While it shouldn’t have taken thirteen long years before we finally got to say it, we’re still happy to say that a new Ninja Gaiden title is finally less than a month away! Team Ninja and Platinum Games’ collaboration is shaping up to be quite the action-adventure title, bringing back everything that we know and love about the franchise while adding a few creative flourishes that can usher in a new era for its stylish gameplay loop.
Ninja Gaiden 4 is bringing more than a new protagonist to the table, while the return of Ryu Hayabusa to the spotlight has been a long time coming. But if you’re wondering if you should pick up a copy ahead of its release, we’ve put together a few things you might want to know before you do.
Let’s dive in!
1. An Explosive New Story
As a direct sequel to Ninja Gaiden 3, the story pits Ryu against Yakumo, a young man from a rival Raven-themed ninja clan who might share the same goals as his rival, but whose methods take him down a different path. They are slated to explore a dystopian take on Tokyo in the wake of a full-scale invasion by none other than the Dark Dragon, another returning mainstay from the franchise’s past.
The two men are helped along by some new faces while taking on new and deadly threats as they carve a bloody path to their foe. The developers have been quite enthusiastic about how they have woven in the pillars of their design philosophy into the game’s narrative, and this one is sure to have you wondering what’s going to happen next after each deadly fight.
2. Difficulty Options
The developers are sure looking to make this one as appealing as they possibly can to a wide range of audiences. Franchise veterans know that a Ninja Gaiden title doesn’t pull its punches (or swipes, stabs, and other ways to impose a grisly death). But newcomers to the franchise might not be ready to take on its brutal combat formula.
Have no fear, since you have three different difficulty options at your disposal, which you can switch between as you play through the game. More details are incoming as we go on.
3. For A True Master Of the Craft
If you manage to finish the game on any of the default difficulty options, you have a very strong incentive to dive right back in courtesy of the Master Ninja Mode. This is a very solid take on New Game Plus as it switches things up by quite a margin. Expect different enemy placements, a more aggressive enemy AI, and a spike in the game’s difficulty that might challenge even the most grizzled of veterans among you.
Be prepared to bring your best builds and skills to the table if you want to take this on.
4. Hero Mode
For those of you who would like to dip your toes into the deep waters of a very elaborate combat system, Hero Mode is going to make that a possibility. It gives you an easier challenge (though not by much) while allowing you to automate a few crucial combat techniques like blocking and the like.
It’s there to give you some much-needed training wheels, helping you fall into the rhythm of the game’s combat before you take on a more challenging difficulty and understand what all the fuss about Ninja Gaiden 4 is truly about.
5. Not Close Enough
We now know that the game’s slated for release on October 21, 2025, and that it’s going to be available day one on Xbox Game Pass. That’s still a long wait for a title that many have been eager to play for a very long time in our book, but hey, we’re just glad to see Ryu again!
6. Goodies Galore
If you’re planning on preordering the standard edition of the game, you’re in for a treat as there’s a pretty cool skin you can equip for Yakumo called the Dark Dragon Descendant Skin.
Deluxe edition owners get even more, with additional Ninja Coin, a traditional skin for Ryu, and a few very attractive weapon skins thrown into the mix. It’s the perfect way to enjoy the nostalgia that performing an Izuna Drop or a Flying Swallow is sure to bring while learning the new ins and outs of a combat system that’s already showing a lot of depth.
7. Design Pillars
The design pillars of adversity, cruelty, and constant change are woven into the game’s narrative and, more importantly, its combat system. Ryu and Yakumo’s uneasy alliance is already underlined by adversity, but the brutal combat that’s a trademark of the franchise truly brings that sentiment home.
Cruelty could be more of the Dark Dragon’s area of expertise, but our two protagonists are sure to dish out some of it as they go about hacking and slashing their way through hordes of enemies who come at you all at once.
Constant change could be a part of how the two men from rival clans come to confront their own assumptions about the other, and is sure to be a part of a combat loop that requires you to stay on your toes and carve a path through enemy attacks that can have you seamlessly switching weapons and combos on the fly in order to dominate the battlefield. It’s exciting stuff, really.
8. Dynamic Enemy Level Scaling
The enemy AI is slated to make adjustments based on your own prowess with the game’s combat and the various difficulty options on offer, with placements, attack patterns, and general aggression being adjusted almost constantly while you go about your grim business. It’s a kind of curated challenge that could make combat a very immersive facet of the experience, something that the franchise has earned a reputation for in the past, and will probably continue to manage with the new game.
9. If At First You Don’t Succeed
If you’re worried about pulling off complex moves in the heat of battle, Team Ninja lets you dive into a newly introduced Training Mode, a franchise first! You can practice your moves and combos to your heart’s content before unleashing your best skills on any hapless opponents who are bold enough to stand between you and the Dark Dragon.
Practice does make perfect, after all!
10. Perfect Play
Dodging and parrying enemy attacks are going to be a crucial part of the stylish and brutal action this time around, with a Perfect Parry system in place that actually tells you when you’ve managed to pull one off.
While details are scarce about how effective these mechanics are at helping you gain the upper hand, the fact that they are there in a game that has many enemies trying to gang up on you has us quite curious to see how the best of you out there use them to your advantage – a sentiment that’s especially pronounced thanks to the next point on our list.
11. Parrying Might Be Harder Than You Think
While parrying an attack just before it hits you is now standard fare for a perfect parry in most games, pulling one off in Ninja Gaiden 4 might not be as easy as it sounds, thanks to the fact that you’re going to have to keep an eye on multiple enemies all at once.
While Team Ninja could very well loosen up the parry window in the run-up to the game’s release, early previews suggest that you’re going to have to be quite alert if you want to be a parrying god whose foes simply cannot touch – the mark of a solid ninja.
12. Ryu and Trials Mode
While we’re sure that Ryu is going to be an important part of the story and act as a stepping stone for Yakumo to achieve his own self-actualization, he’s also playable in the game’s Trial Mode for those of you who just can’t get enough of him. He comes with a more limited selection of weapons but has his own Dragon Gleam mode to better match Yakumo’s Bloodraven form.
However, there’s going to be a wider selection of weapons for our popular protagonist in the form of DLC content for the game, so brush up on all your skills with the ability to revisit levels you’ve already completed and perhaps take on a boss or two as Ryu when you get the chance in Trials Mode.
13. Photo Mode
If you want to capture your best kills in all their gory glory, you’re going to have a great time with the game’s Photo Mode! There are already a few incredible shots out there for you to find, and we’re really excited to see what the game’s community of players is going to do with it once it hits the shelves.
14. More Frames, More Style
Xbox Series X owners are going to be thrilled to know that there’s a 120fps mode for those of you who have the displays to support it. While the Xbox Series S can’t support that, owners of Microsoft’s beefier console can enjoy a more fluid experience at the expense of slightly reduced visual fidelity. That’s a worthy trade-off in a game that’s focused on combat, in our opinion.
It’s also available on the PS5 and will most likely be an option for higher-end PCs once the game is in your hands.
15. PC System Requirements
Speaking of higher-end PCs, Team Ninja has some suggestions on what your setup’s going to need to run the game. The minimum requirements include Windows 10/11 64-bit with an Intel Core 15-8400/AMD Ryzen 5 3400G with 16GB of RAM. For graphics, you’ll need an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB VRAM or an AMD Radeon RX 590 with 8GB of VRAM alongside DirectX Version 12. You’re also going to need a 16-bit, 48KHz Sound Card and 100 GB of SSD storage to run the game at 1080/30fps with “Low” FSR and Object Quality.
The recommended specs include a beefier Intel Core i5-10400/AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super with VRAM 8GB or an AMD Radeon RX 5700XT with VRAM 8GB. The remaining specs stay the same, and will allow you to run the game at 1080/60fps with both FSR and Object Quality set to “Middle”.
And that’s a wrap on everything you need to know about Ninja Gaiden 4 before you buy your copy and dive into a title that carries the weight of all the great titles that came before it. However, we believe that Ryu and Yakumo are going to live up to the challenge and do so with style. We’re going to be right at your side through the new adventure when it makes its way into our hands in October. See you in Tokyo, or what’s left of it, at least!
