This is how you make games for fans. After nearly 15 years, Ninja Gaiden is back in great shape

Ninja Gaiden fans have been pretty neglected since 2013. On the way, there was, of course, some kind of spin-off, but it wasn't really a big deal. The situation has drastically changed this year. First, we got a new, remastered version of Ninja Gaiden 2 on the Unreal Engine, titled Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, and shortly afterwards, Ninja Gaiden 4 was announced. So the game about Japanese masters of operating in the shadows, focused on very fast action, returns after almost 15 years. But in glory? Did it manage to fix the problems of Ninja Gaiden 3, which was so heavily criticized by fans? I had the chance to try out a two-hour demo of Ninja Gaiden 4, and now I'll try to answer those questions for you - and for myself in the process.

The plot? What kind of ninpo is this?

The Ninja Gaiden 4 demo I received included four missions, with two being straightforward tutorials that effectively showcased new mechanics, movement methods, and the storytelling approach. I know that many fans may be turning up their noses at this moment, because the plot has never been the strong point of the Ninja Gaiden series; it was just somewhere in the background. The third installment tried to approach the story of Ryu a bit more seriously, but to put it mildly, it didn't turn out the best. This time, the situation is completely different because right from the start, what caught my attention was that the characters finally have some personality.

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And so, the main protagonist of the fourth installment of the series, Yakumo from the Raven clan doesn't just throw around cheesy lines left and right. The boy has a mission and can show emotions that are believable. Other characters also seem interesting, often hiding their true intentions. To be honest, I'm pretty okay with this change, except when someone contacts Yakumo through the earpiece and our young ninja starts moving really slowly during the conversation. I wouldn't normally nitpick about something so small, but in fast-paced action games, it kind of throws off the rhythm. A better plot is welcome, but not at the expense of the pace of gameplay.

Action, action, and action again

Let's move on to the main course now. The first thing I noticed after starting the game was the faster pace of combat. Of course, we have both weak and strong attacks here that we can combine to perform complex and spectacular combos, which are also very brutal in NG4 - blood literally flooded my monitor screen. We can once again use the mechanic to obliterate enemies that we previously dismembered. These finishers are very fast and don't spoil the pace of the game. Fans of the series should also appreciate that techniques such as Izuna Drop or Flying Swallow are available from the very beginning.

The biggest novelty in the combat turns out to be the Bloodraven Form. Yakumo can kind of manipulate blood to bring out its hidden form. So one of the basic weapons transforms into a gigantic blade, which easily overcomes the defenses of opponents and enables stronger moves. To activate this form, we need a resource that we accumulate through attacks and the aforementioned finishers. We monitor the status of this resource in the lower left corner of the screen.

I was able to test two types of weapons. One of them was a blade that looked like a rapier, and in Bloodraven Form, it transformed into a huge drill, making it easy to dismember enemies. The second weapon was a double katana, which in a special form took on the shape of the aforementioned gigantic blade. The attack sets of both these combat tools differed greatly from each other - katanas were fast, but dealt less damage, the "rapier," on the other hand, hit harder, but was slightly slower. Traditionally, changing weapons in the middle of a combat requires some skill, but it also provides a lot of satisfaction and is very worthwhile. In Ninja Gaiden 4, you can practice your attacks, special moves, and counters in a special simulation, which is really helpful.

During the fight, we can cancel the opponent's regular attack with our regular attack. If we see that the samurai in our way is blocking our attacks, we need to go into Bloodraven Form and break through his defense. Swinging the katana in NG4, compared to Razor's Edge, has gained a lot more minor dependencies, which don't spoil the pace, but introduce a certain challenge threshold.

Regular enemies on normal and hard difficulty levels (the ones I've tried) aren't particularly difficult to beat, as long as we don't just blindly mash buttons. The real challenge begins when we fight the bosses. In the demo, two of them were available: the samurai general and the kitsune (fox-woman) - and they can already cause trouble with their fast attacks and special moves. They also clearly have two phases of the fight marked, and as we know, the second is always harder than the first. In the shared preview version, I was also able to check out the Boss Rush mode, which gives a chance to face off against previously defeated bosses again. This mode allowed for adjustments (among other things) of the difficulty level or how many healing items would be made available during the challenge.

In the story missions, I didn't have a chance to play as Ryu Hayabusa, the main character of the three previous installments of the series. But I could test him in fights with the aforementioned bosses, and our fan of tight, latex suits definitely didn't forget how to fight. The Ryu style is very different from the Yakumo style; it seems to be more grounded, but absolutely doesn't lose its dynamism. Hayabusa can also enter a special fighting mode that is based on filling up a ki bar through successful attacks, just like Yakumo.

Return of the king

PlatinumGames has chosen a new direction for the series, but retains everything that fans consider the best. During the mission, adding extra challenges from the checkpoints in well-thought-out locations brings a breath of fresh air and allows for more time to explore neo-cyberpunk Tokyo, which is really impressive. I think many will be pleased to hear that we no longer have to worry about the camera during the fight. Now it moves to a proper distance, giving a view of the entire battlefield. A special indicator has also been added to warn us if someone is shooting at us from off-screen. And - most importantly - we can now lock-on enemies, which is especially useful during boss fights.

Now, I am eagerly awaiting October for the release of Ninja Gaiden 4. Based on what I've seen, I have reason to believe that a full-fledged, great installment of the series is coming. The fourth installment will be what NG3 could have been from the start: a fast, bloody slaughter with well-developed boss designs, fully aware of what it is and what its strengths are.

Ninja Gaiden 4

October 21, 2025

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• Overview
• Review

• PlatinumGames
• Ninja Gaiden (franchise)
• Team Ninja
• Xbox Game Studios / Microsoft Gaming