Credit: Team Ninja / Platinum Games
reviewReview
Ninja Gaiden 4 is a brutal return with a new edge
May 28, 2026·7 min read
Ninja Gaiden 4 does not ease the series back into the room. It kicks the door open, throws Yakumo into a rain-soaked Tokyo, and asks whether my hands can still keep up with a kind of action game that almost disappeared. It is fast, demanding, and often exhausting, but there is a clarity to its violence that made me lean forward almost immediately.
This is not a nostalgic museum piece. PlatinumGames and Team Ninja have made something that respects the old Ninja Gaiden rhythm while giving it a sharper modern surface. The story is thin, some late-game repetition drags, and Ryu Hayabusa’s role is not as meaningful as it could have been. But when the combat is moving properly, Ninja Gaiden 4 feels like a series remembering how dangerous it used to be.
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Yakumo earns the lead role quickly
Yakumo could have felt like a risky replacement for Ryu. The series is so closely tied to Hayabusa that any new lead had to justify himself fast. He does. Yakumo has enough style, speed, and aggression to carry the campaign without feeling like a stand-in. His Raven clan identity gives the game a different flavor, and his combat tools fit the pace the developers are chasing.
What matters most is that Yakumo feels good in motion. He cuts through enemies with a sharp, forward-driving energy that suits the game’s future Tokyo setting. He is not simply Ryu with a new outfit. His Bloodraven abilities give fights a more explosive rhythm, and the game uses that to push players toward constant pressure rather than cautious spacing.
The writing around him is less convincing. Yakumo looks cool and plays well, but the story rarely gives him enough personality beyond the role he fills in the action. I was invested in what he could do more than who he was. For a game this focused on combat, that is not fatal, but it does stop the campaign from landing as hard outside the fights.
Combat is fast, deep, and unforgiving
The combat is the reason to play Ninja Gaiden 4. It has the speed I wanted, but it also has a lot of structure under the surface. Attacks, dodges, blocks, parries, powered moves, and finishers all compete for attention, and the game expects me to understand the difference quickly. Button-mashing gets punished. Hesitation gets punished too.
At its best, the system feels incredible. A good encounter becomes a chain of quick reads: close distance, break pressure, punish an opening, spend meter at the right time, dodge before the screen collapses around me, then finish the enemy before they recover. The game does not let me relax for long, and that pressure gives every fight a nervous energy.
There is a lot to manage, maybe too much at first. The combat can feel overstuffed before the pieces settle. I had moments where I knew I had the tools to survive but could not reach them cleanly in time. That frustration slowly turned into confidence as the systems became familiar. Ninja Gaiden 4 asks for more than reflex. It asks for discipline.
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The difficulty feels old-school without feeling stuck
Ninja Gaiden 4 is hard in a way that feels different from modern Souls-inspired action games. It is not built around slow duels, stamina watching, or careful circling. It is about speed, aggression, and staying alive while several enemies try to tear the screen away from you. The game wants clean reactions, but it also wants nerve.
That makes the challenge refreshing. I enjoyed having to fight on the game’s terms instead of waiting for it to give me a safe rhythm. Enemies hit hard, bosses demand attention, and the game has no problem punishing sloppy habits. When I cleared a difficult encounter, it felt earned because I had to play better, not just level past the problem.
The rough side is that some failures feel heavier than they need to. Restarting difficult battles could be smoother, and certain enemy types interrupt the flow more than they enrich it. Ninja Gaiden 4 is usually fair, but it is not always elegant about friction. When the game annoys, it does so loudly.
Ryu's return is exciting but underused
Ryu Hayabusa is here, and his presence still means something. Playing as him carries an immediate weight because the series’ history sits on his shoulders. His sections have a different feel, and for longtime players, simply seeing him move again with this level of polish has an undeniable pull.
The problem is that his role feels smaller and less consequential than it should. Instead of becoming a powerful second pillar, Ryu sometimes feels like a reminder of another game the campaign is not fully about. His sections repeat ideas and bosses more than they need to, and that makes his return feel less graceful than the rest of the combat design.
I understand why the developers kept Yakumo in front. The game needs its new lead to matter. But Ryu deserved cleaner use. Ninja Gaiden 4 is not weakened because Yakumo leads it. It is weakened because Ryu’s presence occasionally feels like a promise the story does not fully cash in.
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The story is best left in the background
The story gives the campaign enough reason to move forward, but not much more. Tokyo is soaked in miasma, ancient threats have returned, clans clash, and characters speak with the expected seriousness of a high-speed action game about cursed power and deadly warriors. It has mood, but not much emotional force.
That is not a huge problem because Ninja Gaiden has never needed a delicate plot to work. The issue is that the story sometimes takes up space without adding much. Cutscenes and dialogue can feel like connective tissue between the real reason I am here: the next brutal fight. I rarely disliked the story, but I rarely cared about it either.
The setting does more work than the writing. The rain, neon, ruined streets, enemy designs, and stylish violence give the game a strong look. Ninja Gaiden 4 has presence. It just tells a thin story inside that presence.
The campaign has bite, but it repeats near the end
The campaign moves at a strong pace for most of its runtime. It knows that the combat is the main event, so it keeps throwing new encounters, bosses, and enemy combinations at me. There are also trials, chapter replays, and higher-skill challenges that give the game more life after the credits. For action players who enjoy mastering a system, there is plenty to chew through.
The late game does start to show strain. Some assets and encounters repeat, and the campaign loses a little of its sharpness when familiar ideas circle back too often. The combat remains strong enough to carry those stretches, but I felt the game working harder to maintain momentum.
Still, the overall package is strong. Ninja Gaiden 4 does not need to be huge. It needs to be intense, replayable, and mechanically satisfying. On that front, it delivers far more often than it stumbles.
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Ninja Gaiden 4 brings the series back with force
Ninja Gaiden 4 is not perfect, but it is a real return. The story is forgettable, Ryu deserved a better role, and the campaign repeats itself more than it should near the end. Those problems matter, but they do not drown out what the game gets right.
I would recommend it to players who miss fast, technical action games that demand clean execution from the first hour. Newcomers may find it punishing, but the combat is strong enough to reward the effort. Ninja Gaiden 4 is brutal, stylish, and sometimes exhausting, but when Yakumo is cutting through a fight at full speed, it feels like the series has finally found its blade again.
Ninja Gaiden 4
Xbox Series X|SPC (Microsoft Windows)PlayStation 5
Released
October 21, 2025
Developer
Team NINJA
Publisher
Xbox Game Studios
Systems
Xbox Series X|S
PC (Microsoft Windows)
PlayStation 5