puts you in the shoes of a ninja cyborg called Moonrider. He was built to help a ruthless regime along with several other such supersoldiers and robots. But suddenly he opposes the ruling regime and goes to war with other super soldiers. The story of the game is cliche and has nothing important to say. There is not going to be any twist during the story. Though note that such a game that wants to be the same as the retro titles does not need a deep story to tell. Fortunately, this straightforward story narrates with interesting cutscenes and dialogues. Especially the cutscenes will be attractive for retro fans due to the game’s eye-catching pixel art.

As we said, the graphics are designed in the style of the 16-bit era. Indeed, the developer has left no stone unturned in this field. Because today many games want to do such a thing, but the Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider literally succeeded in this field. JoyMasher has not only put the visual elements in the game with fantastic details, but the multi-layered environment designs are also fantastic on some levels.

Each level has a completely different visual variety from the other ones. For example, one stage takes place in an industrial environment, another level in the skies, and another in beyond earth’s atmosphere! All those are combined with synth music tracks with a nineties mood. This way the audience will immerse in a sense of nostalgia. Of course, some of the music tracks are great to listen to regardless of the game itself.

Vengeful Guardian has fast-paced and challenging gameplay. Movenrider (The main character) has simple melee attacks and can also jump and kick enemies over their heads. In addition, he can run to make higher jumps or deliver a fatal blow to enemies. Just like in the old Shinobi games, it’s not the flashy battles and complex combos that will win you, but the precision of your action and complete familiarity with the behavior of the enemies will help you. To survive in this game, you have to know when to jump, run, and hit the enemy. This makes the fights simple and brutal at the same time.

Fortunately, unlike Soulslike titles, this game is not just for a certain segment of gamers. That is, even though the game does not have different difficulty levels, you can discover modifier chips that change the gameplay and make the game easier. For example, a chip will restore some of your health by killing each enemy. Of course, if you’re looking for more of a challenge, you can use a chip that kills you with one enemy hit! In addition to these, every main boss you defeat will give a special attack to you that can be helpful in the fights.

We love Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider because it took us back in time with its classic aesthetics and gameplay. However, it can be engaging for modern gamers because of its action and exciting gameplay. I just wish the game had more levels and unlockables or in short anything that could make us play the game more. You can finish this seventeen-dollar game in less than five hours.

The review code was provided by the publisher