FLATNINJA box, front
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Official FLATBOY

FLATNINJA

One heron walks ashore.

Everyone who played The Last Ninja missed the same jump twenty times before bed. FLATNINJA crosses its own strange land, one screen at a time: one island, fifty screens, a blade that wins on timing, not mashing, and a small bag of things that open the way. Read the glint, parry, and hear the whole table say "there it is".

1–2 playersAction adventureDuelStealth
Pre-order FlatboyTwo ends, one road: lose a life and the island turns to face the other one.
The walnut FLATBOY table from above

Glint. Parry. Double.

Ren in a room of the Haze Isle. A guard squares up, his blade glints, she parries, and the reply lands for double. Then a jump to the next stone, on the ring it shows. You'll be calling the glint out loud by the second room.

Readthe glint on the side the blow comes from
Parryand the next blow lands double
Slipbehind him. He never knew.

Real gameplay, straight off the table's screen.

The bell is gone. One heron is left.

Kasumi-jima, the Haze Isle, the night of the lantern festival. Lord Hagane, the Iron Regent, and his Iron Masks burn the shrine of the Heron clan and carry off its Moon Bell, the bell that calls the island's dead home. Ren, the clan's last blade, wakes in a drifting fishing boat at dawn with nothing but her red scarf.

From the Reed Shore at the bottom of the island to the Moon Sanctum on the Regent's roof, she crosses it one screen at a time. Half duel, half exploration: sneak behind a guard or face him, find the rope, the key, the mirror, and free Old Sabi from his cell below the keep. Every foe fights you one at a time; the rest circle and wait their turn.

FLATNINJA, straight off the screen

Three ways to play.

The long one

Story, one player

The Heron's Road from the boat on the Reed Shore to the Moon Bell: six areas, shrines to pray at, a heart charm in each area, a lost scroll to find, and an honour rank at the end, from Wanderer to Grand Heron. Kind, Normal or Hard, and whoever presses strike owns the view, from either end.

Take turns

Story, two players

Player one at one end, player two at the other. Lose a life and the island turns: "Player 2, your road." Each keeps their own road, items, score and lives.

Across the table

Duel

Ren against her crimson rival in an arena from each area, hazards and all. Each end picks fists, katana, bo or kusarigama. Best of five, sixty-second rounds. On your own, the computer takes the other end.

6areas, each with its own tune
50screens, Reed Shore to Moon Hall
4weapons, fists to kusarigama
3phases of the Iron Regent
5honour ranks, Wanderer to Grand Heron