Kemono Heroes from JanduSoft and Mad Gear Games brings us an old-school-inspired run ‘n’ gun arcade-style experience set in a fantasy world with anthropomorphic characters. Check our Kemono Heroes review!

 

Kemono Heroes from JanduSoft and Mad Gear Games brings us an old-school-inspired run ‘n’ gun arcade-style experience set in a fantasy world with anthropomorphic characters. The indie studio previously gave us the 2D action platformer A Hole New World, a game that I had a chance to review on PlayStation 4 many years ago. In Kemono Heroes, the Moon God turns the inhabitants of the forest to stone, which is why the four Animal Ninja Masters jump into action and go on a mission to Mt. Fuji to try and break the spell before it’s too late. The game can be played on your own, or you can have up to four people playing simultaneously in local co-op multiplayer. You’ll be taking on 4 worlds, with 3 levels each.

Once you’re ready to go, you’ll take control of the character of your choice by using the left analog stick or the D-Pad, jumping and double jumping with the X button, and attacking with the Square button. You can use your additional weapon with the Circle button to attack your enemies. While your main weapon can only be swung to your sides, your additional weapon can be used to attack all around you from a safer distance.

 

You can change between your available weapons by pressing the L2 and R2 buttons as needed. One of these additional weapons will allow you to harvest an enemy’s essence so that you can then turn your character into that enemy. This will allow you to use its abilities to your advantage. Dash by pressing the L1 button so that you can try to avoid incoming attacks. You can also use this while up in the air to perform a flying kick attack. Throw your hook with the R1 button to swing around each area. After you’ve charged up enough energy, you’ll be able to use your Super Power by pressing the Triangle button. This will deal a big chunk of damage to enemies, which can certainly save you from impending doom!

As you defeat enemies and open up treasure chests, you’ll get to collect plenty of coins of different shapes and sizes. These will be added to your loot, which you’ll then be able to use to trade with the merchant. You can use coins to boost your main weapon, increase the damage dealt by kunai, boost your overall health, add an extra life, buy a variety of meals that you’ll consume to heal some of your wounds, or recover some energy for your character’s special attack.

The game features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to work on. Some of the objectives to complete include defeating 100 enemies, reviving a friend, upgrading your sword to the max, upgrading the kunai to the max, beating all of the bosses, dashing 10 times, performing 100 flying kicks, opening 10 treasure chests, getting 20 healing items, completing the game on the Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty settings, using your first continue, and beating the game in less than 80 minutes, to name some examples.

Kemono Heroes brings us an old-school-inspired run ‘n’ gun arcade-style experience set in a fantasy world with anthropomorphic characters. The indie studio previously gave us the 2D action platformer A Hole New World, a game that I had a chance to review on PlayStation 4 many years ago. In Kemono Heroes, the Moon God ends up turning the inhabitants of the forest to stone, which is why the four Animal Ninja Masters jump into action and go on a mission to Mt. Fuji to try and break the spell before it’s too late. The game can be played on your own, or you can have up to four people playing simultaneously in local co-op multiplayer. You’ll be taking on 4 worlds, with 3 levels each. Kemono Heroes is out today on PlayStation 5 with a $14.99 price tag.

Disclaimer
This Kemono Heroes review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by JanduSoft.