Tonight I downloaded and played the demo for Shinobi — The Art of Vengeance on Steam Deck. One of my earliest gaming memories is playing The Revenge of Shinobi on the Sega Mega Drive, a game I still enjoy today.

I’ve been really excited about this new Shinobi game since it was first announced, and even set a date on my calendar for its release date. The demo for the game came out yesterday along with pre-orders on different platforms including a deluxe edition which includes early release and some other added features like the soundtrack.

The demo contains the whole first level, which takes a bit of time to play through, so it’s quite a generous demo. My first impressions are this is very much like Streets of Rage 4, but with elements faithful to the original franchise. Unlike The Revenge of Shinobi, this new entry to the franchise relies a lot less on shurikens and more on close combat. There are a lot of moves and combinations to remember. The tutorials are helpful in guiding you there, but I get the feeling you’ll have 3 or 4 that you rotate between, then ignore the rest.

There’s in-game currency which you earn by killing enemies, which can be used for buying additional moves and health benefits. It’s a nice addition that, I think, will keep people playing the game, even once you’ve completed it.

The first level in the demo is long. You move between different locations and tackle a range of different enemies with specialisms that you need to overcome. The action is fast and immensely enjoyable. On the Steam Deck, it runs at a consistent 90fps, and this makes all the actions in the game feel frantic and fun.

I think given the low price (£21ish if you pre-order), this will be a must-have game. Particularly on a handheld such as a Steam Deck. Regarding handhelds, I tried the same demo on the Nintendo Switch 2 and the performance was very disappointing. I’m hoping it’s just the demo and the full release will be optimised for the Switch 2 because if it isn’t, I can’t recommend getting it on that platform. The graphics are blurred and text is difficult to read. It feels like a 720p (or less) stretched out to 1080p. The frame rate is not as good as the Steam Deck, and it’s handling of HDR is terrible. Again, I hope this is just a limitation of the demo, but I’d be wary or pre-ordering on the Switch 2 based on this.

I wasn’t sure which console to get it on, but that last point solved it for me. I’ll be pre-ordering on Steam Deck, and probably the deluxe edition, as I want that soundtrack. If it gets a Switch 2 optimised version, I’ll pick it up again in a sale later on.

Bring on August, 29!