Ninja Gaiden 4 revives a long-dormant series without bowing to Sekiro

And convey goodness it's not a Soulslike

In 2012, the Ninja Gaiden bid went dormant and different developers took up the precise enactment crown that Tecmo had erstwhile forged. Aside from a forgettable 2014 spinoff dubbed Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, fans were starved and near wondering what a modern Ninja Gaiden would resemble. Soulslikes had swept the industry, and instrumentality speculation was rampant that erstwhile and if Ryu Hayabusa returned, helium would lucifer Sekiro, and imaginable beryllium saddled with a stamina oregon posture bar.

This year, astatine last, we recovered out.

2025 saw a full big of ninja games interruption down the doorway successful a flurry of shurikens, and Ninja Gaiden 4 is 1 of them. Developed by PlatinumGames, it decidedly doesn't person stamina bars oregon different Soulslike trimmings. It is hard arsenic hell, sure, but the remainder of it is simply a blazing accelerated acquisition decked retired successful stylish neon trappings, astir arsenic subtle arsenic an Izuna Drop.

Ninja Gaiden 4 mostly succeeds successful revitalising its bushed aged bones, making my fingers ache arsenic I grip my gamepad successful the aforesaid mode that they did erstwhile I play the archetypal games. It's a fond ache, arsenic it's 1 of those pains that lone occurs successful the throes of addiction arsenic I try, implicit and implicit again, to decision the seemingly endless array of tech-infused samurai PMC forces who person taken implicit Tokyo City. The moves astatine your disposal are accelerated and furious, and the dismemberments that hap arsenic you plaything from gathering to building, slicing heads arsenic you go, are infernally satisfying. This crippled demands mastery successful a mode that differs from Soulslikes. Rather than emphasising positioning and endurance management, Ninja Gaiden 4 casts you arsenic a blitzing, bursting assassin with a cardinal moves to beryllium reckoned with, and stringing unneurotic these techniques to get an extended combo to look connected the beauteous UI is simply a delicate art.

The worst happening you tin accidental astir Ninja Gaiden 4 is that it's not truly a Team Ninja game, and alternatively feels injected with the aforesaid DNA that Platinum's enactment successful their different projects. I don't cognize what Tomonobu Itagaki, the decorator who revitalised the bid successful the 2000s and sadly passed distant this October, would've thought of Ninja Gaiden 4. It drifts from his chiseled imaginativeness successful galore ways. For instance, the caller protagonist Yakumo is lone a fewer degrees removed from Raiden successful Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, some successful the mode helium moves and successful his brooding beauteous lad personality. It's a shame that regular protagonist Ryu Hayabusa is mostly a inheritance quality until the extremity of the game. When you bash astatine past get the accidental to power him, it feels similar coming location to an aged friend.

But portion this mightiness dependable similar Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry 4, oregon immoderate different crippled wherever the aged protagonist was supplanted by a caller and little chill guy, astatine slightest the bully folks astatine Platinum ne'er hid this information during Ninja Gaiden 4's promotion. This bombardment of katana unit done cyberpunk Tokyo whitethorn beryllium much of Yakumo's crippled than Ryu's, but astatine slightest it's attached to a bid that has risen from hibernation, pulsating with vigor and acceptable to unleash an array of decapitations. Here's hoping we won't person to hold truthful agelong for Ninja Gaiden 5.