Developed by the Colombian team at Madbricks, Mexican Ninja combines two cultures that seem incompatible with each other. The 3D roguelite tells the tale of an unnamed ninja rebel who has studied The Ways of the Donkey and has set out to stop crime that’s taken hold of his beloved city, Nuevo-Tokyo. The futuristic world created by Madbricks not only merges Mexico City with the Japanese capital, but also their associated gangs. Stepping out of the shadows, sombrero in hand, I was set to take on the Narkuza Clan, an amalgamation of Mexico’s Narco gangs and the Japanese Yakuza.
Currently scheduled for release sometime in 2026, Madbricks kindly reached out to give us a first look at Mexican Ninja. The demo (which has since been made available on Steam) provides us with a chance to see how this new hack-and-slash is shaping up, and the first impressions are very positive.
From the off, Mexican Ninja presents itself as a cross between Streets of Rage and Guacamelee. The game firmly leans on the comedic vibes of Drinkbox’s Luchavania, with donkey-inspired Kung-Fu moves, literal fart attacks and an overly horny Goddess. The opening moments are a semi-serious affair, as the game lays out serious exposition, mixed with comic undertones. That said, the game may be wrapped up in laughs, but peel back the layer and you’ll hit a promising beat ’em up. From the moment I took the train to the first area, oh boy, did it feel like I was back in 1994, smashing up phone boxes, pummeling goons and eating floor chicken.
No commentary playthrough of the Mexican Ninja Demo
Our full playthrough of the demo is embedded above for your viewing pleasure.
The focus on humour might have threatened to derail gameplay, but Madbricks have you covered here, too. The controls for Mexican Ninja are straightforward enough; light and heavy attacks are assigned to the face buttons, with special attacks assigned to the shoulders. Executing combos of light and heavy attacks felt as smooth as swishing a katana, and the specials, like the aforementioned fart attack, gave me a decent crowd control option. Even though the game is still a work in progress, it does feel as though a lot of time and care has gone into the gameplay. The number of special attacks and combos is currently limited, but it’ll be great to see what other power-ups will make their way into the final cut.
Speaking of which, the abilities and power-ups I accumulated during my time did send the difficulty out of whack. After a few runs, it becomes so easy to carve through enemies; I became the only Juan left on screen. I’m not sure if this was a decision made purely for the demo or if this is what Madbricks is intending, but I hope it’s the former. If the difficulty and skill trees aren’t adjusted for the full game, I can see the gameplay getting very boring, very quickly.
Where I could really tell the game is still in development is in the graphical performance. I did notice quite a bit of stuttering, particularly with the larger enemies, which did disrupt my flow a bit. I’ll stress that Madbricks are still developing the game, so it’s not a deal-breaker by any means. I still think it’s worth highlighting so that those who care about ‘Solid Frames’ don’t take umbrage at the demo.
In the hour or so it took me to finish the demo, I left having a good sense of what Mexican Ninja will be when it comes out. The humour, with its daft premise and even more outrageous characters, left me grinning. The gameplay is where I was really impressed. The tight controls, even at this stage of development, felt like a warm burrito melting in the mouth. Combos were slick to execute and felt weighty, while enemies walked a fine line between throwaway goons and challenging hurdles that can be cleared with a well-timed fart. At this stage, if the difficulty is tweaked and the skill tree is tweaked, Mexican Ninja will be one to look out for.
