Developed by JoyMasher studio and published by The Arcade Crew, Vengeful Guardian Moonrider promises to be for fans of retro platform games. We also had the opportunity to try it during Gamescom 2022 in Cologne. This is therefore an opportunity for us to present the game to you with some impressions.
Between Megaman and Shinobi
You should know that the JoyMasher studio was already responsible for the friendly (but not flawless) Blazing Chrome. With Vengeful Guardian Moonrider, the studio continues to borrow from cult titles of yesteryear from the 16-bit era in order to deliver a game in that vein. We were thus told that among the references of this side-scrolling action platform game, there were among others mega man or shinobi.
The story goes like this: After building an army of super soldiers as weapons of war, the Authoritarians unwittingly seal their own fate by deploying a powerful ninja warrior known as the Moonrider. Intended as a tool to preserve the totalitarian regime, the Moonrider rejects its original purpose and wages a relentless battle for revenge against its creators and fellow super soldiers.
As you will have understood, the narration will not be at the heart of the game like games of the past which are bathed in this spirit, on the other hand you can expect a good dose of action and challenges. Your Moonrider can jump by leaning on the walls, attack with his katana and above all perform devastating kicks. This last mechanism is also quite fun since it allows you to bounce and chain several attacks in a row and pass from one enemy to another (each blow also grants a small frame of invincibility). It can also run, and typically it can be one of those speedrunner titles.
During the game, Moonrider will also be able to equip chips in order to refine his combat style. For example, after the first boss, we had the opportunity to get a chip unlocking a double jump. Note that the game is still in development and that it was specified that it still needed balancing on certain aspects. In any case, he seemed quite honest to us, and special mention to the soundtrack that makes a strong impression.
Vengeful Guardian Moonrider will be released this fall on PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Amazon Luna.