In the grand spirit of Christmas, I want everyone to know that for this year’s RPS Advent Calendar, I nominated a bunch of games about Japanese assassins and at least one point and click thriller featuring a netherworld of torture devices. Some of those assassins appeared on the final calendar, but not all, and the point and click didn’t make the cut.
To rectify this sad state of affairs, my selection box choices are below! Read them, and imagine Santa in a shinobi suit, fiddling with his inventory icons to find the right antidote to diffuse the poison-laced milk and cookies I’ve left out for him.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
In a grand act of stealth, I stacked this year’s Advent Calendar with not one, but two Ninja Gaidens. Believe me, I showed restraint, because I could have stuck Ninja Gaiden 2 Black in there too. Released at the very beginning of this year as a shadow drop (appropriately), this remaster takes the Xbox 360’s 2008 Ninja Gaiden II and slaps a splendid new coat of Unreal 5 paint on it.
You can make the argument that this is technically just a shinier variant of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, the version that’s already on Steam, and lacks the dense enemy placement that dominated the Xbox 360 original. (Yes, there exist three editions of Ninja Gaiden II, each with minor differences.) I won’t deny that Ninja Gaiden 2 Black also feels dated, from its simple level design to its half-naked female protagonists. (An enemy even declares how “hot” one of them is as she launches an attack on his airship. Real dudebro energy.)
But aside from booting up old hardware or tinkering with emulation, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black remains the most accessible take on Ryu Hayabusa’s second Xbox-era mission, and it’s still emblematic of the lovely locales, fast-paced hack ‘n slash combos, and excessive dismemberments that defined one of the best games of 2008. Even better, it doesn’t star a bleh new guy at the helm, like Ninja Gaiden 4, so give this one a go if you’ve got a high tolerance for 2000s-era games.
Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer
As anyone who read my review of Kathy Rain 2 will know, I consider this game the true successor to Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, which incidentally made our recent 100 best PC games list. Starring a sassy private investigator/journalist who first made waves almost a decade ago in a flawed-but-compelling effort clearly influenced by Twin Peaks and Silent Hill, Kathy Rain 2 sands down the rough edges of its predecessor with well-constructed puzzles, some of the prettiest pixel art I’ve seen in 2025, and a mature story that starts with a serial killer and ends with an examination of trauma and our willingness to depend on others. Oh yes, and there’s that aforementioned netherworld of torture bits and bobs.
I’ve heard rumblings that Kathy Rain 2 could’ve sold better, which pains me, as this sort of game is what I imagined point and click adventures of the future to look like when I was a kid. Play it if you’re lusting after a Gabriel Knight revival, though be warned that it’s not entirely standalone (really the one reason why I didn’t give it a Bestest Best in my review), and the plot makes more sense if you’ve completed the Director’s Cut edition of the first game.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Oh look, it’s another ninja game to make a sandwich of the point and click goodness. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance isn’t quite as good as Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, which released only a month or so ahead of it. (Two retro-infused franchise revivals in such a short span of time? Be still, my katana-impaled heart.) My quibbles with it are admittedly minor, though – the level design channeled PS1-era block pushing puzzles too much for my taste, and I was often reminded of Doom Eternal in how this game constantly sticks Joe Musashi in locked arenas full of enemies he needs to defeat.
But the combat and combo systems letting Joe knock heads together are at least wonderful to mess around with, and Lizardcube’s sublime hand-drawn art is on full display here, bringing this tech-infused ninja world to life with vivid colour and animation.
Anyone who read Sonic the Comic as a kid might recall the Shinobi stories within. Well, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is like those but even grander, with every segment resembling a living painting, urging you to dash, jump, and surf with grim gusto as you toss a nonstop array of kunai at everything in your path. While Art of Vengeance didn’t woo me as nicely as Lizardcube’s previous Sega work (that would be Streets of Rage 4), it’s still a refined revival. Give these guys Golden Axe next, I say.