Fierce, stylish combat wrapped in a story that grabs you when it counts.
Disclosure: Xbox and Team Ninja provided the game for review.
Thirteen years is a long time to wait for a numbered Ninja Gaiden. Team Ninja and PlatinumGames teamed up with Xbox to bring the series back, and they didn’t play it safe: there’s a new lead, a drowned near-future Tokyo, and combat that walks the line between brutal and beautiful. I walked away from nearly every fight feeling like an absolute legend. Ninja Gaiden is back, and it’s roaring.
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Story
An endless rain of miasma hangs over Tokyo after an ancient enemy, the Dark Dragon, starts to return. Enter Yakumo, a hot-headed young ninja of the Raven Clan and a descendant of the Dark Dragon himself, sent to assassinate Seori, the priestess who sealed it away. What starts as a straightforward hit spirals into shifting alliances and revelations about clan legacies, as Yakumo fights cyber ninjas and otherworldly horrors while wrestling with his own heritage.
Seori is a great foil for Yakumo’s single-minded rage, bringing comic relief and moral friction, and their relationship grows naturally from suspicion into a reluctant partnership. Ryu Hayabusa looms large too, setting up a showdown about destiny versus choice, and his appearances are explosive. The story is told efficiently through dialogue and sparse but well-made cutscenes, with a lot of lore delivered over comms. I wish there were more cutscenes to flesh out the intrigue, and one stretch drags story-wise, but that gameplay-first approach pays off. The closing gauntlet hits hard.
Gameplay
Gameplay is king. Combat is intense and crazy satisfying from the start, and dodging and parrying are the secret sauce. Nail them and you feel godlike. Severing a limb to trigger a brutal finisher never gets old, boss finishers are gloriously bloody, and enemies swarm in waves that move like a brutal ballet, later mixing ranged shots, aerial dives and close-quarters rushes. Your four weapons are all solid, swappable mid-fight on the D-pad, and the final ranged one is a game-changer. Later you also get to play as Ryu, with four fighting styles on the D-pad and the classic dash slice from the original Xbox Ninja Gaiden. Timeless.
Traversal keeps things moving with wall runs, grappling, rail grinding, gliding and water surfing, and failure is forgiving: falls reset you to the nearest ledge with a small health hit, and boss losses let you retry instantly. Optional side missions, hidden paths, chests and wager-your-health challenge trials reward anyone who pokes around.
What sets it apart is the difficulty design. This can be one of the most punishing games out there, with Master Ninja waiting for anyone with god-tier reflexes, but you can drop to Hero mode mid-run to avoid a rage quit and still enjoy the power fantasy. My run clocked in at nearly 17 hours, and the post-game unlocks give plenty of reasons to go back.
Visuals and performance
Ninja Gaiden 4 looks stunning in the thick of it. The city’s verticality and scale are impressive, fog and rain set a gritty mood, character close-ups are incredibly detailed, and blood drenches Yakumo in a way that just looks cool. Texture work is inconsistent, though, destruction fades quickly, and cloth physics can stutter. Of the modes, the 120 FPS option washes things out for my taste and Quality felt choppy. Frame rate mode nailed it, with solid visuals and a responsive feel.
Sound
Sound design is an unsung hero. Every hit lands with a heavy, chunky thud, and during a flurry of strikes the mix pulls background noise back so you hear the rhythm of the blade and the splatter. The English voice cast has a casual, confident delivery that grew on me, and ambient touches like distant thunder keep you on edge. No muddiness, even in the biggest fights.
Verdict
Ninja Gaiden 4 captures the soul of the series: fierce, stylish combat wrapped in a story that grabs you when it counts. Yakumo is a killer new face, and nitpicks like spotty textures and one slower stretch fade away next to the highs. It’s on Game Pass, and it’s a must-play for action fans.
Image: Team Ninja / PlatinumGames / Xbox Game Studios
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The verdict: Amazing
Fierce, stylish combat wrapped in a story that grabs you when it counts.
Pros
- Intense, deeply satisfying combat with brutal finishers
- Yakumo and Seori make a great pair, and Ryu's moments are explosive
- Smart difficulty options, from Hero mode to Master Ninja
- Inventive traversal and forgiving retries
- Punchy, immersive sound design
Cons
- Inconsistent textures and some stuttering cloth physics
- One stretch of the story drags
- Could use more cutscenes to flesh out the lore
Platform played: Xbox
Where to buy
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