SANABI

In a dystopian retro-future, you are a legend. Your prosthetic arm and deadly skills have earned you a comfortable retirement free from trouble or bother. That is, until one day when you are approached to make your way to the top of the mega-city you’ve called home all these years to hunt down a corrupt entity known as “SANABI”. This is the setup for SANABI, a 2D pixel art action platformer from the developers at Wonder Potions and published by Neowiz. This sci-fi adventure will take you through bright neon-lit cities, peaceful mountain towns, and the dark underbelly of future corporations that have been allowed to grow and consume without oversight. With your powerful hook-shooting prosthetic arm, you will swing and fling your way to the very top of a corrupted city and bring those who are responsible to justice. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, here is everything you need to know about SANABI.

2D Pixel-Art Perfection

Many games have taken on the 2D pixel-art sci-fi aesthetic, but SANABI nails it harder than even Katana Zero or Hyper Light Drifter. Beautiful sprites and fluid animations combine to create an amazingly smooth feeling game that feels more modern than its art style makes it look. The main character is incredibly stylish, and all of the enemies are well-designed with challenging but fair attack patterns.

Get Hooked

At a glance, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking SANABI is a Bionic Commando game. The visual of aiming, firing, and swinging via the hook-shooting prosthetic arm is a classic riff on the legendary Bionic Commando gameplay, and it is more than welcome here. In addition to traversal, the prosthetic arm can also be used offensively to attack and destroy enemies either at a distance or up close. Getting into a groove of constantly moving and swinging while simultaneously attacking is an incredible feeling, and looks even cooler than it feels. Once you’ve mastered these controls, you’ll be dodging, dashing, and swinging over enemies and through obstacles with all the style you’d expect from a sci-fi 80s-themed action game.

You Are Not Alone

While the veteran is something of a one-man army thanks to his powerful prosthetic, he won’t have to hunt down corruption alone in SANABI. He will be joined by a young girl named Mari, who is both a talented hacker and a rider of drones. Mari can help the veteran in a number of ways along his journey, including opening doors that are locked, revealing enemy weaknesses to exploit in combat, and downloading encrypted information that will help him get to his goal.

Pros

• Incredible 2D pixel-art
• Tight swinging controls
• Lots of cool action setpieces
• Great setting with plenty of style and substance

Cons

• Mari talks too much