Ninja Gaiden 4 was certainly one of a number of video games that Xbox confirmed off in its video games showcase over the weekend. And through its Summer time Recreation Fest-adjacent in-person preview occasion, I received the possibility to play it for myself. I’ve by no means performed Ninja Gaiden earlier than and was skeptical that the sport’s generic darkish aesthetic, which feels straight out of 2012, might seize my curiosity. However after a brief hands-on demo and an interview with the sport’s builders, I’m much less cautious and powerfully intrigued.
Regardless of the “4” within the title, Ninja Gaiden 4 represents a gentle reset for the franchise. You play as Yakumo, a ninja of the Raven Clan, who should save Tokyo from corruption. The sport seems like a hack-and-slash beat ‘em up with excessive emphasis on the hacking and slashing. Yakumo makes use of a variety of weapons and skills at his disposal, together with swords, throwing knives, and a capability that briefly transforms him right into a demonic raven for an additional burst of energy.
My time with the demo was quick, consisting of Yakumo ninja-flipping by ruined metropolis streets, combating packs of cybernetic demons. In fight, you may string collectively assaults, producing visually spectacular combos. One of many issues that I most appreciated in regards to the fight system was that it included certainly one of my favourite strikes in any motion recreation — an air restoration potential. If you happen to’re hit into the air, you may rapidly faucet a button to proper your self and get again into the combat quite than get knocked away. Whoever at Group Ninja / PlatinumGames is a Kingdom Hearts fan, I see you.
Additionally, alongside the best way, I encountered a variety of Yakumo’s allies (together with one voiced by Brandon “Garrus Vakarian” Keener, whose voice I’d know anyplace) who launched me to the world, giving me power-ups and fight recommendation.
This recreation is bloody, cartoonishly so. As soon as I’ve whittled down my enemies’ well being, I can dismember them in a variety of more and more brutal methods. It was so excessive that it veered into absurd territory, and I discovered myself laughing out loud in an in any other case quiet demo room. I questioned if the strain between the hardcore seriousness of Yakumo and his buddies versus the goofy violence was intentional, however in keeping with the builders, the sport is working as supposed.
“Ninja Gaiden has at all times been generally known as a really violent recreation, however we didn’t wish to simply make it grotesque,” says Yuji Nakao, recreation producer and director at PlatinumGames, talking by a translator. “As a result of if we did that, you’d get bored with it.”
Group Ninja partnered with PlatinumGames to develop the title, and the inclusion of the studio that made Bayonetta informs a little bit of that tonal dissonance. Bayonetta is campy and enjoyable, and I can see parts of that camp in Ninja Gaiden 4.
“Once we have been working with PlatinumGames,” says Masakazu Hirayama, the producer and director at Group Ninja. “We needed to carry their distinctive fashion strategy to the motion style and inject that into the collection.”
Until you rely ports, remasters, or spinoffs, it’s been greater than 12 years because the final authentic title within the Ninja Gaiden collection. In that point, a brand new crop of avid gamers, who’re most likely extra acquainted with Bayonetta, have come up. In the meantime, there’s nonetheless an older technology operating round with recollections of Ryu Hayabusa and Ninja Gaiden Black. The results of the partnership between PlatinumGames and Group Ninja is a recreation that has parts that’ll attraction to totally different generations of gamers.
“Ninja Gaiden is about having a really various software set that lets you really feel like that final tremendous ninja,” says Hirayama. “And I feel you’ll see that the brand new protagonist and his new software set opens up a number of new prospects.”
The brand new recreation might not appear to be probably the most thrilling of titles in the event you’re not a long-time fan of the collection. However my skepticism of the sport was slashed away within the face of an over-the-top gorefest that appears to take itself significantly however is hiding a gentle, goofy middle that wound up being actually enjoyable to play. Ninja Gaiden 4 comes out on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on October twenty first.