Ninja Gaiden 4: Delivering the 3D Slash-Action Experience We’ve All Been Waiting For

In a nook of Tokyo, now reworked right into a darkrot-ridden metropolis, Yakumo finds himself in dire straits, beneath relentless assault from the Divine Dragon Order, a faction boasting numerous combatants. Along with his solely lifeline — the therapeutic Life Elixir — almost depleted, Yakumo unleashes the highly effective Bloodraven Kind in a fluid, seamless movement, a vibrant crimson trailing behind his swordplay. Now, with highly effective skills at his disposal, he begins to show the tide of battle.

It was simply the different day, throughout considered one of the very earliest scenes of the sport, {that a} surprisingly deep and various vary of motion unfolded earlier than my eyes, in considered one of the convention rooms at PlatinumGames’ headquarters. I used to be given the alternative not solely to get a hands-on expertise with the opening phase of the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 4, which revealed new updates at Xbox Video games Showcase, but additionally converse to Yuji Nakao of PlatinumGames Inc., who serves as each producer and director of Ninja Gaiden 4.

Whereas the new approach revealed by Ryu Hayabusa in the Showcase clip was met with a “…keep tuned for future bulletins!” I write to share with you what was revealed that day, together with the ideas and intentions of Nakao.

A New Period of Ninja Gaiden

Getting into Chapter 1 of the sport, considered one of the most hanging moments throughout the opening scene was how seamlessly considered one of Ninja Gaiden’s signature strikes, the Obliteration Method — a finisher that places dying enemies to relaxation with a deadly blow — may now be woven into a wide range of combos.

“This sport provides lots of new issues you are able to do — that’s considered one of its main appeals,” says Nakao. “We’ve paid particular consideration to the depth, vary, and expansiveness of play, and particularly to the strategies that may be elevated primarily based on a participant’s ability degree.” The tone of his voice conveys a robust sense of anticipation. He clearly appears to be like ahead to seeing how gamers (each outdated and new) striving to earn the revered rank of Grasp Ninja will incorporate the sport’s new techniques into their very own playstyles. The higher you get, the extra you’ll have the ability to construct and execute unbelievable motion sequences and combos. Undoubtedly, Ninja Gaiden 4 possesses the expressive depth to make such a factor potential.

The world-building has additionally barely shifted with the introduction of Yakumo, who doesn’t hail from the Dragon Ninja of the Hayabusa Clan, however from a newly launched faction generally known as the Raven Clan. In consequence, a few of the finer particulars of the world have undergone adjustments. For occasion, ranges are dotted with what appear like mechanical shrines, that are the Raven Clan’s Darkish Nest Terminals. These operate as hubs the place you may restock gadgets, tackle non-compulsory Missions to earn Ninja Coin, and have interaction in informal dialog with Yakumo’s operator, Umi.

An Advanced Ninja Gaiden Experience

I descend onto the stage of Yakumo’s first battle — solely to be confronted by the reworked cityscape of Tokyo, revealed throughout Developer_Direct earlier this 12 months. As the Raven Clan’s ninja prodigy, Yakumo is well-versed in signature Ninja Gaiden motion, corresponding to the Strategy of Shadowless Footsteps, which permits him to run freely alongside partitions, and the Flying Fowl Flip, a vital transfer for ascending to greater floor. Effortlessly navigating the vertical sprawl of towering buildings, Yakumo takes on the Divine Dragon Order with trendy precision, mixing a way of nostalgic fight circulation with a brand new Assassinate mechanic to silently and assuredly neutralize outlying threats earlier than participating with the bigger group of enemies. The early portion of the first stage progressed easily beneath his succesful fingers.

As Yakumo continues via the earliest elements of the sport, I quickly discover myself warming as much as his preliminary strikes and strategies. And simply as the itch for much more cool ninja motion was about to start, I met Tyran, a senior ninja who seems all through numerous areas, together with the early a part of the first stage. Tyran will train you Fight Expertise in alternate for Ninja Cash, and from him, I used to be in a position to be taught some iconic Ninja Gaiden strikes, together with Flying Swallow, Izuna Drop, and even the Strategy of Final Steering. This “easing-in” of gamers permits for the essential time that’s wanted to soak up the huge number of actions and strategies that await gamers inside a Ninja Gaiden sport. Moreover, for individuals who are very new to motion video games, every Fight Talent may be practiced via devoted, particular person Ninjutsu Coaching classes. And past simply the classical transfer units, Tyran additionally provides a wide range of new strategies that promise to ship a recent expertise, distinct from previous Ninja Gaiden entries.

Amongst these newly launched Fight Expertise is the Deadly Flash. This ability allows you to slip instantly follow-up enter whenever you efficiently match your assault with the enemy’s assault. In keeping with Nakao, touchdown a Deadly Flash will power enemies to drop Blood Essence, even once they aren’t solely defeated. You possibly can then instantly transition into the Strategy of Final Steering to launch a sequence of devastating Final Method hits, or capitalize on the benefit by repositioning. The extra you be taught to learn enemy conduct, the extra you may shift the momentum of battle in Yakumo’s favor, opening much more pathways of fight, pushed purely by your ability.

The Bloodraven Kind

As the play session proceeds, Nakao shares extra particulars about the distinctive traits of the Bloodraven Kind, together with the indisputable fact that when activated, it causes all of your common inputs to carry out utterly new strikes. This makes it important so that you can perceive find out how to make use of it throughout fight, provided that the Bloodraven Kind moderately shortly depletes the Bloodbind Gauge used to activate it.

“When you bounce whereas in Bloodraven Kind, Yakumo will plunge his sword into the floor, after which prolong it vertically, permitting him to momentarily survey the battlefield from up excessive,” Nakao explains. “Ultimately, you’ll be taught to launch assaults from this state, however at its core, it’s a method finest used to pause in invincibility and observe enemy actions.”

Nakao additionally particulars one other mechanic inside Bloodraven Kind — a counter transfer known as Hōgeki, which might deflect highly effective enemy assaults, and even trigger stagger in super-armored foes. “If you wish to take a cautious and secure method in opposition to enemies, you may match a long-ranged Bloodraven Kind approach on their sturdy assault to trigger a Hōgeki comparatively simply,” describes Nakao. “Nonetheless, by staying afar, you hand over your skill to successfully observe up on the staggered enemies. This creates a seesaw sport, the place you’ll have to resolve to take both the secure route however with diminishing returns, or maximize your positive factors by staying as close-ranged as potential to your enemies in hopes of a profitable Hōgeki.”

The Bloodraven Kind additionally options the highly effective skill to pierce via enemy guards and deal injury, and mastering the timing of its deployment can dramatically elevate survival possibilities – it’s the quickest approach to break an enemy’s guard – and Nakao helped exhibit this for me in motion. I seen weaving the Bloodraven Kind into my fight flowcaused a dramatic shift in issue.

I discovered myself each awed and barely disheartened watching Nakao exhibit pure peak efficiency, however he reassures me with a smile. “When PlatinumGames speaks to Group Ninja about this subsequent Ninja Gaiden, we frequently joke that ‘we’ve made one thing that actually doesn’t really feel like a contemporary sport—it’s simply too arduous.’ As of late, video games are trending towards being simpler to play, however Ninja Gaiden 4 goes in the full other way. So don’t lose coronary heart!”

Weapon Expertise, the Caddis Wire, and the Massacre Kill

Along with Bloodraven Kind, a number of newly launched parts promise to additional deepen the expertise: Weapon Expertise which are sure to every weapon you decide up via your journey; the grappling hook-like device known as the Caddis Wire, utilized by Yakumo to soar via the air; and the Berserk Gauge, which builds as you land hits, take injury, or carry out the Obliteration Method, encouraging aggressive fight.

Of those, what particularly caught my eye was how the Berserk Gauge and the way its highly effective Berserk state can change the board solely in a single well-placed hit. “When you enter the Berserk state, you might be given the alternative to unleash devastating ending strikes, or Massacre Kills. For Takeminakata, the first weapon you’ll wield, utilizing a Cost Assault will immediately kill lesser enemies no matter their remaining well being,” says Nakao, backing up this impression. Whereas my abilities solely allowed for a few Massacre Kills to land onto the enemy, each was simply as game-changing and ecstatic-feeling as the others.

As my hands-on session concluded, I sat down with Nakao to speak extra Ninja Gaiden 4. Throughout the session, he shared extra about the thought course of behind Yakumo, the new protagonist, the modernization of an iconic sequence, and his hopes for reenergizing considered one of his favourite genres.

Interview with Yuji Nakao, Producer and Director of Ninja Gaiden 4

In the previous, Ryu Hayabusa stood as the protagonist of the Ninja Gaidenseries. However in Ninja Gaiden 4, Yakumo steps in as a brand new lead character. Now that we’ve seen extra of Yakumo in motion together with his distinctive mechanics, may you inform us extra about what makes him such an interesting character?

Certainly one of the key causes we selected to introduce a brand new protagonist this time is that Ninja Gaiden 4 marks the sequence’ return after an extended hiatus. We belief that longtime followers who’ve adopted the sequence to this point will proceed to assist, however at the similar time, we additionally wished to create a personality that may enable new gamers – these beginning recent with the franchise – to start on equal footing and develop alongside the protagonist. That was the shared imaginative and prescient between Group Ninja and PlatinumGames. And from that imaginative and prescient, Yakumo was born.

After all, reliving the unique Ninja Gaiden expertise nonetheless holds nice worth, however we imagine that what each longtime and new followers are actually on the lookout for is a brand new type of “play” that goes past what’s come earlier than. With that assumption in thoughts, we positioned Yakumo as a recent but by some means nostalgic pillar that may assist us create a sport that feels each renewed and acquainted.

Yakumo doesn’t simply deliver visually hanging motion together with his use of Bloodraven Kind, a very new and flashy fight type for the sequence. He additionally inherits the delicate, technical gameplay that has outlined Ninja Gaiden over the years via his Base Kind. With Ninja Gaiden 4, we aimed to totally notice every part we’ve ever wished to precise in an motion sport, and Yakumo embodies that imaginative and prescient. We hope gamers unleash his potential in their very own distinctive approach and actually make the most of his capabilities.

Whereas taking part in Ninja Gaiden 4, it felt like each side of the sequence had been meticulously tuned, and the total really feel optimized for avid gamers residing in the trendy period. In the means of refreshing the expertise, did you face any specific struggles or conflicts when it comes to fight design? May you share any memorable challenges?

I’d say the hardest half was the character motion system—what you may classify as movement-related actions. We put the most effort into fine-tuning the responsiveness of those parts. In previous Ninja Gaiden titles, there have been many movement-based actions, starting from working, leaping, canceling out of assaults – together with the Reverse Wind Method – and extra. Every of those had a really human, tactile grip to them. That stable, grounded feeling emphasised the sport’s weighty and linear motion type, however to goal for even quicker, high-speed motion, we needed to considerably improve responsiveness.

That mentioned, enhancing responsiveness whereas faithfully inheriting that distinctive sense of grip the sequence is thought for, and making certain it nonetheless feels good for newcomers selecting up Ninja Gaiden for the first time, meant we needed to strike a really delicate steadiness between two differing wants.

In the finish, I believe we achieved a really feel that’s extremely approachable, but nonetheless acquainted to the level that veteran followers can decide up the controller and immediately suppose, “Ah, sure – that is the way it felt!” It was a course of that took lots of collaborative dialogue with Group Ninja, however I actually really feel we arrived at a outcome we’re happy with.

With Ninja Gaiden 4 marking the first new installment in the sequence in about 13 years, what sort of influence would you hope it may need on the way forward for Ninja Gaiden and the gaming trade as a complete?

Talking from a considerably private perspective, I grew up throughout the golden age of 3D slash-action video games. For individuals of my technology, it seems like the varieties of video games we grew up taking part in have grow to be so much much less widespread lately. As an alternative, we’ve seen the rise of Souls-like video games, which have definitely grow to be very talked-about.

After all, I’ve performed and loved many Souls-like video games myself. However at the similar time, I additionally suppose there’s some fact to the perception that “basic 3D slash-actions”, have been more durable to search out these days. Possibly it’s simply my very own wishful pondering, however I can’t assist however really feel that lots of motion sport followers are beginning to crave that have once more. Isn’t it about time all of us dove again in? [Laughs]

I actually really feel like Ninja Gaiden 4 has turned out to be the sort of sport that would ring a bell with these followers of the style. If it may carve out its place in the historical past of recent slash-action, and as a brand new benchmark for the style, I’d be thrilled. And if Ninja Gaiden 4 may function a spark that reignites pleasure round slash-action video games, then that may be even higher.

What are your ideas on Ninja Gaiden 4 supporting Xbox Play Anyplace, permitting it to be loved on Xbox PC, Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox Cloud and throughout numerous units and platforms?

The Ninja Gaiden sequence has a historical past of being ported to handhelds and numerous units. In that context, it’s additionally vital to keep in mind that the 3D iterations of Ninja Gaiden began on Xbox. The truth that it’s now returning to Xbox and, from the very begin, providing a variety of play choices, makes it, in my opinion, a superb instance of how video games can reply to the various wants of immediately’s avid gamers. Having the ability to take pleasure in Ninja Gaiden 4 on totally different platforms and on the go, or at residence, proper from launch day – this can be a sort of happiness distinctive to our period.

After all, this sport is a tricky one, so whenever you wish to actually focus, taking part in at residence is right. However in the event you’re simply progressing the story a bit, it’s nice to have the ability to take it on the go as nicely. I believe having that flexibility in the way you take pleasure in the sport is an actual power. Personally, I’m the sort of participant who enjoys taking part in in numerous methods myself, and I profit from having the ability to select how I play, which leads me to really perceive its worth.

Ninja Gaiden 4 delivers not solely the conventional Ninja Gaiden-style expertise, but additionally introduces a brand new thrill via recent fight enabled by the Bloodraven Kind. With that in thoughts, I’d wish to ask: assuming that mastering the Bloodraven Kind attracts out 100% of the character’s powers, what occurs if gamers like me attempt to push via the sport utilizing solely the Base Kind?

Certainly one of the core strengths of Ninja Gaiden 4 is that its foundational gameplay is firmly constructed upon the conventional Ninja Gaiden expertise. On prime of that, the sport introduces a system the place gamers can momentarily change into Bloodraven Kind, including a dynamic new layer to fight.

That mentioned, the stage you performed immediately remains to be at the very starting of the sport, so it’s designed so as to make it via even with out relying too closely on the Bloodraven Kind. As you progress additional, nonetheless, you’ll naturally start to note alternatives the place weaving Bloodraven Kind strategies into your established methods enhances your expertise. The sport is structured to encourage this type of realization, adaptation, and progress.

In any case, attempting to be taught each the conventional mechanics and the new techniques suddenly would imply taking up too many new parts concurrently. Since enemies will assault with out mercy at the same time as you’re nonetheless studying, it may simply result in a steep spike in perceived issue. That’s why we encourage you to step by step experiment with each the Base Kind and Bloodraven Kind, discovering the distinctive strengths of every over time.

Finally, in the event you try this—in the event you be taught to totally make the most of the potential of each approaches—N Ninja Gaiden 4 actually begins to shine. That’s when the sport reveals itself as a very new expertise, one thing actually worthy of being known as the newest entry in the Ninja Gaiden sequence. So please, dive deep and grasp it!