This 2026 Game About a Mexican Ninja Sounds Too Absurd to Be Real

On paper, Mexican Ninja sounds like an impossible game. The indie 2.5D rougelike is an over-the-top fusion of Mexican and Japanese stylish touches, creating a ninja action game where the main character wears a sombrero and practices the Way of the Donkey. The game’s visual elements are memorable as a result, perfectly fitting the blunt silliness of the title.

Mexican Ninja, which currently has a demo available on Steam, is an impressive and unique little action game, with the potential to be something special. At the very least, though, the presentation is memorably weird enough to stand out in a crowded field. Even after playing through the demo, I still can’t quite believe Mexican Ninja is real.

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An unexpected fusion of cultures, AMBER’s Mexican Ninja is a wild riff on classic action titles like Shinobi and modern hits like Hades, all with a proudly Latino-inspired art style. The Colombian developer Madbricks is the primary force behind the game alongside Amber and REDRUM, which is set in the world of Nuevo Tokyo. Focusing on the titular warrior, Mexican Ninja focuses on the fallout of the Narkuzas (a fusion of the Mexican Narcos and Japanese Yakuza) taking over Nuevo Tokyo and outlawing the sacred Mexican martial art style, known as the Way of the Donkey.

The 3D combat rings and rougelike approach to death and rebirth invite a lot of gameplay experimentation, which helps break up the relatively limited combat loop. There are a few different special moves to incorporate into the gameplay style, giving players reason to experiment on subsequent level playthroughs as they explore more of the depths of the city. The stylization is the most distinct element of the game, even if the enemy types are relatively repetitive. The setting’s mix of vivid colors and cultural archetypes could feel tropey in the wrong hands, but the team at Madbricks infuses it with enough self-aware charm to make it all work.

While the game is very much still in the early demo stages, the title’s combat and rougelike character building have good potential as the bedrock for a tight action game. It’ll be interesting to see how the game develops over time and grows into the final product, especially when it comes to the world expansion and level design. In fact, that core concept is the real drawing power of the game, and it’s hopefully played up even more in the final product.

Culture Fusions Helps Mexican Ninja Stand Out

Mexican Ninja is a fun example of a really fun concept that should be the focus of more games — cultural fusions. Similar to the American/Japanese setting of San Fransokyo from Big Hero 6, the game’s Nuevo Tokyo gives the Japanese-inspired train system and shrines a distinctly Mexican touch. The same applies to the game’s take on the legendary hero foretold to save the world, a common plot trope in plenty of games that clearly inspired the developers of the game. The title might catch players off guard, but the full commitment to the concept is the key to Mexican Ninja‘s charm. It helps that it all feels like an authentic love letter to both cultures and the history of action gaming. The enemies types are a mix of street-wear punks and sumo wrestlers, with a bright aesthetic that helps keep the action from blending into the environment. It feels attuned to both Japanese games and Mexican archetypes in equal measure. As the combat goes on, it even takes on new dimensions as enemies can rush through nearby parks, feeling like a genuine ambush that the player has to prove themselves adept enough to survive, which wouldn’t feel quite the same anywhere else. It all makes for a cool setting that stands out from countless other urban sprawls in side-scrolling action games. The visual flourish and slick soundtrack complement each other and make for an engaging space, and helps separate Mexican Ninja from the countless other rougelike games that have come out over the years. While there are still some rough edges that the game is ironing out before it gets a full release in 2026, Mexican Ninja‘s unique cultural fusion gives it an entertaining edge.