Ask fans of character action games which titles sit atop the genre’s Mount Rushmore, and odds are Ninja Gaiden makes the cut, specifically the 2005 Ninja Gaiden Black re-release (of the 2004 game) on the original Xbox. At the height of the genre, Team Ninja’s 3D revival under the late Tomonobu Itagaki was a masterclass in precision and punishment, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Devil May Cry and God of War. Its level design and camera may have aged, but few games have ever nailed combat like that 2004 original.
Then came the fall. The 2008 sequel earned respect, but never reached the same heights. By 2012, Ninja Gaiden 3, made without Itagaki, didn’t just miss the mark; it basically committed seppuku on the series. Even the “fixed” Razor’s Edge version later that year couldn’t stitch the wound.
Now, thirteen years later, Ninja Gaiden has clawed its way back into relevance. 2025 has already brought us a relatively strong remaster of the 2008 sequel in Ninja Gaiden 2 Black and a slick, excellent 2D revival in Dotemu’s Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. Now, and most importantly, comes the big headline act: Ninja Gaiden 4, forged through a bold collaboration between Team Ninja and the beleaguered Platinum Games.
It’s a risky union. Team Ninja’s spent the last decade buried in the Souls-adjacent trenches of Nioh, Wulong Fallen Dynasty and Stranger of Paradise, while Platinum’s recent stumbles (Babylon’s Fall anyone?) left fans wondering if their magic touch was gone.
So the question is: does this collaboration bear fruit? Has the Dragon Ninja truly returned?
Let’s Izuna Drop in and find out.
A Raven’s Miasma
Set a few years after the chaos of Ninja Gaiden 3, Tokyo’s gone dark, swallowed by a cursed downpour and a spreading plague known as the Miasma, tied to the return of the Dark Dragon. Out of the ruins steps newcomer Yakumo, a Raven Clan prodigy armed with blood-infused techniques and a burden he barely understands. His hunt to stop the Dark Dragon’s return pulls him through a city overrun by cyber-ninjas, demonic cults, and ghosts of older wars. His path inevitably collides with Ryu Hayabusa, older, quieter, but still every bit as deadly. Together, they fight for the fate of the city and the legacy of the ninja itself.
Story has never been Ninja Gaiden’s strong suit, save for the work done in the original NES games. It exists mostly to set the stage for the blood-soaked carnage, and Ninja Gaiden 4 is no exception. The setup works, but this entry carries the baggage of introducing a new protagonist while waiting far too long to explain his powers or connection to the Dark Dragon. The explanation provides a cool payoff when it arrives, but it comes very late, leaving the bulk of the story feeling like stylish nonsense. It’s best taken at face value: tune out the chatter and revel in the spectacle.
A Lopsided Affair
Don’t be fooled by the cover art: despite featuring both Yakumo and Ryu, this is Yakumo’s game through and through. Ryu takes a while to enter the picture and even longer to control. The balance lands somewhere between Devil May Cry 4’s mid-game switch with when he comes in, and Halo 5: Guardians 80/20 protagonist split between how long you play with the newcomer versus the original protagonist. Out of 19 chapters, only four are played as Ryu, all late in the story, with three of those chapters simply revisiting Yakumo’s earlier stages. If you’re coming to Ninja Gaiden 4 just for Ryu Hayabusa, from a main story perspective, temper those expectations (more of that later).
To their credit, Team Ninja and Platinum clearly worked overtime to make Yakumo stand on his own. Ninja Gaiden 4 perfectly blends the franchise’s surgical precision with Platinum’s kinetic flair. Yakumo’s moveset absolutely takes advantage of the marriage between the series’ heritage and the newfound speed. The result is faster, flashier, but still unmistakably Ninja Gaiden. Dodging, timing, and awareness still decide everything. Go the button mashing route, and you’ll die harshly.
Yakumo wields four core weapons, each capable of transforming mid-combo through his Raven-blood mechanic. Managing these transformations becomes a rhythmic dance. Mix and match the attacks, and you’ll always have control in the battlefield. Overuse the mechanic, and you’ll leave yourself vulnerable when you can’t break enemies’ stances that endlessly block you. Once fully unlocked, weaving between all four weapons and their transformations on the fly creates a chaos-as-flow movement that feels sublime. Character action games live and die by player expression, and Ninja Gaiden 4 absolutely sings here.
Ryu, meanwhile, sits currently in a strange spot. At launch, he’s limited to his Dragon Sword with moves largely lifted from prior entries. He’s instantly familiar, so series veterans will feel immediately at home once he becomes playable, which is both a blessing and a limitation. His big gameplay addition, in lieu of a lack of other weaponry, is the new Ninjutsu Gleam system, his version of Yakumo’s Raven Blood mechanic. This lets him break enemy blocks while switching between four elemental styles on the fly, evoking Dante’s stance-shifting fluidity from Devil May Cry 4 and 5. The Ninjutsu Gleams give Ryu a strikingly fast, unique edge, even if it can’t mask how under-equipped he feels compared to Yakumo.
The reveal that future Ryu weapons are locked behind DLC casts a shadow over the experience; it’s hard not to wonder if Ryu’s inclusion as a playable character was late in development. It’s not like a Ninja Gaiden game without Ryu as a protagonist wouldn’t have worked after we saw how well it worked with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. Thankfully, he’s still fun to play when you have the chance to do it, but the character imbalance, knowing paid DLC will complete his toolkit, does leave a slightly bad aftertaste.
Bloodflow Omamori
Platinum’s Yuki Nakao, co-director of Ninja Gaiden 4, has cited 2008’s Ninja Gaiden 2 as one of his favorite games, and that DNA shows all over this new game. This is a linear, combat-driven entry with zero puzzles, little exploration, and PLENTY of enemies. It’s clearly modeled after Ninja Gaiden 2’s “throw everyone but their mother” philosophy, but with tankier foes to keep pace with the faster mechanics.
On Normal, battles are dense and punishing with waves of durable enemies that hit hard and rarely relent. The sheer volume can occasionally wear thin, especially during extended gauntlets late in the game, but, for the most part, the intensity mostly works. While deceptively easy at first to get you acclimated to the new speed, the game then throws the gauntlet at you. It keeps you sharp, never complacent, and turns every encounter into a test of endurance and precision.
Exploration is minimal but effective. The Platinum influence shines through in how fluid traversal feels, where almost every downtime moment looks flashy and stylish. Hidden challenges and side encounters reward straying from the path, and the returning guidance mechanic ensures you never wander aimlessly, keeping the pace moving.
Once the credits roll at roughly 15–20 hours mark, the game opens up with some fresh replay options. “Master Ninja” and “Death Wish” difficulties await those who are truly masochistic, with the latter limiting your dodge and block windows to their base level for pure punishment (with how important those upgrades become for the later game gauntlets, the limitation sounds like crawling through broken glass). Trials and Purgatory modes unlock to offer dedicated combat arenas, while chapter select also unlocks, which allows you the chance to play through all the game’s 19 chapters with Ryu Hayabusa. If you are coming into this game because of Ryu, the post game unlock is going to give you that chance to experience it all with him sans any story. Overall, this brings a pretty satisfying array of replayability options for post-game completion.
Technically, Ninja Gaiden 4 holds the series’ priorities: speed first, looks second. The neon-drenched Tokyo evokes Astral Chain’s aesthetic, which can be flashy and maybe too glossy at times, but fittingly over-the-top. While other environments may look a little bland, at least there is enough diversity for the game to not just be a neon light showpiece. Character models impress, but the real showpiece is performance. On Xbox Series X, I never saw any notable dips, even under maximum carnage. For a series that’s always pushed itself to the limits to keep the speed going for the sake of its combat, this keeps the tradition nicely. The soundtrack fits the new tempo: high-energy if not particularly memorable. It’s not the prettiest or most sonically distinct game this year, but it’s certainly one of the most pleasing and kinetic.
Let’s not mince words: after more than a decade of dormancy, seeing Ninja Gaiden return with this much confidence feels triumphant. It’s not perfect, with Yakumo’s dominance sure to irk purists, and with Ryu’s future DLC-locked arsenal leaving a bit of a sour note, but the core is alive and as lethal as ever. Ninja Gaiden 4 reminds me why the series used to have its legendary reputation. It may not reclaim the crown just yet, but it’s damn sure back in the fight.
I can’t think of a better way to close out the Year of the Ninja.
Thank you to the team at Xbox for providing us review access to Ninja Gaiden 4. You can find Seasoned Gaming’s review policy here.