Like a rogue combination of Lode Runner and Super Mario Bros., N+ is a game of line-drawing platform levels and a stick-figure ninja hero. The main goal is to guide the ninja to the exit of each level, but there are also gold blocks to collect, deadly traps to avoid, and sometimes, switches to flip and doors to open. The main way to collect gold, avoid traps, flip switches, and reach exits is through carefully controlled jumps that make use of the layout of the platforms in each level.
The ninja hero cannot double-jump like some other platform heroes, but he can jump off of walls and his trajectory can be altered in mid-air, allowing him to leap up, out, and around ledges and obstacles. Levels are designed to test the limits of this control scheme, but with perfectly directed leaps, the 2D ninja can use the layout of each board to reach even the most treacherously booby-trapped gold blocks and most isolated exits.
Hundreds of levels are available in the game, ranging from simple tutorial boards to extremely challenging layouts. A main mode of play puts a time limit on the ninja's escape; gold blocks add extra time, so players will sometimes need to make strategic decisions as to whether to go out of their way to collect gold or to head straight for the exit. N+ is based on N: Way of the Ninja, an online Flash game that gained substantial grassroots popularity since its initial 2005 freeware release.