Kings of retro-styled action games JoyMasher and publisher The Arcade Crew have announced their next game, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider. The game looks to be another retro-styled 2D action game inspired by the 16-bit era. And it looks glorious. No surprise considering this is the same team that brought us such amazing retro-styled hits as Blazing Chrome and Odallus.
In Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider you play as Moonrider, a cybernetic super solider created by a dystopian totalitarian government in order to enforce its dystopian totalitarian government things. Moonrider however decides it doesn’t like dystopian totalitarian governments and instead decides to destroy them. Which, I mean, sign me up.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider’s design holds the best classic action game elements in the laser-precise sights of its starring ninja, keeping combat snappy, responsive and challenging. Powerful modifier chips are guarded and hidden throughout the adventure, allowing the cyborg super soldier to customize its fighting style while gaining killer advantages and abilities. The game’s gorgeously bleak world expertly recreates the 16-bit era through intricate pixel art and crunchy audio, building a striking, compact gauntlet across eight deadly stages. Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider revels in top-notch, refined platforming action for a tight, focused experience that never lets its blade get dull.
-Press Release
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider looks like a futuristic Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden and indeed appears to channel the spirit of those games as well as countless other 16-bit era action games. JoyMasher seem to be the masters of this with their previous titles Blazing Chrome, Odallus, and Oniken having all been critically acclaimed hits. The game is being published by The Arcade Crew, who previously brought us the aforementioned Blazing Chrome and other hits like Infernax and Dark Devotion.
The game also seems to feature some H.R. Giger-esque art that reminds me of the Alien franchise. That’s a huge plus for me personally as an Alien fan as well as a fan of Giger’s art in general. Pairing that with gloriously authentic 16-bit graphics and a story about taking down an authoritarian regime seems like it could be a recipe for success. I’m not sure how you could go wrong here, honestly.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is currently set for a Fall 2022 release. Thus far it has been announced for Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and PC via Steam. This looks very promising and could be yet another hit for the JoyMasher team.
