You’ve heard what we consider Ninja Gaiden 4 — from an skilled perspective. However what if you happen to’ve by no means performed a Ninja Gaiden recreation earlier than? Will this newest entry in the notoriously tough motion sequence provide newcomers one thing they will get to grips with? Will the story make sense if you happen to don’t know your Ryu Hayabusas out of your Yakumos?
That was my angle of assault going into my gamescom 2025 session with Workforce Ninja’s Masakazu Hirayama and PlatinumGames’ Yuji Nakao, co-directors on this eye-catching new co-production from Xbox Game Studios. As Nakao expertly dispatched a boss on a giant display screen overlooking our behind closed doorways presentation, I couldn’t assist however marvel at the slick, fast-paced ninja motion I used to be seeing. However I additionally felt intimidated. I’m no stranger to motion video games; I like Capcom’s Satan Might Cry sequence, for instance, however I do know Ninja Gaiden operates on a complete different stage.
I additionally know that Microsoft, which is publishing Ninja Gaiden 4, hopes that that this newest entry appeals not simply to hardcore followers of the franchise, however to the wider motion recreation fanbase. That it can, basically, persuade the likes of me to give it a shot. And so my line of questioning might be a little bit completely different in contrast to what you’ve already seen from the illustrious Ninja Gaiden consultants IGN has on-staff. Learn on to learn how Workforce Ninja and PlatinumGames satisfied this worrisome motion recreation fan to give Ninja Gaiden 4 a shot.
IGN: I am a newcomer to the sequence. For individuals who have by no means performed a Ninja Gaiden recreation earlier than however have maybe heard about it by fame as a really tough motion recreation, will they have the option to get some enjoyment out of this, or is that this very a lot aimed at people who find themselves veterans of the sequence who know the way to play?
Masakazu Hirayama: So with Ninja Gaiden 4, at first we needed to keep true to the custom of intense fight. However with that mentioned, it has been fairly some time since the final mainline Ninja Gaiden got here out, and we additionally need to make it possible for a large viewers can strategy our recreation and revel in it.
So to that finish, we have ready not solely problem choices, however different options for these new gamers. By way of problem settings, there’s a mode referred to as Hero Mode. So once you select Hero Mode, it’s going to routinely allow quite a few assists. So these assists embrace Auto Guard, Auto Dodge, and one other help that permit you to carry out extra sophisticated actions, strikes extra simply. And these particular person assists, as soon as you choose Hero Mode, you are not caught with the help. You’ll be able to really go into the menu at any time and toggle them on and off individually.
So if you happen to begin out in Hero Mode and then you definitely really feel like, oh, I need to begin dodging manually now as an alternative of getting computerized dodge, you may go to the menu and toggle it off and see the way you fare. However not solely that, the problem settings themselves in your first play by, you may freely change between hero mode, regular mode, and exhausting mode.
So for instance, you begin your recreation on hero mode with all the assists. After you beat the first chapter, you flip off the assists, after which after you beat the subsequent chapter, you’re feeling such as you’ve developed as a participant and it is getting too straightforward. You’ll be able to go to the menu, change to regular, after which after that, if you happen to really feel such as you want extra of a problem, you may return and alter it to exhausting, after which you may regulate it on the fly. So you may actually curate your fight expertise primarily based in your development as a participant.
So for newcomers who might really feel like this recreation is perhaps too tough for them, I need to guarantee them that the instruments can be found for them to prepare themselves and permit them to progress as a participant and revel in that core depth of the fight whereas additionally offering that instruments to permit them to progress by the recreation.
IGN: And for newcomers who aren’t acquainted with Ninja Gaiden however are maybe acquainted with the motion recreation style, what units Ninja Backyard aside? What are its signature mechanics that different video games in the style maybe haven’t got?
Yuji Nakao: Ninja Gaiden is a sequence that has been developed by Workforce Ninja up till now. Certainly one of the primary traits that units aside Ninja Gaiden from different motion video games is simply that feeling you get once you’re gripping the controller in the sense of precision and responsiveness. Ninja Backyard has an intricate feeling of management, however at the similar time it is elegant and exact, and that is what actually units it aside.
And since this can be a collaborative effort — it is not simply Workforce Ninja, it’s PlatinumGames that’s creating the recreation — PlatinumGames has injected their very own taste into Ninja Gaiden 4. And that is finest represented in the Bloodraven kind, which is the primary new system in Ninja Gaiden 4, the place Yakumo can unleash these over the high, actually expressive assaults. Ninja Gaiden 4 fuses that over the high expression with that elegant precision of a Ninja Gaiden.
IGN: On the story, that is Ninja Gaiden 4, so newcomers shall be conscious this shall be the fourth mainline recreation in the sequence. Do you’re feeling that newcomers shall be in a position to perceive the story with out having performed the earlier video games in the sequence, or would they profit from catching up? And the way does the story differ from what’s gone earlier than? What do you hope to obtain with the story this time round?
Hirayama: New gamers can relaxation assured that they will simply leap into Ninja Gaiden 4 and revel in the story from the leap. It isn’t immediately linked to the prior video games. The world and the setting is the similar, however the story itself stands alone. So so long as you realize that Ryu Hayabusa is the badass ninja, then you definitely’re good to go together with Ninja Gaiden 4.
IGN: You talked about beforehand that it has been a while since the final mainline Ninja Gaiden recreation. What have you ever been in a position to obtain with this recreation that was inconceivable earlier than that makes use of all the new know-how that has been created since then?
Nakao: In prior Ninja Gaidens you were not in a position to seamlessly swap your weapons on the fly. With the new know-how and the new {hardware} that is out there, we’re really in a position to understand that, which actually opens up the potentialities in fight.
After which one other level is how violence is depicted. So Ninja Gaiden 4, in addition to different prior Ninja Gaidens, once you dismember an enemy and you narrow into them and there is blood splatters, we had been actually in a position to amp that up in Ninja Gaiden 4 and supply an much more elevated sense of satisfaction and catharsis when you find yourself devastating your enemies.
IGN: You’re collaborating with Platinum this time for Ninja Gaiden 4. What made Platinum the good alternative? What’s it that they convey to the desk that is distinctive that no different developer maybe may?
Masakazu Hirayama: PlatinumGames, they’ve a whole lot of accomplishments in the motion recreation style, they usually’re actually recognized for his or her expressive trendy motion. So with Ninja Gaiden 4, as a result of it is a collaborative effort, we actually needed to permit PlatinumGames to deliver that to the desk in improvement. And we beforehand touched on Bloodraven kind — we expect Bloodraven kind is the finest illustration of how we had been in a position to incorporate it. However not simply incorporate it for the sake of including new issues, actually incorporating it into the basis of Ninja Gaiden, so it would not simply exist on high of it, but it surely exists inside it.
IGN: Why was now the proper time to make a brand new Ninja Gaiden mainline entry? How will Ninja Gaiden 4 broaden the viewers for Ninja Gaiden as a complete so it’s extra fashionable than it has been in the previous?
Hirayama: By way of the timing of bringing a brand new Ninja Gaiden into the world, it wasn’t essentially that we needed this to occur proper now. It was extra the results of a sequence of occasions.
At Workforce Ninja we had needed to make a brand new Ninja Gaiden for fairly a very long time. And when that chance began to current itself, there was a dialog that passed off between the president of Koei Tecmo, Hisashi Koinuma, and the president of PlatinumGames, Atsushi Inaba. They’re really buddies, they usually had been speaking about, would not or not it’s nice if we may work on one thing in the future? That’s when the thought of making a brand new Ninja Gaiden collectively got here up. After which Phil Spencer from Xbox caught wind of this concept and simply threw his help behind the mission. That’s what received it off the floor.
Such as you mentioned, it has been a very long time since the final Ninja Gaiden recreation. To the finish of offering a contemporary entry level for brand new gamers, we launched a brand new protagonist. This protagonist was a proposal from PlatinumGames, really. And I believe we had been in a position to permit PlatinumGames to actually incorporate their very own tackle Ninja Gaiden by Yakumo.
However in fact, Ryu Hayabusa is the icon of the sequence, so we have additionally made positive that Ryu Hayabusa is playable and has a powerful presence in the recreation as properly. So I believe by this collaborative effort we have been in a position to present a contemporary expertise, but it surely nonetheless seems like Ninja Gaiden, and it will likely be a contemporary entry level for brand new gamers.
IGN: Why did you settle for the proposal for a brand new protagonist from PlatinumGames, and what precisely is it about this new character that units him other than Ryu Hayabusa?
Hirayama: By way of the cause why we accepted Platinum’s proposal to deliver a brand new protagonist, it was actually what I touched upon earlier: offering that contemporary entry level for brand new gamers, but in addition as a result of this can be a collaborative effort, actually permitting PlatinumGames to deliver their very own concepts to the desk. And Yakumo was a car to permit that to occur.
Nakao: So with Ryu Hayabusa, he actually retains his distinct qualities from the prior video games. In Ninja Gaiden 4, he is actually all about that energy and that sense of velocity. So once you’re enjoying as Ryu Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden 4, you may actually expertise that uncooked, primitive Ninja Gaiden expertise.
Contrasting with Ryu, Yakumo has this savviness. There is a cleverness to the approach he fights together with his arsenal, and he additionally has these extra expressive fight methods by the Bloodraven kind. And thru that he has this trendy take of the Ninja Gaiden fight.
So though they each share the Ninja Gaiden fundamentals, there’s this very distinct distinction that you’ll really feel when you find yourself selecting up the controller and urgent the buttons and seeing how they reply to these inputs.
IGN: And what’s the break up when it comes to play time, roughly? Is there one character we’ll spend extra time with than the different?
Hirayama: By way of the story, Yakumo is the protagonist, so the playtime break up, Yakumo could have extra playtime. So greater than half of the story you may be enjoying as Yakumo. With that mentioned, there are devoted segments in the story for Ryu. And you will not be enjoying as Ryu Hayabusa only for a short while and then you definitely’ll be carried out with it. There will be a really sturdy quantity of content material for you to get pleasure from enjoying as Ryu.
And when you full the story as soon as, you may really unlock a chapter problem mode. This can permit you to freely play completely different chapters in the recreation and you will be in a position to play as both character. So you might, after your first playthrough, play by all the chapters as Ryu. Conversely, you might play Ryu’s story chapters as Yakumo. So there’s a whole lot of content material that you would be able to get pleasure from after you do your first playthrough.
Xbox Video games Collection Tier Record
Xbox Video games Collection Tier Record
IGN: I’d love to know your favourite new mechanic we’ve not seen in a Ninja Gaiden recreation earlier than.
Hirayama: My favourite new facet is the Bloodraven kind. So Bloodraven kind, it actually captures the new form of expressiveness that PlatinumGames has introduced to the desk in Ninja Gaiden. However not solely that, there was a whole lot of backwards and forwards with regards to Bloodraven kind all through the improvement of this recreation. So Workforce Ninja would get the construct from Platinum after which play the recreation and supply their suggestions. However a yr in the past Bloodraven kind was simply so OP, like so long as you activated Bloodraven kind, you might actually simply defeat any enemy. And we had been trying at it as like, properly if Bloodraven kind dominates every part, we’re going to lose the Ninja Gaiden essence. And there was a whole lot of attention-grabbing backwards and forwards that we went by to arrive the place we’re at right this moment.
You’ll see that once we had been incorporating Bloodraven kind into the Ninja Information recreation cycle. For instance, once you use Bloodraven kind and also you assault an enemy, it’s going to improve the chance of doing a dismemberment. Once you dismember an enemy in Ninja Gaiden, you may carry out an Obliteration Method. Obliteration Method is principally only a finisher, like an execution fashion assault. After which when you execute an enemy, they will drop a blood orb essence. Essence was in earlier Ninja Gaidens, and it principally features the similar approach in Ninja Gaiden 4. After which as soon as that essence drops, you exchange it into an Final Method utilizing Final Steerage. I do know I’m throwing a whole lot of terminology at you! However we had been in a position to deliver this Bloodraven kind into Ninja Gaiden and actually incorporate it into that foundational Ninja Gaiden recreation cycle. Discovering methods of exploring that was very attention-grabbing from a improvement perspective.
Nakao: As well as to the Bloodraven kind, there’s additionally the base kind. Inside the base kind I really feel like we have been in a position to evolve Ninja Gaiden when it comes to the new sort of methods which are out there. Ninja Gaiden 4 introduces Simply Guards and Simply Dodges. In Ninja Gaiden, the dodging transfer is known as the Reverse Wind. In Ninja Gaiden 4 you may really do a Simply Dodge Reverse Wind. And this actually opens up the selection and potentialities of Ninja Gaiden’s fight and serves to proceed to evolve that prime velocity backwards and forwards between offense and protection that basically makes Ninja Gaiden distinct.
Hirayama: And constructing on the new potentialities which are out there in Ninja Gaiden 4, generally you may see enemies glow up in pink once they’re about to unleash a strong assault. You’ll be able to really use Bloodraven kind to counter that assault utilizing an offensive potential. This particularly turns into obvious in the boss battles, the place you can’t simply be defensive, however you may really use aggression to counter enemy assaults. And due to that, Ninja Gaiden 4’s boss battles particularly really feel very distinct and supply a brand new form of depth in contrast to our earlier entries.
Ninja Gaiden 4 launches on October 21 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X and S.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.