Fans of Obscure Gera Facts will know I’m a big supporter of experimental multiplayer design, which is why when you first glance at Kieru I kindly ask you not to glaze over because it basically looks identical to MadWorld.

The game is heavily stylised, but it’s all for the sake of a really neat gameplay concept. “Kieru’s world is monochrome, as are the two teams of stealthy Ninjas who occupy it,” reads a block of text from the game developers, the little Aussie collective Pine Fire Studios. “A black Ninja in shadow or a white Ninja in the light are completely invisible to their oblivious opponents. Stealth, deception and sudden, surprise aggression will win the day.”



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It’s a really interesting experiment in aesthetic as game mechanic, and even just watching the trailer makes me cross-eyed. I like games that require their players to adapt to them, and in Kieru’s case it seems as if you’ll be trained to react to colour and shadow – two things that are traditionally irrelevant for most games – in completely new ways.