Mark Of The Ninja: Remastered leaps out of the shadows

I hardly ever revisit singleplayer games, so the fact that I've snuck all the way through Mark Of The Ninja two and a half times should tell you something. One and a half of those times actually involved just as much stabbing and shuriken tossing as sneaking, but shh.

I say this because Mark Of The Ninja: Remastered has slunk out of the shadows, boasting prettier visuals, snazzier sound, and the extra items and level from the Special Edition DLC. If this one passed you by, I'd implore you to snap it up. It's free if you already own the DLC, and discounted to £4 for owners of the non-fancy version.

Watch on YouTube

That trailer does a good job of showing off Mark's strengths. There's a bit where he throws flesh-devouring insects at a guard, causing a second guard to panic and shoot a third before fleeing at the sight of the first guard's skeleton. If you want slick stealth platforming that encourages creativity with an expanding toybox, this hasn't been bettered.

Except, er, with this edition. That's the whole point. There's a banner thingamy listing everything that's new on the Steam page, though a ninja has sliced off part of it and you need to open the image in a new tab to see everything. Or just click here.

It's prettier: "The original in-game art was compressed to 720p, despite the source material being drawn at a much higher resolution. In the remaster we’ve re-exported everything in high definition up to 4K resolution on supported hardware.”

It's euphonious: "In-game audio uses new high quality compression and the cinematic audio is completely redone to improve both fidelity and quality."

It's got extra stuff (if you haven't played the DLC): "Play as a young Dosun, get new unique items, an additional story level and unlocked developer commentary nodes throughout the original game."

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure my pacifist run devolved into grizzly murder near the end. If I wasn't busy stabbing people in ancient Greece, I'd be very tempted to take another stab at not stabbing people here.

Nathan Grayson's review was as enamoured with it as was, look:

"By and large, though, Mark of the Ninja’s a remarkable little game. It brings together elements of stealth classics, modern standouts, and a few of its own brilliant tricks to form one of the finest sneak-a-thons I’ve played in ages. Sure, it’s a bit inconsistent in places – both in terms of level design and central mechanics – but the good positively sumo slams the bad. Bravo, Mark. Mrs OfTheNinja will surely be proud."

Mark Of The Ninja: Remastered is available on Steam for £13/$17/€14, but it's free if you already own the Special Edition and £4/$5 if you own the normal one.