Ninja Gaiden 4 hands-on preview – the return of PlatinumGames

The creators of Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising aim for a big budget redemption story, not just for Ninja Gaiden but for themselves as developers.

It’s now well over a decade since Ninja Gaiden 3 and it’s fair to say that it and spin-off Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z had a disastrous effect on the franchise, to the point where it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the whole series had died and never come back. However, although its history goes back to the late eighties, it’s been closely associated with Xbox ever since it was rebooted as an Xbox exclusive in 2004.

Together with sister series Dead Or Alive, it’s the only major Japanese-made franchise that’s consistently been associated with Xbox, even though all the games have released on PlayStation eventually and there’s also been Nintendo spin-offs. No doubt that’s why Microsoft has helped to finance not just this new sequel but the recent 2D spin-off Ragebound and new remasters of the originals.

That’s great and everything but we admit our primary interest here is that PlatinumGames is the main developer for the game. After so many high profile exits from the company it seemed as if the studio, who were one of our favourites of the last decade, were doomed, but this is their big chance to redeem themselves and so far the signs are good, that they’ve not squandered the opportunity.

The two most important things to make clear from the start is that this has relatively little in common, beyond the broadest of strokes, with the earlier Ninja Gaiden games and… this probably isn’t going to end up as peak PlatinumGames. The fact that it gets anywhere close seems a miracle, given co-director (original creators Team Ninja are still involved in an advisory role) Yuji Nakao doesn’t seem to have been in charge of any major game before – the closest he’s got is producer on Bayonetta 3.

As in Ragebound, you don’t start off as series regular Ryu Hayabusa but instead new character Yakumo, from the rival, but not antagonistic, Bloodraven clan. Ninja Gaiden is an odd franchise, in that not only do you do very little ninja-ing but you’re usually fighting demons while in a near future setting. Ninja Gaiden 4 takes place in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, with a distinct cyberpunk atmosphere, that’s also encircled by the defeated husk of the Dark Dragon from the first game and the DS spin-off.

We’re not sure how many Ninja Gaiden lore experts there are in the world, but we didn’t have a clue what was going on in terms of the story, but it was all clearly just a blanket excuse to have whatever kind of monster or sci-fi silliness you want going on, which suits Platinum’s usual style very well. It’s not that the game is completely unlike other Ninja Gaiden titles but it’s really only a few of the characters and the general concept of an ultra violent ninja game that connects it.

Right from the start, you can see the Bayonetta influences, with Yakumo being very agile and having a similar mix of simple light and heavy attacks, but also optional combos that you can learn (and are taught in a very familiar looking training mode). His big gimmick is transforming into Bloodraven form, where he gains an unfeasibly large sword that’s powered by his enemies’ blood, or something.

It’s quite possible we didn’t appreciate all the nuances, in the part of the game we played (the first chapter, split into four parts – although the preview forced us to play the final two parts, and the end of the second, in challenge mode, without the story) but Bloodraven form didn’t seem to do all that much except give you a bigger sword for a while.

There is an awful lot of special abilities to learn though, with lots of different kinds of dodges, as well as bloody finisher moves on anyone who’s legs you’ve already chopped off – which usually rewards you with some health. If you learn some of the combos they often do things like allowing you to throw an enemy or launch them into the air, so this is by no means a button masher.

If you hold down the heavy attack button you can also charge up a more powerful attack (of which there seem to be many) and Yakumo seems to have different weapons as well, including a long range lance. He’s also got a berserk mode, with its own power meter, so there’s a lot to keep in mind, as you figure out what works best for which situations.

We were able to play as Ryu in challenge mode, but because there were no tutorials associated with him we’re not sure we understood everything. He does play more similarly to the older games though, being slower and stronger than Yakumo, but his main ability is gleam mode, which is powered by attacks and blocks – just like Yakumo – but used to activate either super fast magic attacks or a variety of different powers selected via the D-pad.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is entertainingly weird and unpredictable, with a fair amount of exploration involved – which is encouraged by a wide array of side quests. The levels aren’t open world, but they do have a lot of optional areas to explore which is usually rewarded, including with a demonic portal that triggers a survival mode, which is, again, quite similar to Bayonetta. There’s also a lot of rail-grinding and swinging about with a grappling hook, with the levels looking quite abstract at times.

Complex or realistic graphics have never really been Platinum’s thing and it would be generous to say this looks very last gen. It’s smooth as silk in terms of movement though and without any sign of slowdown that we saw – or indeed any bugs at all.

The game is difficult, as is Ninja Gaiden’s nature, but we didn’t find it overwhelming. Not in the way previous games can be right from the first, although the boss at the end of the four stage is a real pain. Even then, the trainer and his pet raven, who teach you new moves, also offer to help out if things get too tough. So, between that and an easy mode this isn’t as offputtingly hard as you might think.

We enjoyed our time with Ninja Gaiden 4 and while there are many similarities with Bayonetta we couldn’t also help thinking of Metal Gear Rising and how this… isn’t anything like that at all really. It’s lacking an equivalent of that game’s sword gimmick, where you controlled its direction with the analogue sticks, and since it also doesn’t have Bayonetta’s wackier witch powers it seems like it’s missing something to make it feel equally unique.

Perhaps that will seem less the case once we play the full game, but no matter how this compares with Platinum’s very best it’s light years ahead of disasters like Babylon’s Fall and Bayonetta Origins. It’s a good, solid continuation of the Ninja Gaiden saga that isn’t beholden to the past and already seems considerably better than Ninja Gaiden 3. Exactly how much better though we’ll have to wait and see.

Formats: Xbox Series X/S (previewed), PlayStation 5, and PC
Price: £59.99*
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: PlatinumGames and Team Ninja
Release Date: 21st October 2025
Age Rating: 18

*available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from day one

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