Ninja Gaiden 4: The Return to Form the Series Needed
Table of Contents
Overview
The year 2025 really was the year of the ninja, with both Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi making a return to the forefront, along with other games touching on Ninja themes like AC Shadows and Ghost of Yotei to some extent. No game has had it quite as well as Ninja Gaiden, with a remake of a fan favorite in Ninja Gaiden 2 Black kicking off the year, an old-school 2D adventure in Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, and now with a brand new sequel, Ninja Gaiden 4.After the overwhelmingly negative response to Ninja Gaiden 3, the series seemed to have been lying dormant, waiting for an opportunity to make a comeback, and with this sequel, the pressure was on to rectify those wrongs and see if Team Ninja still had the creative juice to cook with Ninja Gaiden. This time, however, Team Ninja was not alone: Ninja Gaiden was co-developed with industry legend Platinum Games, which was working in tandem on the much-anticipated sequel.So how did this all come together? Ninja Gaiden 4 is an absolutely fantastic return to form for the series, tapping into the fun and challenge that Ninja Gaiden typically demands and prioritizing efficiency and the correct use of weapons and combos to effectively clear a room, emphasizing speed and momentum of style. Ninja Gaiden 4 is as brutal and graphic as the prior games.If you're a fan of the series, especially Ninja Gaiden 2 from the Xbox 360 days, I feel like you will find enjoyment in Ninja Gaiden 4. When it comes to what matters most, the combat in Ninja Gaiden 4 is an absolutely incredible video game.
Story
Ninja Gaiden 4 is to Ninja Gaiden what Devil May Cry 5 was to Devil May Cry. It has the same sort of attitude and passing-the-torch energy in its feeling, and whilst I wouldn't say it handles it narratively as emotionally or as well as DMC, I do think it is something in this narrative that at least keeps you somewhat paying attention to what is happening next.The story follows Yakamo, a young Ninja from the Raven Clan, a branch of the Hayabusa clan, and a direct descendant of the Dark Dragon. Yakamo is setting out on the same journey to become a master ninja like Ryu, and sets out on the initial mission to assassinate the priestess of the Dark Dragon Seori. Yakamo soon learns the truth from Seori, and an agreement is made to break the seals on the Dark Dragon and truly defeat it once and for all.
It's also worth noting that you will see Ryu Hayabusa, who's involved in this story; you'll get to play as him, too. But I want to be clear that this is Yakamo's game. If you were expecting a game that would be split down the middle between Ryu and Yakamo like DMC 4 or 5, then you're sadly in for a rough time. Yakamo, as a character, feels like your typical anime edgy, brooding archetype, and he doesn't really get much character development throughout the game. I don't dislike the character; I feel ambivalent towards him, but he doesn't have the same immediate, iconic charm as Ryu Hayabusa, and for a story that, in a lot of ways, is trying to do a passing of the torch, it really does feel like a missed opportunity.Ninja Gaiden 4's story isn't going to move or hit most people deeply, but it is a fun adventure that carries across the core and essential components of the Ninja Gaiden experience: the gameplay.
Gameplay
Combat
The gameplay feels refreshing; it is a throwback to the hack-and-slash games of the early 2000's and the Xbox 360 era. The different abilities and combos you unlock feel precise to execute, and with this familiar feeling of a different time, Ninja Gaiden 4 does feel modern in many ways.Yakamo has many abilities; there are your basic light and heavy attacks for each of the four weapons you'll acquire throughout the game. On top of that, Yakamo has an ability when pressing L2 called Blood Raven Attacks. These attacks are more the heavy hitters, but they can only be used to a certain degree. There is a yellow bar in the bottom left corner, which is a meter gauge of how much energy you have for Blood Raven attacks. When yellow, you're good to go; when purple, it's charging. In normal mode, this charges on its own, but attacking enemies with regular attacks will also increase this gauge, making it a balancing attack between Blood Raven and Regular attacks.
On top of this inflexion point between the regular and Blood Raven attacks, there are the enemies that you'll be facing, which have regular attacks that you can both block and parry. Parrying an enemy attack will provide you with a little signifier, which allows you to initiate a counterattack, which will initiate a powerful attack back to anyone who is within close quarters of Yakamo. Then there are enemy attacks that will do devastating damage. You can cancel these enemy attacks by attacking the enemy with a Blood Raven attack within a given window when you see an exclamation mark pop up during the attack.The last thing the combat facilities is that, like how you can block, so can the enemies too. When these enemies do block your attacks, the way that you can counter is like how you solve most issues the enemies throw at you, Blood Raven attacks. It's a cool and interesting dynamic that makes Blood Raven attacks feel like something you'll want to make sure you don't abuse, because using it for a well-timed attack like this would provide an opening for devastating damage.But on top of this, there is a plethora of great combos, attacks, and weapons that provide a level of player expression, and it is this difference that I feel Ninja Gaiden has over something like Devil May Cry. Both have a focus on player expression, but where I feel like Devil May Cry's is more focused around killing your foes in the most stylish way possible, Ninja Gaiden feels more focused around precision, quick and responsive time, and clean kills. Ninja Gaiden feels like a hack-n-slash game, what Doom Eternal is to shooters, it's quick and relentless, but once you get into a flow state, and a rhythm, and start to understand the weapons swapping, the combos, and parry windows, you become an absolute menace, and the stylish badass kills follow with it.
I really did enjoy Ninja Gaiden 2 back on the Xbox 360, and Ninja Gaiden 4 in a lot of ways. Whilst it feels like it has its own identity, it really did feel reminiscent of the magic that game made me feel back then.
Level Design
Now I want to talk about the level design of Ninja Gaiden 4, and how I feel it all clicks together with the combat. So as I mentioned in the story component, you'll be searching for different shrines unseal the Dark Dragon, and with this narrative backdrop, you'll see yourself exploring different locations throughout a range of different levels that are threaded together. Usually, each set of levels will provide you with a new weapon, but also a mechanic that helps explore and platform the level. These span from a grappling hook to a wing glider, and even a damn surfboard. It is a fun way to provide some more interesting action that breaks up the slice-and-dice combat you're usually involved in. In terms of the levels themselves, there is a good range of enemy variety walls with hooks you can grapple to and walls you can bounce off and attack.On top of this, each level has hidden nooks that have different side activities that are either side objectives that you can pick up from your save points. A lot of these are just fun additional challenges, but they feel like rewards for straying off the golden path, and some neat little side stories do arise from them, too.
Each level is designed with a good pace of platforming and combat. Along with the unique platforming mechanics I mentioned earlier, there are your wall-running and more traditional platforming segments, which help diversify levels beyond just rooms you bounce between for combat. Not to mention that many of these platforming segments do provide their own action that can sometimes have setpiece moments that spice up the overall levelSo it isn't a spoiler to say that in this game, you'll be hopping between two characters, Yakamo and Ryu. Whilst the game is split 80/20 between Yakamo and Ryu, there are levels with Ryu. Funnily enough, I found these levels to be the weakest part of the game. The levels felt like watered-down rehashes of the same levels you explore earlier as Yakamo, and on top of that, it feels like Ryu is already a fully unlocked character, making the exploration and progression for Ryu levels feel stunted. It would have been cool to see Ryu get a cool unlock or something, along with a cool platforming tool that makes his levels feel unique, but these levels end up feeling like an afterthought and reflect how much effort was put into Yakamo's levels and progression.
Game Systems
Weapon Abilities and Combat Skills
On the topic of progression, I would now like to talk about the different forms that take shape in Ninja Gaiden 4. Firstly, you have the four different weapons you unlock with each new shrine you unseal. These weapons each come with a different playstyle, along with a Blood Raven form, which is a much more exaggerated version of the regular weapon that does excessive damage.But beyond the basic combos that come with both forms of your weapon comes a whole host of new abilities that you unlock using a currency you get from killing enemies and completing side objectives. These abilities that come with each weapon flesh out your skill ceiling, allowing you new attacks and combos that can combo into one another, and once you start to get a feel for the different moves and the overall precision and execution of taking down foes, Ninja Gaiden 4 becomes more of a dance between your enemies and your reflexes.
It did take a few levels for me to get into the rhythm, and I think the more my options expanded for how I could fight enemies, so did my overall enjoyment did. Yakamo's arsenal of weapons exemplifies what I love about this genre: new weapons mean a new tool, a new method to deal with particular enemies, and a new way to attain the satisfying flow state that I feel Ninja Gaiden effortlessly pulls off. There are plenty of abilities to unlock for each weapon, too, which makes progression carry over to new playthroughs that you'll be attempting on harder difficulties.On top of the unlockable abilities that you get for your weapons, you'll also get unlockable combat skills that are universal combats that you can also interweave between your weapon-based attacks. All together, these systems make the way you control Yakamo feel flexible and satisfying.
Visuals, Sound, and Performance
Visuals
The visuals for Ninja Gaiden 4 are mostly solid, with a good art direction that makes each location and level feel distinct. Some of the subsequent levels or one location do feel stylistically that they blend together. But there are some really fantastic-looking levels, like the underground neon-lit areas. The overall Art Direction of Ninja Gaiden 4 is a big contributor to what makes the levels look distinct. The overall animation and movement for obliteration techniques and executions are still a gore-fest, absolutely stylish and nice to look at, but also fast-paced, so they don't disrupt the flow of combat. Overall, the look of Ninja Gaiden 4 is nice, but I do believe there needs to be more diversity in locations, as I feel some of the visuals and aesthetics end up looking the same.
Sound
The sound presentation for Ninja Gaiden 4 is overall good; the boss-fight soundtracks are energetic, and the music in general feels like an underlying heartbeat and jumpstart that keeps the combat and each level feeling like it is constantly beating from level to level, encounter to encounter. I do feel like some of the characters' performances can be a little flat in cutscenes, but I chalk this down to the writing more than the acting. One thing that I do think is awesome is the sounds of combat, the chunky and weighty sounds of your blades swinging, cutting, and mauling through enemies, along with hearing enemies yelling stuff like "he cut off my arm" as you slash through them. It is a nice added touch, and overall, the visuals and sound work well to make the combat segments feel satisfying, even if the cutscenes and story moments fall short.
Performance
The performance of Ninja Gaiden 4 was mostly solid. I played this game on a base PS5. The game was a smooth experience up until around the 12th chapter, when I started to encounter some serious frame drops, where the game was running at like 10fps, and it was really jarring. I was worried my console was overheating or something. I would wait for a moment, and then the game would stabilize. But this issue did recur two or three times after as well. I hope this issue gets resolved, because it was the only performance issue that threw me out of the experience, especially during times that required quick responses. Outside of these frame drops and the game seemingly freezing, the rest of the game was fine on the performance front.
Conclusion
Ninja Gaiden 4 is the embodiment of fun factor. There is a level of skill and punishment that comes from this series, but Ninja Gaiden 4 seemingly walks this difficult tightrope between making a game accessible for newcomers while still challenging enough that it remains a Ninja Gaiden game at its core. The combat in Ninja Gaiden 4 feels precise, and each weapon feels distinct and versatile, making the combos you pull off and the weapons you play with expressive and satisfying throughout the entire runtime of the game. Whilst I do feel like the Ryu Hayabusa levels could have been better fleshed out in terms of level variety and overall progression, the time as Yakamo feels fully realized and extremely satisfying. In 2025, Ninja Gaiden 4 is a game that, whilst its story doesn't do much for me, its gameplay, from platforming, combat, and progression, is all something that is insanely well-thought-out and fun to play through. It's a game I feel has been a little slept on this year, given how great an experience it is. I don't see it winning any awards, but I do see Ninja Gaiden 4 being one of those games that will only grow in fanfare and recognition.
Platform Information
Ninja Gaiden 4
Developer: Platinum Games, Team Ninja
Publisher:
Release Date:
Platforms: PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5
