Black & White Bushido

Fun enough with friends, get on a sale.

It's pretty fun!

Checked just now (October 2024) - offline solo/multi do work, so buying is not useless: you can play vs bots, or with people locally, or with people remotely (via steam remote play together - though I did not check it in this particular game).

Online MP appears dead indeed. If you start creating a match and then leave the lobby, your own session will appear in "find match" for a while, not joinable - jfyi it's only a phantom.

This game is absolutely fantastic. Take 2 minutes to learn the controls, then take the rest of the day to master killing your friends. Not hard. Just very, very fun. A fantastic couch party game. My kids and I have more fun with this than with stick fight.

I selected the offline option to play, but it says internet connection required to play online. Well, I know that but Im not trying to play online.
Could the developers correct this bug? Maybe then I can come back and write about how great the game is.

My friends and I play Black & White Bushido locally in Big Picture Mode with controllers. We find it to be a fun little indie game.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that you will be able to find someone to play in online multiplayer anymore. That seems to be the reason for the mixed reviews.

In any case, I definitely recommend the game for local co-op.

the game concept is cool and it seems to resemble a good party game. the game mechanics are just too simple to make the game more fun than a flassh game, also the fun won't last longer than 30 minutes. adding to this: multiplayer works but is confusing to configure and not straight forward enough to setup.

The Devs have abandoned this game, the discord is dead the devs don't respond to the disscussions page. The game is fun and something you may play at a part for example but trying to do a 4 player co-op when it doesn't register it is a piss take. Honestly don't buy this you will have fun for about an hour but then regret ever purchasing it.

Don't get this game, it's dead. Their Discord server is dead, fanbase is dead, everything is dead.

Online multiplayer is broken, I bought this for myself and a few friends and when we try to host a server they don't show up. Multiplayer is broken and this shouldnt be advertised as having online multiplayer. The devs refuse to even respond to my problem in the discussions.

I play the game locally with my friend, it was really great and unique but when my friends and i wanted to play online, we couldn't play multiplayer, we made lobbies and only sometimes the lobby would appear and other times the multiplayer didn't work. If you have friends locally then this is a great game but unfortunately the online multiplayer does not work properly so i don't reccomend it for online.

Short version:

Worth buying at 75% off, if you have friends to play it with. Not worth full price. Don't expect to find people to play with online.

Long:

Black & White Bushido is a game heavily based on stealth. You can play either Light (white ninjas) or Shadow (black ninja). There are four character models, though (ironically for a game so heavily based on the popular idea of ninjas), none of them are in stereotypical ninja garb. You then choose to play online or offline.

Offline, you can play either against bots or (presumably, since I've never tried it) couch two player. The stage is small, so there's no need for split screen. Online, you can try to find a match, but the matchmaking is extremely barebones. I play with my fiancee, and the only way we can find each other's matches is by coordinating over the phone. There is no indication of who else is playing, even once you're in the match. You don't see screen names, just "Player 1." Also, as many other reviews have noted, there is virtually no community for this game. If you want to play against a human, bring a friend.

You will want to play against humans, too, because the bots are particularly idiotic. Gameplay is heavily dependent on stealth. If you break stealth, every bot will simultaneously converge on you. I'm not a particularly good gamer, but my kill-death ratio against the bots is usually 20-1, even outnumbered 3 to 1. If you go into stealth, the bots just beginning patrolling their platform with no attempt to locate you or use stealth themselves. This makes them easy pickings even for a new player. Really, the bots are just good for learning the controls.

So what about the gameplay? That's where this game shines. Primarily, you'll attack using your melee weapon, a very simple one-button attack. The twist comes with the stealth mechanic. The levels continually shift between light and shadow (white or black backgrounds, in other words). The ninjas can, when standing still, blend into the background, making them impossible to see. They can also move in this stealth mode, though at a greatly reduced speed. Jumping will give away their position, as will fast movement.

The stealth is the key part. Trying to sneak up on an opponent while your character is invisible to both you and your opponent is a lot of fun. The game throws in a few twists for you, too. Tired of waiting? There's a taunt mechanic to reveal your position and lure adversary out of cover. Smoke bombs, a special item, allow you to mark a location, and then basically teleport back to it later. Drop a smoke bomb, move somewhere else, and attack from hiding. Go back into stealth after the attack and teleport back to your old spot. Your opponent now has no idea where you are. On the defensive side, there are caltrops, effectively three-pointed tacks that cause your opponent to bleed when he walks over them, giving away his position. You also can pick up shurikens or spears to give yourself a ranged attack against a melee-based opponent.

Because of all this, there's a lot of flexibility against a skilled human. Do you want to silently stalk your opponent and strike from hiding? Do you want to depend on fast movement and aggressive attacks to get you through? Both of those are options.

There are at least three game modes that I've tried: deathmatch, capture the flag, and challenge mode, where you try to score kills based on challenges. If I run across others, I'll add them here. Up to four players can play in a match, and each player can choose if they'll be light or shadow.

The art style is stark, but appealling. It's heavily influenced by traditional Japanese art, contributing to the feel of the overall game. It's simple, but it's a key part of this game, and it works.

The overall result is good, but feels like a high quality flash game. There is literally no story, no campaign, and no way to "beat the game." There are no ranks. It's just pick up and play. If you have friends who will play this with you, then the 75% off price is worth it. I've played it for an hour so far with my fiancee, and it's worth $3.24. It is not worth $12.99, however. There's just not enough here to justify that price.

So, to reiterate: Buy on sale, play with friends.

This game is not worth it's £10 price. There is only a few maps, the combat is boring and the online multiplayer is dead. Hopefully, the developers will continue to add more content but since it's been two years after release, this probably won't happen.

Ok at first Then gets boring. It's good for local multiplayer but would be better with online multiplayer.

Edit: now it has online multiplayer I highly recomend

I'm a fan of Towerfall (also have the 8 player build of Towerfall as well) and we always break games like that out when friends come over. They have REALLY taken a liking to this game (even more so than me.) It is a lot of fun and the constanst shifting of the black / white areas in the map gives you a little strategy in making your moves. Nothing is more satisfying than sitting completely still, hidden, for a long time, only to kill an unsuspecting enemy as they casually trot by you, unaware that you are there. :)

I'm gonna start this review by saying that this is a first impressions review (as of right now i have played half an hour of this game), and that I know nothing of the game (when it was released, the developers, the budget, the time it took to make, etc.), so opinions may change with further playing

Pros:
+Good atmosphere
+Music and sound effects aren't the best but do the job
+Hammer character is kinda fun

Pros/Cons together:
+/-Idea of light and shadow is very good, and the stealth part would be interesting as a mechanic if the player sitting still on his or her's area didn't already make him invisible, rendering it useless
+/-Art style has potential, but is horrendously bad (as in 2000s flash games you'd find on free games websites bad) with no options for better detail

Cons:
-Animations feel cheap and uninteresting, with many attack having very few frames for said animations
-Platforming feels very off, almost Zelda CD-i off, very unresponsive and hard
-Spear guy is horrible to play with
-The absolute worst are the controls, both in game and in the menus, with very little intuitive button choices for the keyboard (I understand this game is probably made for controller use, but almost never mentioning the controls on the keyboard, along with and offering the option to change anything? Shame), adding to this feeling of either going too fast with the dash (when you manage to do a dash) or too slow, you always feel like a slug. Sometimes they don't even register the keys I press!

All around, not even worth the 2-3 euros i payed with the sale

Shinobi; warrior of the night.

Trained to use the darkness of the shadow.

I know your arts as well.

But I, have been trained to use the light.

Black & White Bushido in a nutshell~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmkxsQnNujI

Fun, Intense Game when playing against other players (not to mention the Challenge Mode aswell) and with the Online Multi-Player coming out this year it's definitely worth giving it a go 🎧♪♫.

Black & White Bushido is a fun little four player versus game that has a great novelty of really making you feel like a ninja through use of camoflauge. My regular TowerFall group gave it the thumb's-up (which they rarely like anything but the usual). Its certainly smaller in scale, but has enough fun for a couple of gatherings. Overall, I do wish there was more content, though.

The coolest thing about this game is its novelty; you first choose either a black or white ninja, which allows you to blend in really well with like color. This adds in some nice strategy where you can just sit still and wait for the kill. Its reminiscent of getting the mirror item in TowerFall. Really makes you feel like a ninja.

Pros:
+Awesome use of the black and white camoflauge to make you feel like a boss with those stealth kills
+The whole level is on the screen at one time (like TowerFall and unlike Duck Game) - the moving camera in other games can bother some gamers with it constant zooming-in-and-out

Cons:
-Content is slim; only a handful of levels (like 5 or 6), and two game modes (deathmatch and capture the flag)
-Music and sound effects are nothing to write home about
-Needs more weapons and consumables

Get it on sale, if you are into local play.

I love Seven Samurai, Saumurai Jack, Ran, Zatoichi and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. For me games have rarely matched the fun and flow of the sword play and action on show in these films. So I was a bit sceptical when I first saw Black and White Bushido, but noticing the price drop I thought I'd have a go. And I'm glad I did, it's ridiculously good fun. The game play is simple but effective, versus is where it really comes alive and rumour has it multi-player is on the way. You'll experience no greater joy than hiding in the shadows or light before swiping your opponent down. A great game and a mega bargain.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bull Shit." - me after losing a cap to a hidden friend

Think Samurai Gunn with a team-based light/shadow stealth element and capture the flag on top. Double jumping, wall jumping, aerial and rush attacks, slinking into the light or shadow, caltrops, shurikens, smoke bombs... tons of fun locally with four players (no online play)! The single-player challenge mode is great but the real meat is in multiplayer.

Love it.
Singleplayer and LAN is very fun.
Would be better if online mode exists.
Played it at MCM.
Nearly beat the ninjas.
Got free posters for me and my gang.
10 out of 10 ducks.

This game is really fun with 3 other mates and a lot of beer.
If you've ever seen and loved Samurai Jack : Episode XL: Samurai versus Ninja, then you'll love this game.