I played Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time this week. Apparently Itagaki and some of the other ex-Team Ninja members who left after Ninja Gaiden 2 made it, so it felt like a natural next game after finishing the Ninja Gaiden trilogy.

I was very positively surprised by this game. Art direction is great, it has some very nice looking levels and apparently got both the original creator, some of the show writers as well as the original voice cast on board. Story isn’t going to pull up any trees but it felt appropriate for a cartoon and had some fun characters.

Gameplay definitely felt like it had Ninja Gaiden lineage, and felt pretty fun overall. Between the graphics and the ground pickups it felt a bit like a throwback to games of a bygone era. It’s a bit of a shame that many important combat abilities are gated behind the skill tree as it means the gameplay doesn’t make a great first impression, but it opens up and becomes a lot more fun as you start unlocking things.

Bosses were fun for the most part and felt appropriately balanced. Some fun designs and playing on Normal I didn’t need more than a couple attempts at most for each boss, which feels right for a game like this. Maybe the final boss’s vulnerability windows were a tad to small, but it was a cool boss otherwise.

Definitely recommend it if you’re interested in a more laid back and chill action game. Or if you’re a Samurai Jack fan, of course. Sadly I believe it’s been delisted from all storefronts but Epic, but you can of course always fly the black flag.