From the Colombian developer Madbrick, published by Amber Studios, comes Mexican Ninja. Releasing in the first quarter of 2026, I get hands-on with the demo available now on Steam.

You are Darles Cuello, trained in the outlawed martial art “The Way of the Donkey” and set on taking out the four heads of the Huzo Yaro leaders. A Narkuza gang made up of Narcos and Yakuza in the city of Nueyo Tokyo. With this base outline and the title of the game “Mexican Ninja”, you just know you are in for a game full of humor, unusual ideas, and these are huge pluses for me.

Bringing back some old Platform Arcade Style memories for me from games such as Streets of Rage, and mixing in some color and humor like Guacamelee! Mexican Ninja aims to give you the satisfaction of long combos and button-bashing, along with tongue-in-cheek humor, sexual innuendos, and bathroom humor. They pull this off well in the short demo I have seen.

The controls are pretty self-explanatory and easy to pick up. I chose to play with a controller rather than a keyboard for this style of game. Such as X (Square) for fast melee attacks, and triggers for your bigger moves called Jutsus, and A (X) for jump and B (O) for dash.

Brings back simplicity and button-bashing fun, which, in my opinion, we need from time to time. A simple-to-play, easy-to-pick-up game with a light story can be refreshing and make you remember the fun in gaming. But has a bigger underbelly when you die.

You are collected by a garbage truck and dropped into what looks like a junkyard with a large Sensei named El Mero Mero. With credits you gain in-game from combos and kills, you can buy more Jutsus (Powers) and passive skills. You can have two Jutsus equipped at a time, twelve passive, and four death charms.

The skill tree has four levels and three branches; branch three states ‘coming soon’. But you can gain AOE moves, bleed moves, and so forth in style with Mexican Ninjas’ humor, such as an AOE that is a fart that leaves debuff effects or your surrounding enemies.

Enemies can be tough at times, especially when faced with the larger enemies called Chunks that are harder to bring down and pack a big punch. You will be overrun, and this is when combos come into play. Some effects can power you more when your combo is higher, and add some devastating effects to your armory.

Back in the area with El Mero Mero, you have a choice of four styles (appearances) to choose from, and at this time, they are cosmetic with no buffs, and not sure if this will change or not as of yet.

When making your way through the levels, you can claim blessings that are for the run you are on, buffs, skills, death charms, and passive effects, which you can choose from but lose at death. But as said, your permanent changes are from El Mero Mero. At the end of each run, you will be scored (Ranked) based on Enemies and chunks killed, earnings, and the largest combo.

The cell-shaded art style of the graphics and comic-strip-style cutscenes is a treat and works so well with the game’s aesthetic. With great sound effects and cartoon-style animation, it was so entertaining for me.

I can not wait for the full release; it hit all the right spots to be a game I would finish, have fun finishing, and hope others consider checking it out.

Written by: Kevin Lal