With series developer Team NINJA starting to focus on action RPG games with a distinct Soulslike feel with the first entry in the Nioh series, it felt like the Japanese studio was done with the Ninja Gaiden franchise, one of the series that better defines the team. As the years went by with no news on a new entry in the series, it felt more and more like Ryu Hayabusa's story had come to an end, but in early 2025, it was made clear how the series is not only alive, but also rather well. Following the release of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black and the classic 2D action game Ninja Gaiden Ragebound earlier this year, the series will return to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S with Ninja Gaiden 4, a game that has the potential of being not only one of the best entries in the series, but one of the best action games of the generation, combining the best Team NINJA and PlatinumGames have offered with their games to date.
Though very short, barely clocking 30 minutes in length, the Ninja Gaiden 4 Gamescom demo did an excellent job showcasing how the game will continue the series tradition of lightning-fast action gameplay, but with a distinct PlatinumGames flavor. Controlling Yakumo in a futuristic rendition of Tokyo which ran extremely well on Xbox Series X, with little to none framerate drops, I was able to try out his parkour and movement abilities, which include a grappling hook for superior mobility across long distances that also has some combat applications, fight a few regular enemies along the way, which were combo'ed to death using different weapons, aerial launchers and devastating finishing moves, and put my skills to the test against a powerful boss. This fight was definitely the highlight of the experience, as it served as an introduction to Yakumo's Bloodraven form, a special technique that allows the Raven clan ninja to enhance his weapons and expand their movesets using blood.
Mastering a complex combat system with the limited time available was a challenge, and it took me many attempts to understand how to use the Bloodraven technique to prevent the powerful boss from unleashing his special attacks and stagger him so that he could be damaged with longer combos, which are performed in typical PlatinumGames fashion by using light and heavy attacks in specific sequences. What I appreciated the most is that, compared to too many character-action games, Ninja Gaiden 4 doesn't toss everything the player learns out of the window in boss fights, but actually allows players to use any intricate combo they use against regular enemies even against certain bosses. It's impossible to know if this will be the case for all of them, but the fact that this was possible against this particular boss definitely bodes well. With the rocking music's intensity ramping up as the boss entered his second phase, with more powerful attacks which were trickier to dodge, and some clearly advanced tech that required more time to be used properly, including the dodge offset mechanic made popular by the Bayonetta series, the game immediately brought to mind Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, one of PlatinumGames' finest action games ever.
Unable to try out Ryu Hayabusa's gameplay, which should be closer in feel to the traditional series' experience, it's impossible to say at this time how Ninja Gaiden 4 will balance the new and old approach and how everything will come up together, but the little taste of the experience I had made more more excited than before about the game, which has the serious chance of topping Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as my game of the year. Thankfully, the wait won't be too long, as the game launches on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on October 21.
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