Earlier this year, I revisited a golden age of gaming when I played Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. The remake brought me back to a time where character action games ruled, and each one felt different in its own way. It felt so distant from today’s landscape, filled with Soulslikes that worship at the altar of the parry button. That experience left me feeling prepared for the series’ next installment, Ninja Gaiden 4.
Or so I thought. It turns out that the upcoming sequel, scheduled to launch on October 21, is a new beast entirely. I found that out when I played a chunk of it following last weekend’s Xbox Games Showcase and walked out with a big grin on my face. Though its changes to the series’ patented action may bum some purists out, I’m personally thrilled to report that developer PlatinumGames has taken this opportunity to create the most Platinum game possible. And thank God for that.
My demo threw me right into the action, though I didn’t get to play as Ryu Hayabusa. Instead, I was controlling Yakumo, a member of the Raven Clan who acts as the sequel’s primary protagonist. That change is significant insofar as it gave PlatinumGames the flexibility to invent an entirely new combat system to suit his style. And that combat system? It’s basically Bayonetta, but with katanas. And, somehow, a lot more blood.
If you didn’t know that Platinum was leading development on the project, you would the second you picked up the controller. The most obvious giveaway for me was when I dodged an enemy attack the moment it was about to land and time briefly slowed down around me. That detail should say a lot already. This is the kind of game that Platinum makes best. Combat is incredibly fast, as I slash through enemies using two standard attack buttons. There’s a shocking amount of depth contained in those attacks, as it feels like every time I start mashing, I pull off a completely different combo that looks absolutely sick. At one point, I manage to grab an enemy, jump up into the air with them, and bring them to the ground with a spinning pile driver.
The battles I played tossed me into encounters with waves of enemies closing in on me. My quick movement meant that I could jump between foes with balletic grace, controlling an entire crowd with ease. I had a few tools at my disposal to help with that. One button lets me toss out a few kunai if I needed to keep a little distance between a foe. When I incapacitate an enemy enough, dropping them on the ground, I’m able to leap into an obscenely violent finishing maneuver that has me slashing their limbs off as blood splashes onto the screen. Once I build up enough charge, I can also activate a sort of rage state that allows me to execute an enemy in one stylish hit. All of these things can be executed in the blink of an eye, allowing me to rack up an uninterrupted chain of violence.
If this sounds extremely different from previous Ninja Gaiden games, it is, but there’s still plenty of shared DNA under that flashy exterior. For instance, working around enemy blocks is still important. I can also hold down a trigger to perform much slower, more powerful attacks that bring combat more in line with the old games. Despite everything, it does still fit into the Ninja Gaiden ethos. In an interview after my demo, PlatinumGames Producer and Director Yuji Nakao explained how it melded the ethos of the series with its own signatures.
“Even though you are up against very tough odds, you always have a toolset available to you where it all comes down to your skill.,” Nakao tells Digital Trends. “If you really get into that toolset, you’ll be able to overcome these enemies that block when you attack and you’ll have to react on the fly. There’s kind of a fighting game aspect to it, so we wanted to maintain that but also bring in our unique approach, while staying true to that essential Ninja Gaiden experience.”
If you’ve been reading this preview with a look of horror on your face, terrified that Platinum simply doesn’t understand the series, that should hopefully reduce your fears. It does, but it’s adapting it in a new way. Battles are still incredibly tough gauntlets where it’s easy to get overwhelmed, calling back to that classic experience. The violence is absolutely over the top to the point of self-aware comedy. There are also plenty of wall running and jumping puzzles out in the linear levels just like old times. Yes, it’s faster and straight up as its own version of Bayonetta’s Witch Time, but the philosophy behind it feels consistent so far. I trust that the series is in the right hands. And those hands are still damn good at making action games.
Ninja Gaiden 4 launches on October 21 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
