A Triumphant Return for the Franchise

As soon as a storied and revered franchise, Ninja Gaiden‘s status cratered with 2012’s Ninja Gaiden 3, adopted by an excellent worse Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. For practically 12 years the sequence remained dormant, till an explosion of video games, together with Ninja Gaiden 4, put the franchise again on the map.

Table of Contents

I am pleased to report that the “12 months Of The Ninja” is in full swing. We received Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Ragebound, and Ninja Gaiden 4 all in the identical yr, and all of them are value taking part in.

Ninja Gaiden’s Type Is Again

And They Pulled Off A New Hero Swap

Ryu Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden 4, with a bolt of lightning behind him.

The twin-development efforts of Crew Ninja and Platinum Video games have pulled off fairly a feat with Ninja Gaiden 4. Not solely did they resurrect the franchise and get it again to its flashy technical roots, however they also implemented a new star that persons are truly going to love.

Whereas Ryu remains to be very a lot current and playable, he would not pop up correctly till a lot later within the sport. As an alternative, you are taking part in as Yakumo, a member of the Raven clan, and tender rival to Ryu’s Hayabusa clan. The catch is that though Yakumo has a ton of latest skills at his disposal (together with a powered-up Bloodraven type), he additionally sports activities an identical base moveset from the three mainline trendy Ninja Gaiden entries.

In consequence, selecting up Ninja Gaiden 4 looks like using a motorcycle once more, nevertheless it’s not a straight copy-and-paste job right here. The gist is that you will use mild and heavy assaults, combos, blocking, and dodging to your benefit, with a killer array of particular strikes. I loved acclimating to Yakumo’s ins and outs, and his Bloodraven stance nuances had been notably enjoyable to grasp.

For example, enemies telegraph unlockable assaults, which might be typically canceled by throwing out a fast Bloodraven skill. Bloodraven type serves a number of functions, like breaking guards and taking out a number of enemies without delay. It is all ruled by its personal meter, which is along with a further Satan Set off-like tremendous meter that allows you to go all-out on foes for a restricted time. Due to what number of instruments the event workforce armed you with, you are feeling like a formidable one-man military always.

Yakumo’s entire vibe can be darkish and mysterious (extra so than Ryu), and the Raven clan is extra technologically superior than the Hayabusa clan. That, mixed with the concentrate on a grimdark Tokyo, permits Ninja Gaiden 4 to distinguish itself from its predecessors and unfold its wings.

There’s A Lot Right here For Veterans And Newcomers Alike

Together with Elective Steep Challenges

In typical Ninja Gaiden golden-era style, the locales are extremely various, too. You will begin off raiding a cyberpunk-like metropolis, and find yourself in demon realms and far-out villages, amongst different surprises. Whereas the story is not essentially the most tantalizing, the drama and the promise of extra zones, strikes, and spectacle-filled boss battles propelled me via the sport.

Hardcore followers will probably be proud of this one as effectively. There is a exhausting issue accessible from the very begin, in addition to a “Demise Want” modifier for the problem/time trial mode. In brief, you possibly can choose to toggle on Demise Want and combat bosses on demand with out upgrades or benefits. It is going to make for some superior “no-hit” movies and speedruns.

Completionists can even be capable to root round for all the sport’s collectibles, in addition to problem rooms, which ask gamers to danger most life for higher rewards. Should you’re not into all that, you possibly can change the issue to “hero mode” (a better setting) and zip round to your coronary heart’s content material and skip the collectible grind. The story is lengthy sufficient to have some meat on the bone, and even only one completion looks like a full motion sport expertise.

There are some issues I might have beloved to have seen shored up, although. The Raven clan mainframe, accessible in many of the sport’s ranges, offers a lightweight quest system, primarily steering you towards “killing X variety of Y enemies” or “discover and take out a secret elite.”

For essentially the most half, you possibly can simply seize all of the quests and do them at your leisure, however there is a small diploma of bloat on this system, as I by no means actually discovered it mandatory for the sport’s core loop. Even the rewards for finishing quests can really feel superfluous, and will have been sprinkled into the degrees to additional promote exploration, moderately than gated by a menu display.

Yakumo is considerably customizable, with choices to select up new weapon expertise and all-encompassing base skills from in-level NPCs. Sadly, lots of these felt incremental in nature, and much too minuscule to make an enormous distinction till you choose up a ton of them and begin utilizing all of them collectively.

Ninja Gaiden 4 Is Practically As Good As 1+2

I am Hoping We Get A Observe-Up

Ninja Gaiden 4 Looking At Tokyo With Dragon Overhead

Should you’re on the lookout for a brand new motion sport to actually reside in, that is it. Due to the addition of the brand new protagonist, it is solely attainable besides up Ninja Gaiden 4 and never really feel misplaced. For veterans, all of the muscle reminiscence from previous entries will really feel like second nature, particularly while you pull off your first satisfying Izuna Drop.

2025 is a packed yr, however Ninja Gaiden 4 is likely one of the greatest video games on provide up to now. It is exhausting to consider we have gotten two great Ninja Gaiden entries this yr after over a decade on ice.

Methods

Launched: October 21, 2025
ESRB: Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sturdy Language, Suggestive Themes
Developer(s): Platinum Video games, Crew Ninja, Koei Tecmo Video games Co., Ltd.
Writer(s): Xbox Sport Studios
Engine: PlatinumEngine
Prequel(s): Ninja Gaiden 3