Cyber Shadow is a new 2D action sidescroller that comes from Yacht Club Games, the creators of the iconic indie character, Shovel Knight. The game pays homage to classic titles such as Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man, and even though it was mostly developed by one person, the game has managed to make a name for itself, receiving lots of positive reception. The game can be challenging for those who might not be used to games such as this, but thanks to a variety of neat skills and power-ups, players have several different methods for taking care of the tough enemies.
The new skills that players can obtain in Cyber Shadow truly change up the gameplay style, but only once players can fully utilize the skill's potential. The game doesn't really go into detail on how the skills actually work, leaving it up to fans to figure out the best way to use these abilities; however, it seems that that wasn't the original plan for the game. Thanks to a recent Game Rant interview with Aarne Hunziker, the sole member of Mechanical Head Studios, it turns out that some content had been cut that would've given players more time to practice their skills.
When asked about whether there was anything cut from Cyber Shadow that didn't make it to to the final product, Hunziker talked about the fact that there was initially some sort of training mode that the player would have to complete once they obtained one of the new skills in the game. At the end of the day, the developer thought that it would have potentially gotten in the way of people trying to replay the game:
"Upon receiving a skill there was a section planned that would’ve included training in that skill. In the end it felt like something that would get in the way of replaying the game so it was cut."
For the players out there that adore Cyber Shadow and would be interested in replaying it or even speedrunning it, having to sit through multiple required tutorial sections would be bothersome for most people. Just like not being able to skip cutscenes in certain games, it only adds to the total overall gameplay time and could be a frustrating experience. However, having a mode like this could have potentially helped inexperienced players find their footing, especially since Cyber Shadow is far from an easy game.
These skill training sections weren't the only thing that didn't make it into the final product. It turns out that only 25% of the lore written for Cyber Shadow was able to fit into the game. There's plenty of story and character details that could eventually make it into a sequel or spin-off.
Another piece of information that came out of Game Rant's interview is the fact that Aarne Hunziker would want to "hopefully" see a sequel to Cyber Shadow or a game that's similar in style. The sole developer of the title also mentioned that he needs a break after working on the game for five years full-time.
Cyber Shadow is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, and Xbox One.