Shovel Knight creators Yacht Club Games have announced their second publishing venture. It's an 8-bit retro-styled platformer called Cyber Shadow and it's in development for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Cyber Shadow is being developed by Aarne "MekaSkull" Hunziker and is his first development outing. The game draws heavy inspiration from Ninja Gaiden and other 8-bit platformers. Cyber Shadow takes place in a cyberpunk future world overrun by hostile synthetic lifeforms. Players will control Shadow, a ninja who must traverse the ruins of Mekacity to discover the source of his world's ruin. You can check out the game's launch trailer below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAjkJJiWTps
Gameplay-wise, Cyber Shadow is a fast-paced action platformer. Yacht Club is promising "sharply honed ninja platforming action" and describes the game as a cross between Mario, Contra, Ninja Gaiden and the visual aesthetics of Batman. MekaSkull and Yacht Club are striving for a balance between retro difficulty and modern accessibility, inviting players to revisit the era of 8-bit difficult or to experience it for the first time "with an added convenience or two". Exactly what that means is unclear, but if Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight is anything to go by then there will likely be a few modern tweaks to make Cyber Shadow a little less fever dream-inducingly hard than its forebears.
Yacht Club says it reached out to MekaSkull in 2017 about getting involved with Cyber Shadow. The studio is handling publishing duties like marketing and porting, but it's also "deeply involved in giving design feedback" and imparting lessons learned during the creation of Shovel Knight. That said, this is still very much MekaSkull's baby; Yacht Club wants him to focus on the core game development rather than the business side of things.
We're still not sure on a release date for Cyber Shadow, so expect more info over the coming weeks. The game will be released for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC. In the meantime, you can go say hi to Yacht Club Games at PAX East. The company's booth will offer visitors the chance to play Cyber Shadow as well as checking out the new Shovel Knight expansion King of Cards.
Are you looking forward to getting your hands on Cyber Shadow? Let us know in the comments below!
