REVIEW / Mexican Ninjas (PC)

There are some games that announce themselves with a grand cinematic, a sweeping orchestral score, and a hero staring dramatically into the middle distance. Then there’s Mexican Ninja, which basically kicks down the door wearing a sombrero and asks if you’re ready to beat the absolute hell out of some Narkuzas. Developed by Madbricks and published by Amber Studio, the game mashes Mexican and Japanese influences into a ridiculous 2.5D roguelike beat ’em up set in Nuevo-Tokyo. The premise is intentionally bonkers, with narcos and yakuzas combining into the wonderfully stupid-sounding Narkuzas while our nameless hero takes them on with swords, fists, and an assortment of increasingly absurd powers. It’s the kind of concept that could have been painfully gimmicky, but Mexican Ninja commits to the bit so hard that the weirdness becomes one of its biggest strengths.

That personality was immediately apparent when I first covered the demo in my preview, where I called the game a “neon-soaked fiesta of fists and flair.” I stand by that description because the visual identity remains one of the game’s strongest weapons. Nuevo-Tokyo is packed with neon lights, Mexican-inspired details, futuristic architecture, colorful enemies, and enough visual nonsense to make every screen feel like somebody threw Day of the Dead and a cyberpunk fever dream into a blender. The contrast between the gritty urban setting and the exaggerated comedy gives the world a personality that most beat ’em ups would kill for. Even when the gameplay starts getting repetitive, there’s usually something amusing in the background trying to distract you from noticing.

Thankfully, Mexican Ninja isn’t just relying on its aesthetic to carry the whole enchilada. The actual fighting feels good, which is kind of important when your entire evening consists of repeatedly turning gangs of criminals into salsa. Light and heavy attacks chain together smoothly, movement feels responsive, and dodging has the kind of snappy timing that encourages you to stop mashing buttons and actually pay attention. The game’s own description emphasizes positioning, timing, combos, and movement, and those elements are genuinely where the combat shines. There’s a particularly satisfying rhythm that develops once you start understanding when to attack, when to dodge, and when to unleash one of the game’s ridiculous special abilities.

That said, the combat in Mexican Ninja also exposes one of the biggest issues I noticed in the demo, and it’s one that I specifically called out in my original preview: difficulty balance. Enemies could hit surprisingly hard, and there were moments where getting caught by a few attacks felt less like I had made a tactical mistake and more like the game had decided I was having too much fun. 

However, this is where the roguelite mechanics become particularly important. Between bouts of violence, you can pick up abilities and upgrades that alter how your character approaches the next run, and that system gives the otherwise straightforward brawling some welcome longevity. One run might have you leaning heavily into speed and mobility, while another can turn you into a walking blender of damage. The full game expands this idea with additional ninja skills, Mexican-Japanese spirits, and different builds. It’s a smart way to give an old-school beat ’em up a modern progression system without completely burying the arcade-style simplicity. 

The problem, though, is that the roguelite structure has to keep giving you compelling reasons to come back, and that’s an area where Mexican Ninja still has something to prove to you. For me, I think it could’ve been refined a little bit more, because ultimately, bad luck simply ruins a run even when you’ve felt like you have built your abilities and upgrades to your playstyle. 

Then there’s the humor, which is also going to be a very simple case of “you’re either going to love this or you’re going to want to throw your controller into the nearest volcano.” Mexican Ninja has absolutely no interest in being subtle, with crude jokes, strong language, absurd characters, suggestive dialogue, and attacks that are exactly as ridiculous as the game’s premise suggests. The developers themselves describe the game as featuring cartoon violence, English and Spanish profanity, crude humor, organized-crime references, and deliberately exaggerated urban decay. Personally, I think the silliness works because the game never pretends it’s making high art about the human condition; it knows exactly what kind of ridiculous arcade fantasy it wants to be. Still, anyone who rolls their eyes at fart jokes is going to have a very long evening.

One thing I’m happy to report is that the game’s central identity hasn’t gotten lost between my demo experience and what Madbricks is promising for the full release. In my original preview, I praised the combination of Mexican motifs, futuristic environments, slick combat, and roguelite progression while specifically asking for more polish and better balancing before launch. That remains a pretty accurate assessment, although the expanded version looks considerably more ambitious than the slice I originally played.

Ultimately, Mexican Ninja feels like the kind of game that could have been a forgettable novelty but instead manages to be genuinely fun because there’s real mechanical meat underneath all the sombreros and fart-powered nonsense. The combat is slick, the visual style is distinctive, the humor has personality, and the roguelite systems give the traditional beat ’em up format a reason to keep swinging. My biggest concerns from the demo were addressed, but it also feels like that polish just needs a bit more refinement to make it a lasting experience.

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This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.