Slaughter hordes of ninjas on your iPhone in South Korea’s Dojo Slash (review)

The pixel art trend may be a bit overdone, but South Korean indie developer Jinmann Kim – whose game Jumpy Rabbit we previously reviewed – has used it to lend some personality to his new one-button game, Dojo Slash.

Dojo Slash has you playing as a ninja who needs to stay alive in a dojo slowly getting overrun by other ninjas. Swiping on an enemy sends it to its death, while moving your finger along the screen helps move your little ninja around. Some enemies take more than a hit to kill, others attack from a distance. An apprentice with a sack comes round occasionally to drop you power ups, in a manner reminiscent of the goblin in our old favorite, Golden Axe.

As you kill more ninjas, you naturally level up. These levels don’t carry over to your next game session, but you do receive a choice of one of three talents per level up. These talents range from common to rare, and can provide just an extra heart’s worth of health, or passive area-of-effect damage.

The dojo slowly gets overrun with ninjas that get more and more powerful. Eventually, you’ll die, and falling cherry blossoms will mourn your demise. You might purchase a new weapon with new bonuses from the shop, but you’ll be right back into Dojo Slash before you know it.

Jinmann Kim’s game is everything your quintessential indie game should be. It’s entertaining, it’s simple yet smart, and it looks pleasing while not being excessive. It’s not heavily monetized either, with its single in-app purchase to remove ads that I hardly notice in the first place.

8/10.

Dojo Slash is currently available only on iOS.

See: Jumpy Rabbit review: the spirit of Flappy Bird lives on