Ninja Gaiden 4 review – Izuna drop it like it’s hot

Long before Dark Souls became the gold standard for skill and challenge in video games, there was Ninja Gaiden. Team Ninja’s legendary series, starring shinobi Ryu Hayabusa, was the ultimate test of reflexes and endurance — and a decade later, Ninja Gaiden 4 proudly carries that legacy forward. It doesn’t offer much in the way of story, but when a game is this deliciously difficult and rewarding, narrative takes a backseat to the polished, edge-of-your-seat action that unfolds once everything clicks into place.

The latest mainline entry in the franchise — which has already enjoyed a stellar 2025 thanks to top-tier remasters and spin-offs — puts players in the tabi footwear of a new ninja, Yakumo. The Raven Clan prodigy might have the personality of a sulky edgelord, but he compensates with an arsenal of techniques that leave the battlefield drenched in blood. Co-developed by Team Ninja and PlatinumGames, the sequel merges both studios’ strengths to deliver the quintessential Ninja Gaiden experience: a lightning-fast and brutally precise romp full of style.

One of Yakumo’s key tools is the Bloodraven form, a temporary transformation that swaps quick strikes for deliberate, crushing blows capable of breaking through seemingly unblockable enemy attacks. Strategically mixing these moves into your repertoire feels immensely satisfying, as the young ninja strings together savage combos, dismemberments, and instant-kill finishers — all while nimbly dodging and parrying with deadly precision.

You’ll need every trick at your disposal, because Ninja Gaiden 4 doesn’t pull its punches. Longtime fans will immediately recognise the franchise’s trademark brutality: enemies are fast, aggressive, and merciless, never missing a chance to punish a single mistake. That’s the beauty of it — a vicious rhythm of dodging, parrying, and counterattacking that feels beautifully smooth when you hit your stride.

Ryu Hayabusa even makes a guest appearance in his own video game franchise, albeit for a series of missions that retrace Yakumo’s path of destruction and see you take on a few bosses once again. While Yakumo is a nimble one-man-army, Ryu offers a gameplay experience that emphasizes his status of living ninja legend, as he combines precision-based offense with his signature ninpo magic. Stealth gameplay is half-baked at best, but when you’re able to literally disarm opponents with graceful violence, who needs to hide in the shadows?

If the discourse over difficulty is a turn-off, fret not: Ninja Gaiden 4 does offer a variety of modes for you to test your skills in, including standard difficulty and a nightmarish option designed to feel unfair on purpose with its placement of enemies and instant-kill scenarios. Fortunately, the game’s accessibility-minded Hero Mode allows you to feel like a master ninja, as it offers options to automatically guard against attacks, instantly complete quick-time events, and hammer out auto-combos to make combat a breeze. While some might scoff at Ninja Gaiden 4 adding training wheels, the mode does a great job at encouraging you to learn the intricacies of the game and eventually leave that comfort zone for the regular difficulty options.

In the narrative department, Ninja Gaiden 4 falls flat with its tale of the Dark Dragon, prophecies, and Tokyo being transformed into a desolate wasteland. Sure, Yakumo’s Raven Clan squad have one-note personalities and keep things lively to counterbalance the protagonist’s complete lack of character, but the core plot – which unfurls over roughly 10 hours, according to my playthrough – is a forgettable setup that exists purely to funnel you through gauntlets of cannon fodder and scene-stealing bosses.

And that’s actually entirely fine, because Ninja Gaiden games have never been known for their Oscar-worthy storylines. It’s a fault that’s very easy to overlook when the gameplay makes up for it, and that’s Ninja Gaiden 4’s greatest strength. It’s a beautiful mixture of fluid action against intelligent enemy mobs that gel together to create a blisteringly fast and satisfying display of ultraviolence. No other game feels like Ninja Gaiden 4, and once you settle into its unique groove, you’ll realize just how great this action-first adventure truly is.

Ninja Gaiden 4 released on 21 October for PC, Xbox Series consoles and PlayStation 5.