The year 2025 is still splendid for French video games. After the triumph of Dark clear: expedition 33, In Interactive Sandfall, it is the turn of the Lizardcube study to be spoken to the departure of Shinobi: Revenge art, This August 29. And the press notes have already placed the new game of the Parisian studio Rage 4 streets Among the best of the year with a metric note of 87.
However, as for his counterpart of Montpellier, there is no video game mastod, teams of hundreds of people behind Shinobi: Revenge art which signs the return of a SEGA cult license. “Lizarcube is a dozen people,” he emphasizes Tech & Co Ben Fiquet, its founder and artistic director of the game. “But we do projects with our hearts, when he speaks to us and when we feel he can give something.”
The aura of a cult license of the 1990s
For Wonder Boy: The dragon trap EITHER Rage 4 streetsHis previous games, Lizardcube addresses an iconic deductible and is responsible for catching it. But with a little more nostalgia and love for this game that marked the teams. “These are my childhood games. Taking them up to date with a modern game and graphics, it is a great pleasure,” says Ben Fiquet, not proud to have managed to awaken the interest of SEGA that entrusted them with the mission of making their famous Ninj Shinobi 3D In Nintendo 3DS.
“They tried to relive their inactive licenses. They were sent to them ShinobiAnd they said yes, ”recalls the head of the study. And everyone is destined for the license with the desire to reinvent the saga while they remain faithful to their arcade spirit.
Choosing Shinobi is not completely trivial for video game fans they are. It is a founding title for a whole generation from the first steps of Joe Musashi in Shinobi (1987) in Terminal Arcade. If the last months have seen many Ninja games appear (Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ninja Gaiden 4 and Rage Boundetc.), Lizardcube also wanted to impose his brand as he remained faithful to his main character, his universe and his search for revenge. “I really wanted to make a side displacer (game that progresses laterally, editor’s note) that also allowed us to explode artistically,” says Julian You, artistic director of the game and fanatic of the former. “Shinobi had this enormous potential, with his universes that are traditional and technological.”
If you admit less effect with the license, it is not the same generation, Sacha Szymoniak, producer of the game, knows how “aura” that this ninja game and “enormous luck” to work in its resurrection. And there is no doubt to make a simple remake “frozen in the past.” “We started as a pure tribute … but we realized that the old man was boring,” said Ben Fiquet with humor. “We had to add a new game to satisfy the modern player, without distorting gasoline.
The result is a beautiful fluidity controller in the hand, on a game mixing platform, Metroidvania and unbridled fights. A real launch that does well ally with a sublime graphic leg, inspired by Japanese animation. “Each level has its own identity. Visually, we wanted to stand out,” says Julian. And the promise remains perfectly.
A tribute to the original game in a modernized version
In this story of revenge and fight against Kunai and other weapons, this Shinobi 2025, above all, manages to revive the spirit of the SEGA franchise by remaining faithful to its original, twisted of the creativity of Lizardcube. The frame wanted to be “very 90, possibly taken as a shot, but effective”, adding new products: spectacular executions, greater fluidity and wide accessibility options to allow everyone to model their experience, between the first approach and punitive game.
“The basic experience is still difficult, but we must respect the time of the players,” insists Ben Fiquet. And Sacha Szymoniak to add: “We find a good mixture between a strict platform and an unbridled combat. It is easy to handle, but deep for those who wish to go further.”
And the first positive feedback showed that Sega was right by leaving freedom to the French study. “They even pushed us to go to the end of our artistic proposal. We were super free,” says Ben Fiquet. A successful bet for both partners.
“We wanted to restore the player this feeling of power and fluidity, to embody a ninja that turns and defends his clan,” summarizes Julian You. With Shinobi: Revenge art, Lizardcube offers the famous Ninja a daring return that has all the weapons to seduce nostalgic as fond neophytes of the genre. Far from being a simple remake, the game simply signs a real rebirth of the franchise.
Source: BFM TV
