Mexican Ninja Review
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release Date: July 28, 2026
Main Story Length: 2 hours
Developer: Madbricks
Reviewed on PC
Gameplay screenshots captured by NextUpDaily
One More Run Turns Into Five
There is always a moment in a good roguelike where “one more run” becomes a complete lie.
Mexican Ninja got me there pretty quickly.
I’d finish a run, head back with enough coins for another upgrade, tell myself I was done for the night, and then immediately think: Well, I should probably see what this upgrade actually does.
Then I’d unlock another character.
Okay. One more run.
Then I’d notice I was close to another skill-tree upgrade.
Fine. One more.
You know how this ends.
Mexican Ninja is an impressively polished indie roguelike built around fast combat, meaningful progression, multiple playable characters, branching routes, and the kind of upgrade loop that constantly gives you another reason to jump back in.
And once I really figured out the dash, things started getting dangerous.
Not for my character.
For my free time.
It Makes a Strong First Impression
The first thing that surprised me was just how sharp Mexican Ninja looks.
During the opening scene, I was immediately impressed by the level of detail and overall fidelity. The environments are clean, the character designs pop, and the comic-book-style story sequences give the game its own visual personality before you even start throwing punches.
Those story panels are a cool way to introduce the world, although I do think narration could have elevated them even further. There are moments where the presentation feels like it is begging for a voice to carry you through the panels rather than leaving everything entirely on the page.
Still, the art direction carries plenty of personality on its own.
That extends into the game’s broader identity as well. The soundtrack is catchy and draws heavily from Mexican musical influences, while the dialogue, character writing, environments, and humor all help give the game a distinct cultural flavor rather than making its setting feel like something pasted on top.
And the dialogue is genuinely funny.
Just know what you’re walking into. This is very much written for a mature audience, and it is not particularly interested in behaving itself.
Neither is the violence.
Mexican Ninja gets extremely gory, and for a game built around slicing, punching, exploding, and generally dismantling groups of enemies, it fits perfectly.
The Combat Just Feels Good
None of the progression would matter if actually fighting enemies wasn’t fun.
Thankfully, it is.
Hit detection feels spot on. Movement is smooth. Attacks feel responsive. Enemies react properly when you connect, and there is enough weight behind everything that tearing through a crowded room stays satisfying.
The game especially rewards aggression.
Dashing into a group, landing a few quick attacks, repositioning, and immediately diving back into the mess feels fantastic once you find your rhythm.
I originally started with keyboard and mouse before switching to a controller, and my ability level increased almost instantly. Once I remapped the buttons to what felt natural, I started cooking.
And the dash became my best friend.
It is so quick and useful that I honestly didn’t rely on parrying very often. Once I unlocked a second dash, movement opened up even more and combat started feeling dramatically faster.
By somewhere around my 15th or 20th run, my character had become a monster. I was flying through multiple rooms without taking a hit, bouncing between enemies, and tearing through encounters that had given me trouble much earlier.
There is something incredibly satisfying about remembering how rough those early runs felt and then realizing you’re now clearing the same areas almost effortlessly.
Part of that comes from upgrades.
Part of it comes from simply getting better.
That combination is exactly what a roguelike needs.
Then the Game Humbled Me
For a while, I thought Mexican Ninja might actually be a little too easy.
The first couple of bosses went down without giving me nearly as much trouble as I expected, and I started wondering whether the progression system was making me powerful a little too quickly.
Then the game basically told me to shut up.
The difficulty ramps up significantly as you push toward its six main boss encounters, and later sections demand much better movement, positioning, and understanding of enemy attacks.
Suddenly, that health bottle hidden inside a random barrel mattered a lot more.
So did finding a vending machine when I was barely hanging on.
Those little roguelike moments are some of my favorites. You’re limping through an area hoping something — anything — gives you enough health to survive the next room, and suddenly every barrel becomes the most important object you’ve ever seen.
The bosses eventually become legitimate tests, and beating them feels rewarding because you can feel both sides of your progression working together.
Your character is stronger.
But you’re also smarter.
You know when to dash. You understand enemy patterns. You recognize which upgrades work with your build. You stop panicking in situations that destroyed you five runs earlier.
That is where Mexican Ninja really started clicking for me.
There’s More Variety Than I First Thought
Early on, I wasn’t completely sold on the enemy variety.
There was enough there that I wouldn’t have called it lacking, but it didn’t initially seem like one of the game’s strengths.
That changed the further I progressed.
Later areas introduce considerably more variety, and the different combinations of enemies force you to adjust how you move through fights rather than simply repeating the same attack pattern forever.
The levels also give you decisions about which routes you want to take next, helping runs feel less rigid.
Small hidden pathways scattered throughout the environments give you another excuse to poke around, too.
None of this completely reinvents the roguelike formula, but it does enough to prevent Mexican Ninja from feeling like you’re running the exact same hallway over and over again.
The Upgrades Are What Kept Pulling Me Back
This is probably the biggest reason I kept playing.
Mexican Ninja constantly gives you something worth chasing.
Coins earned throughout runs can be spent on permanent upgrades, and the skill tree gives you tangible reasons to keep building your character even after a failed attempt.
The upgrades matter, too.
I never like progression systems where you grind for an hour just to gain some microscopic percentage that you can barely feel.
Here, you can actually notice yourself becoming stronger.
That makes collecting coins genuinely exciting because you’re already thinking about what they’ll become when you get back.
There are also multiple unlockable characters, each bringing different abilities and traits to the table. You earn them through completing quests, and experimenting with them became another part of that “okay, one more run” problem.
One of my favorite abilities early on left an explosion behind after a light attack, completely changing how I approached groups.
Another character could pick up more coins.
Guess who became my designated wallet-filler?
I’d take him out specifically because I wanted enough money for another upgrade.
Then I’d buy the upgrade.
Then I’d want to see how good it was.
Then suddenly I was playing again.
It is a vicious cycle.
A very fun vicious cycle.
Hades Fans Will Feel Right at Home
I am a big fan of the Hades games, and it was difficult not to think about them while playing Mexican Ninja.
That’s a compliment.
The comparison isn’t because Mexican Ninja simply copies what Hades does. It’s more about the rhythm.
Fight through rooms.
Build your character.
Make choices about your path.
Fail.
Upgrade.
Go again.
Become more dangerous.
Go again.
That familiar roguelike heartbeat is here, but Mexican Ninja wraps it in its own setting, characters, humor, gore, and combat style.
The different characters also let you shape runs around abilities you actually enjoy instead of forcing everyone into one universal playstyle.
And if you’re struggling, the game does give you ways to push forward.
Invest in permanent upgrades. Learn the enemies. Try another character. Experiment with different abilities. Keep building your skill tree.
Some players are obviously going to clear it faster than others, but progression means a failed run rarely feels completely wasted.
You are almost always moving toward something.
This Won’t Be for Everyone
The biggest caveat is really a genre one.
Mexican Ninja is built around repeatedly running through its world, failing, upgrading, and starting again.
If that structure doesn’t work for you, this game probably isn’t going to magically change your mind.
And once the difficulty begins ramping up, some players could hit a wall.
There are absolutely points where you’re going to need to put in more runs, gather more upgrades, learn attacks, and come back stronger.
Personally, that’s exactly what I wanted from it.
But it’s worth knowing going in.
This isn’t a game where you’re guaranteed to smoothly march from level one to the ending because you’ve already put a few hours into it.
Sometimes you’re going back.
That’s the point.
There’s a Lot of Game Here
What impressed me most by the end wasn’t any single mechanic.
It was how complete everything felt together.
The visuals are sharp.
Performance was flawless for me, with extremely fast load times throughout.
The combat is smooth and responsive.
The soundtrack sticks with you.
Sound effects give attacks enough impact to sell the beat-’em-up brutality.
The characters are funny.
The progression consistently rewards your time.
The unlockables meaningfully change how you play.
And eventually, I stopped thinking about whether I needed to do another run and started thinking about which upgrade I wanted next.
That’s usually when you know a roguelike has you.
I’d love to see additional levels, characters, encounters, or other content added down the road because Mexican Ninja feels like the kind of game that has real room to grow.
There’s a very strong foundation here.
Sometimes You Just Need a Damn Good Gameplay Loop
Mexican Ninja isn’t trying to bury you beneath a hundred complicated systems.
It understands something much more important.
Sometimes all you need is smooth gameplay and an addictive loop.
Fight.
Earn coins.
Unlock something.
Get stronger.
Try again.
Mexican Ninja does that extremely well.
The beautiful art direction got my attention, but the responsiveness of the combat and constant feeling of progression are what kept me playing.
And when I eventually decided I was finally done for the night?
I noticed I was pretty close to unlocking another upgrade.
So obviously I did one more run.
If you’re a fan of roguelikes — especially games that give you that Hades-style satisfaction of becoming noticeably better both through upgrades and through your own understanding of the game — Mexican Ninja is very easy to recommend.
Just don’t believe yourself when you say you’re stopping after the next run.
Disclosure: A review code for Mexican Ninja was provided through Game.Press for review purposes. Receiving a review code had no influence on the opinions expressed in this review or its final score.
