Since its announcement earlier this year, Ninja Gaiden 4 has seemingly met just as much skepticism as excitement. Yes, after over a decade, we finally have a new Ninja Gaiden–but with Team Ninja and Platinum Games collaborating on its development and Microsoft publishing, is the series’ identity at stake? It’s a question that’s been on many long-time fans’ minds, as well as my own.
After all, there’s no denying that some of what makes Ninja Gaiden such a beloved series are the little quirks we overlook out of affection. And, more often than not, these are the very same friction-inducing qualities that are promptly removed when a series is remade or rebooted. At the same time, does opting to retain each and every one of these qualities prevent the game from evolving, or becoming an exciting, modern entry-point? After spending around four hours with Ninja Gaiden 4 and speaking with the team behind it at Platinum Game’s Tokyo office, I’ve come to a preliminary conclusion: Ninja Gaiden 4 is whatever style of Ninja Gaiden you want it to be.
Flexible and fluid
More so than previous entries in the series, Ninja Gaiden 4 emphasizes flexibility. If you’re a Ninja Gaiden veteran who loathes the idea of executing perfect dodges, locking on to enemies, and watching your Karma–the game’s scoring system that rewards players for executing combos–rack up in the top left corner, you can either ignore or remove all of it. At the same time, these options, an impressively robust accessibility menu, and the game’s beginner-friendly Hero mode–which auto-blocks most incoming damage–make the game extremely approachable for new audiences and those who might have been turned off by the series’ brutal reputation.
