A game by Klei Entertainment for PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, and Switch, originally released in 2012, with the Remastered version released in 2018.
Mark of the Ninja is not an action game starring a ninja; it is a ninja action game, and this is an important distinction. In most ninja games, the ninja runs out in the open and attacks enemies head-on, essentially substituting a gun with shuriken and/or forcing players to take on enemies up-close with a sword, as seen in the
Ninja Gaiden,
Shinobi, and
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Stealth and distraction are more common in 3D games, as seen in the
Tenchu and
Metal Gear Solid series, as well as the Rocksteady-developed
Batman games, but it’s rarely utilized in the 2D format. And even games like
Ninja Five-O, which take into account line-of-sight and versatile acrobatics, don’t go so far into immersing the player in the role of a stealthy assassin as Mark of the Ninja.
Here, you take the role of a ninja who has been tasked with saving his clan. In the clan’s last desperate bid for survival, they resort to their most powerful and dangerous techniques. Namely, they select a brave warrior who must be tattooed with marks that give him great power. The downside, however, is that the tattoo ink also slowly poisons him, eventually driving him mad… And so this great power and its curse must be bestowed upon the most honorable of ninja who – after saving the clan – must sacrifice himself lest he turn against them.
