9 Monkeys of Shaolin

9 Monkeys of Shaolin
The cover art of 9 Monkeys of Shaolin
Developer(s)	Sobaka Studio
Publisher(s)	Ravenscourt Buka Entertainment Teyon (JP) Sonkwo (China)
Designer(s)	Stepan Shabanov
Programmer(s)	Dmitry Kachkov
Artist(s)	Mikhail Bushuev
Composer(s)	Nadezhda Gourskaya
Engine	Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux
Release	October 16, 2020
Genre(s)	Beat 'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is a side-scrolling beat 'em up developed by Russian independent game studio Sobaka Studio and published by Ravenscourt and Buka Entertainment^[1] with Teyon in Japan and Sonkwo in China.

The story recreates the atmosphere of the kung fu movies of the 70s. This is a character-building story about a simple fisherman going all the way to become one of the masters of Shaolin. On this way he passes life trials, meets new people with their unique personalities, and learns about revenge and death. Some of the people he met become his friends, and some betray him. But despite all of the difficulties on the difficult path, he has chosen to strive to leave his mark on history by saving his homeland and the whole world from evil.

Although the game world tries to adhere to real historical events, places, weapons and characters as much as possible, it also has magic, supernatural beings and other fantasy elements. This setting is the combination of real history with mysticism and fables, as it is customary in the Chinese fantasy genre of Wuxia.

Gameplay[]

There are five enemy clans in the in Wokou in the game, one for each Chapter.

1. The Green Clan - barefoot pirates
2. The Red Clan - the same pirates but more professional
3. The Yellow Clan - a mystical ninja sect
4. The White Clan - a large Shimazu samurai clan
5. The Black Clan - remaining monks of Enryaku-ji and their associates

Each clan leader wears a mask from the Japanese Noh theatre, which reflects his or her personality. The leaders' names are pseudonyms taken from the mask names.

At the end of each mission, the player gets improvement points that can be spent in the camp of the teaching monk. A conversation with him will bring up a single branched technique tree, in which the main improvement subject are different combinations and techniques for each of the three stands.

Basic stand The basic stand is available from the beginning. Enabled by default. Classic weapon strikes while on the ground. Acrobatic stand Becomes available at the very start of Chapter Two. Magic stand Appears at the very start of Chapter Three. Allows the player to create seals on the ground, which are circular areas, which operate for a certain length of time and produce a particular effect inside them.

There are three types of items: weapons (staves, spears), footwear (puttees, slippers) and prayer beads. The weapons are primarily responsible for staff attacks; the footwear is responsible for leaping attacks and dodging; and the prayer beads are responsible for Qi and the effects of the seals. The player can take one item from each category into each level.

There are 6 enemy types, differing mainly in appearance, health points and techniques: Thugs, Ashigaru, Ninja, Samurai, Ghosts, and Sōhei. Each enemy type may have different weapons, and consequently, different techniques and attack versions. For example, the ashigaru may be armed with a spear, sword or arquebus, and in each case, they have a different combat style as well as some differences in appearance.

Multiplayer is available as a co-op mode of the same story campaign as in single-player mode. Two players can participate in the co-op mode, either online or on a local area network.^[2]

Plot[]

China, Year of the Water Monkey (1572). The hero of the game is a simple fisherman called Wei Cheng (voiced by Daisuke Tsuji). His parents died at the hands of the Wokou when he was just a child. Wei Cheng was taken in by his grandfather, who taught him the fishing business, as well as how to fight with a staff, with this knowledge being passed down from generation to generation in their family.

The game begins when the village is attacked by bandits. Grandfather was killed and Wei was badly wounded by their leader in a red mask. Buddhist monks find Wei Cheng bleeding and carry him to one of the local fortified houses. The hero regains consciousness and finds monks standing in front of him. They say that the village has been completely destroyed, there are almost no survivors, and that there were no ordinary bandits but the Wokou. Their group was sent from Shaolin to help defend both the Buddhist monasteries and the ordinary people but they did not get there in time. Wei Cheng offers to help seven monks and one smuggler.

In cooperation mode the second player is the youngest of monks called Daoshan.

Development[]

9 Monkeys of Shaolin was announced at Game Developers Conference 2018 via the ID@Xbox Program.^[3][4] A new demonstration version was shown at Gamescom 2018 in Indie Arena Booth area^[5] and at IgroMir 2018.^[6] The game received the Critics' Choice award at Indie Cup Summer 2018^[7] and Grand Prize, Best Desktop, Excellence in Game Design, Visual Art, Audio nominations at DevGAMM Awards.^[8][9] The game was released on October 16, 2020.^[10][11]

Reception[]

9 Monkeys of Shaolin received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

References[]