Ninja Gaiden 4 review - bloody character action brilliance

Ninja Gaiden rests on a cult legacy that spans three decades and countless severed limbs. Its reputation precedes it, especially on a landmark anniversary marketed as the "Year of the Ninja." After the critical success of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and the sudden passing of series revivalist Tomonobu Itagaki, Ninja Gaiden 4 had a high bar to clear. Instead of languishing in the comfort of nostalgia, Ninja Theory pivots away from its own history to look towards a future with Platinum Games and a new protagonist in tow. Where one might expect Ryu Hayabusa in all his shredded glory, we have Yakumo, a Raven Clan rival member who's as new blood as it gets. He's young, spry, and trades in Ryu's Ninpo techniques for a transformative weapon empowerment system. The principles of Ninja Gaiden remain the same, but the Platinum sheen is new.

I spend most of my time playing Ninja Gaiden 4 with a delighted grimace. It is bloody to excess; I am all too aware that if I played this in public, a passerby would worry for my psychological health. In one combat encounter, I drive a spinning drill-bit through a tengu demon, drenching both myself and its comrades in its scarlet entrails. In another, a legless DDO soldier pins me to the ground, his last act to plunge a knife into Yakumo's chest that detonates on impact, engulfing us both in an explosion of fire that scatters his bloody remains across the floor. These are the violent videogames the early 2000s warned me about. This relentless bloodbath has me convinced that Ninja Gaiden 4 is best served as a tray of grisly hors d'oeuvres. Take time to sample each chapter with a break between them, and you can really savor the flavor of each encounter. Gobble down the whole tray in a single sitting, and you may find the taste grows repetitive, even stale, with an impression of bloat that isn't a true reflection of the experience.

Ninja Gaiden 4 induces the exact kind of flow state that I'm looking for in character action games. Lower difficulties offer the perfect bloodbath of relaxation to sink into after a hard day; higher difficulties are a test of quick reflexes, muscle memory, and game instinct that's as grueling as it is satisfying. Even better, these difficulty modes are immaculately balanced. In flagrant defiance of 'git gud' gamers everywhere, its easiest mode comes replete with a barrage of tooltips to make it even easier. "Do you need an auto-dodge? An auto-assist?" they offer, with the same open enthusiasm as Regina George's mom. I don't need either of these features, but someone else might, and I respect that Ninja Gaiden 4 is comfortable enough in its hypermasculine power fantasy to ask. It doesn't lean into a caricature of itself as a 'difficult' game; instead, it meets the player on their own terms.

Extensive new game plus features make Ninja Gaiden 4 feel more like a fighting game than its predecessors. Obviously, there's no multiplayer involved (at least, not beyond the online leaderboards), but wrapping the story mode feels like the bare minimum. Below the surface of this bloody iceberg lurk additional difficulty modes, missions, and the opportunity to experience Yakumo's chapters as Ryu. All this post-game content belies a confidence that Ninja Gaiden 4's combat system is enough to sustain it long after the story has wrapped - a confidence that's earned, given my eagerness to hop into challenge trials right after the credits rolled.

While Ninja Gaiden 4's nineteen chapters might suggest a sprawling story mode on paper, it unfolds over just four distinct areas: Sky City Tokyo, Fuuhaku Sanctum, Drowned District, and the DDO's headquarters. From the rain-slick streets of Tokyo's pleasure district to its daemon-stricken clubland, each level interweaves the cyberpunk, fantasy, and traditional Japanese aesthetics that mark the franchise as a whole. However, like the enemies that populate them, their individual intricacies aren't enough to offset the lack of variety. It's not lost on me that Ninja Gaiden 4's soundtrack does some obscenely heavy lifting in terms of setting the scene. This blend of metalcore, electronica, and traditional Japanese sound is as true to Ninja Gaiden as the environments, but it overtakes as the great arbiter of mood and tone.

Perhaps Ninja Gaiden 4's scenery wouldn't feel so monotonous if it weren't also beset by a shockingly limited enemy variety. If you dislike a particular foe for whatever reason, be prepared to encounter it repeatedly across multiple levels. Sure, you can dig into movesets, nail down parry timings, and hone your inputs to perfection, but this silver lining is paper-thin and diminished further in an action game that seems designed with replayability in mind. After all, I could do all of the above across a multitude of playthroughs, and it'd make for a better experience overall. It becomes most prominent when I stumble into Purgatory Trials, a modern reprisal of the Tests of Valor in Ninja Gaiden 2. These wave-based challenges demand more strategy than the usual hack-and-slash affair, but their novelty is undercut by the procession of the same exact enemies outside Purgatory's gates.

I appreciate Ninja Gaiden 4's boss encounters for their spectacle and challenge, which is slightly different than the standard fare. While I can pretty much hack-and-slash my way through every crowd that crosses my path, bosses quickly cut that strategy short. Instead, they are an exercise in patience and timing. The satisfaction of shutting down a power attack or nailing a perfect parry is magnified tenfold against bosses, not least because you can inflict some serious punishment on their multi-phase health bar. They're also Ninja Gaiden 4's enemy design at its most ambitious. What is an endless parade of identical armored soldiers in the face of a wolf god with jet-engine wings, or a dimension-hopping demon shark? This is the Ninja Gaiden I fell in love with last year. It's camp, it's silly, and it takes itself just seriously enough for me to buy into it completely.

Ninja Gaiden 4's camera is a marvel. For a series that's infamous for its unruly camera, that persists in so-called "definitive versions," Ninja Gaiden 4 beats all the allegations. I can only assume this is Platinum's influence, not least because it's reminiscent of Nier Automata and Bayonetta before the "Jesus, take the wheel!" camera that defined Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. Instead, Ninja Gaiden 4's camera is as snappy and responsive as the combat itself, with an off-screen attack indicator and an optional lock-on for the occasions where you want to focus on one particular face in the crowd. While it's still not perfect, I can at least concede that when the camera gets boxed into a corner, it's because I have been boxed into a corner.

Even so, the camera isn't just a dogged follower; it applies a light directorial touch to what is, on paper, a repetitive gameplay loop. It dips in close with dynamic flair so I can relish hyperviolent finishers in all their gory, er, glory, pulling in close for one-on-one duels then dutifully dilating to encompass large crowds. This is an achievement before you take into account that Ninja Gaiden 4's combat is fast. It's one of the few videogames where I've really felt my age in terms of reaction times. Even the most rote encounter is a flurry of combos and parries as I chase invincibility frames and the fleeting respite of a Bayonetta-style slowdown after every perfect dodge.

In my Ninja Gaiden 4 preview, I had access to all combat skills, which struck me as a double-edged sword. Thankfully, the release version demands that I save up enough currency to unlock them one at a time. This drip-fed approach is far better for committing each move to memory, particularly when I'm given the freedom to pick and choose from a gradually expanding list. Of course, I was instantly drawn to old favorites like the Guillotine Throw and Izuna Drop, both early unlocks that remain combat staples. After learning a technique, I'm invited to drop into Training Mode to really drill it into my brain and thumbs. It's an invitation I wish had been extended for weapon skills. While there is an input throughline that broadly ensures an attack for one weapon is often analogous to another, some are easier to execute than others.

As you might expect, Ninja Gaiden 4's weapons steal the show, but with five to unlock across a full playthrough, the pickings are slimmer than in its predecessors. What it lacks in quantity, it certainly makes up for in quality. To be frank, I've fallen in love with Kage-Huriko: a devastating combination of wolverine claws, comically large shurikens, a morningstar, and mechanical arms that fling endless grenades from a storage box strapped to Yakumo's waist that runs on Mary Poppins logic. The only complaint I have here is that it's difficult to go back to twin katanas when the alternative is a literal assassin's toybox. I've also got a soft spot for the polearm that transforms into a giant hammer, perfect for popping heads and driving into meaty bodies. The approach for Ninja Gaiden 4's weapon design appears to be, "why have one weapon when you can have two-in-one, or three, or four…?" If there's an argument against that approach, I still haven't found it.

With so much speed and diversity in weapon characteristics, I anticipated Ninja Gaiden 4 to introduce some overlap with quick-swap combos. Instead, it's remarkably restrained. If I switch to a different weapon mid-attack, Yakumo wraps up his animation and seamlessly swaps without missing a beat. It strikes me as a missed opportunity, but perhaps this is legacy tugging on the reins of innovation. How far can Team Ninja and Platinum go before it trades in Ninja Gaiden's identity for the sake of modernization? We've seen this Ship of Theseus play out across many legacy videogame franchises, and honestly, if it's a choice between that or restraint, I'll happily take the latter.

Ninja Gaiden 4's platform mechanics are by far and away my greatest frustration. The Flying Bird Flip is as enjoyable as ever (yes, Ryu's "huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, HOO-AH!" as he bounces from one wall to another endures, to my eternal amusement), but I'm convinced that only Pythagoras could reliably run at walls in Ninja Gaiden 4 at the exact angle required to run up them vertically rather than horizontally. These moments are minor punctuation marks between combat encounters, but still prominent enough to disrupt the overall flow. I anticipate it'll become a mark of frustration for speedrunners and grade-chasers alike. This extends to the button prompts for tools, which are strangely lacking for an action game that is so precise elsewhere. Yakumo has a glider and grappling hook at his disposal, which are both for verticality and freedom of movement you'd expect from a Raven Clan member, if not for how many times I've fallen to my doom because a button prompt has failed to appear. Thankfully, I'm deposited back on the nearest ledge with only a sliver of health lost, but it does take the wind out of my Master Ninja sails every time it happens.

Ninja Gaiden 4's cast spends most of their time trading dialogue quips over comms. It's an effective way to maintain gameplay momentum, but major plot twists and emotional beats when they are together feel unearned. Yakumo is a protagonist from an earlier generation of videogames: sullen, withdrawn, and about as charismatic as a cardboard box. In his defense, this does make for some hilarious moments. A surprise cameo for Dead or Alive 3's protagonist and Ninja Gaiden series regular Ayane is guaranteed to delight fans of either franchise; for Yakumo, her appearance warrants little more than a terse "f*** off." Truly, they don't make protagonists like this anymore. Yakumo's stoicism means that when he does have to emote beyond badass one-liners, it doesn't amount to much more than wide eyes and heavy breathing. Even so, is this the level of emotional depth I expect from Ninja Gaiden? Absolutely yes.

Ultimately, the story represents a ceremonial passing of the Ninja Gaiden torch from Ryu to Yakumo, in the same vein as Dante and Nero in Devil May Cry. There's an implication that die-hard fans who reject anyone other than Ryu as their protagonist du jour have to accept Yakumo, because Ryu accepts Yakumo. After all, if Platinum's little bird boy meets the Super Ninja's approval, who are we to argue? I'm not sure I'm sold. Ryu's figure looms large, but he isn't particularly complex, which makes him eminently likable. Given that my first brush with the series was Ninja Gaiden 2 Black last year, I am proof that Ryu Hayabusa's furrowed brow and bulging biceps can still win over a modern audience. In fact, he is so iconic that Yakumo's place in the Ninja Gaiden universe must be grossly inflated to match. While I won't spoil it here, the final beats of Ninja Gaiden 4's story threaten to tip Yakumo into 'Gary Stu' territory.

In Platinum's defense, I don't for one moment believe Yakumo is a stance against Ryu's marketability. Instead, Ryu and Yakumo are emblematic of the two studios that govern Ninja Gaiden 4's development. Yakumo is a neat vehicle for introducing new battle techniques and mechanics to well-worn systems without undercutting Ryu's iconic fighting style. They are preservation and evolution positioned side by side, but a part of me cautions Platinum to avoid the temptation to see it as a division between past and present. If we ever get Ninja Gaiden 5, it would be a real shame to see Ryu settle for an early retirement, or god forbid, a grizzled father figure.

Whatever minor gripes I have with its story, level design, and enemy variety, there's no question that Ninja Gaiden 4 is the technical zenith of the series. It's a huge win for any series, but especially one that was embarrassed into a 13-year hibernation. I'm sure that the most obstinate fans out there have already printed their protest shirts and placards (I can see them now: "Not my Ninja Gaiden!"), but I don't see the influence of an external studio looking to trample over a legacy here. Rather, I see a successful collaboration driven by reverence and a desire to revive a beloved series that, let's be honest, had been consigned to the cult history books. For Team Ninja and Platinum Games, it's the start of a beautiful friendship. For Ninja Gaiden, it's a future.