Ninja Gaiden 4 Review: PlatinumGames Takes the Wheel and Delivers the Best Action Game of 2025

Thirteen years is a long time to wait for anything, let alone a new mainline Ninja Gaiden game. When Team Ninja and PlatinumGames announced they were collaborating on Ninja Gaiden 4, expectations immediately skyrocketed. Add in the recent passing of series creator Tomonobu Itagaki, and this release carried emotional weight beyond just being another action game sequel.

The good news? Ninja Gaiden 4 absolutely delivers. It’s not just a successful comeback—it’s arguably the franchise’s best 3D entry, combining Team Ninja’s mechanical depth with PlatinumGames’ signature stylish excess in ways that complement rather than compete with each other.

PlatinumGames DNA: It’s Everywhere and That’s Perfect

From the moment you press start, Ninja Gaiden 4 makes clear who’s driving this vehicle. The opening credits explicitly state PlatinumGames is leading development, with Team Ninja in a supporting role. That creative hierarchy shows in every aspect of the game’s design, and honestly, it’s the right call.

PlatinumGames has spent two decades perfecting a specific flavor of character action game—from Bayonetta to Astral Chain to The Wonderful 101. Their approach prioritizes style, accessibility options alongside challenge, and combat encounters that feel like choreographed dance fights. All of that shows up in Ninja Gaiden 4.

The combat is outrageously flashy. Blood sprays in ridiculous quantities. Yakumo (more on him shortly) moves with exaggerated fluidity that makes every attack feel impactful. Camera angles dynamically shift to emphasize particularly brutal finishers. Enemy designs go absolutely wild, ranging from grotesque fiends to mechanized soldiers that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Metal Gear game.

This represents a tonal shift from previous entries, which prioritized brutal difficulty and mechanical precision over spectacle. Purists who consider Ninja Gaiden Black the series peak might initially balk at how much more “arcade-y” this feels. But here’s the thing: it works incredibly well, and it makes Ninja Gaiden 4 significantly more fun to actually play than its predecessors ever were.

Accessibility Without Sacrificing Depth

Normal difficulty in Ninja Gaiden 4 is substantially more approachable than previous games in the series. You can button-mash your way through standard encounters if you want, though the game actively punishes this approach against tougher enemies and bosses. But unlike Ninja Gaiden 2 or 3, which felt hostile to newcomers from the opening minutes, Ninja Gaiden 4 lets you ease into its systems.

This doesn’t mean the game is easy—it means it’s fair. Regular enemies telegraph attacks clearly enough that you can react if you’re paying attention. The generous dodge window gives you breathing room to learn patterns. Health items are available frequently enough that one mistake doesn’t cascade into inevitable death.

Boss fights are where difficulty spikes hard, and these encounters will absolutely test your understanding of the combat system. A few late-game bosses border on frustrating, especially when repeated deaths tank your end-of-chapter performance ranking. But strategies eventually reveal themselves, and victory always feels earned rather than random.

For veterans craving the old-school Ninja Gaiden punishment, Hard and Master Ninja difficulties deliver exactly that. I’m currently working through Master Ninja mode, and it’s genuinely brutal in ways that remind me why I both loved and occasionally hated Ninja Gaiden Black. The fact that PlatinumGames nailed both accessibility and hardcore challenge in the same game deserves serious credit.

Combat: The Star of the Show

The combat system is where Ninja Gaiden 4 truly shines. Yakumo handles multiple weapons throughout the campaign, each with distinct movesets requiring different approaches. The Dragon Sword feels familiar to series veterans, offering balanced speed and power. The Kusari-gama (chain-sickle) excels at crowd control and aerial combat. The Falcon’s Talons provide ridiculous speed at the cost of range.

What makes the system work is how seamlessly these weapons integrate with the game’s other mechanics. Yakumo can wall-run, grapple to distant platforms, grind on rails, and pull off absurd parkour sequences—all of which flow naturally into combat. You might dodge an attack, wall-run to reposition, grapple onto an enemy to deliver a mounted finisher, then chain that into a ground combo on nearby foes. It feels incredible.

The Karma currency system returns, letting you purchase new techniques, consumable items, and equipment slots for accessories that buff your abilities. This RPG-lite progression is light enough to not overwhelm but substantial enough to provide meaningful growth throughout the 10-12 hour campaign.

Ninpo magic attacks offer devastating crowd-clearing options with appropriate cooldowns. The game encourages creative combo experimentation through its ranking system, which grades performance based on variety, style, and efficiency. Playing Ninja Gaiden 4 well feels like performing a violent ballet.

Yakumo: The New Blood That Works

Making Yakumo the protagonist instead of Ryu Hayabusa was a gamble that pays off spectacularly. Ryu remains present throughout the story in a supporting mentor role, but this is Yakumo’s journey.

The narrative picks up after Ninja Gaiden 3, with the Dark Dragon’s corpse suspended over futuristic Sky City Tokyo. Unable to be permanently destroyed by the Dragon Clan, the monster’s remains generate corrupting miasma that spawns fiends throughout the city. Yakumo, a young Raven Clan ninja, sets out to fulfill his clan’s prophecy by slaying the Dark Dragon permanently.

What follows is a story filled with betrayals, revelations about clan histories, and inevitable conflicts between Yakumo and Ryu as their methods and philosophies clash. None of these plot twists will surprise anyone familiar with action game storytelling, but the narrative serves its purpose: providing context for increasingly absurd set-piece battles.

More importantly, Yakumo works as a character. He’s younger and less experienced than Ryu, which justifies learning combat systems from scratch. His fighting style incorporates more acrobatic maneuvers and modern technology alongside traditional ninja techniques. Personality-wise, he’s got enough attitude to differentiate himself from Ryu’s stoic demeanor without becoming annoying.

By the time credits roll, Yakumo feels like a legitimate successor capable of carrying future games. Between him and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s Kenji, the series has proven it can thrive beyond Ryu Hayabusa’s shadow.

Level Design: Linear But Engaging

Ninja Gaiden 4’s levels are notably linear compared to some previous entries, but that linearity serves the pacing. You’re constantly moving forward through visually distinct environments—from neon-soaked Tokyo streets to corrupted hellscapes to high-tech military facilities.

Platforming sections break up combat encounters more frequently than past games. Yakumo wall-runs across building facades, grapples between floating platforms, and grinds on rails while enemies attack from multiple angles. These sequences feel responsive and satisfying rather than frustrating, which is crucial since failed platforming in action games can kill momentum.

The futuristic Tokyo setting gives PlatinumGames room to get creative with environmental design. Levels frequently open vertically, encouraging you to explore upper and lower paths for collectibles and optional encounters. Finding hidden statues unlocks costume options and concept art, providing light incentive for thorough exploration.

That said, some chapters drag on longer than they should. A few late-game sequences feel padded with repetitive enemy gauntlets that slow pacing right when the story is building toward climax. Tighter editing could have trimmed 30-45 minutes without losing anything meaningful.

Visuals and Performance: Stylish and Stable

Running on PC (specs: RTX 4080, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 32GB RAM), Ninja Gaiden 4 looks fantastic and maintains rock-solid 60fps at max settings. Character models feature impressive detail, with Yakumo’s various costumes showcasing intricate texture work. Enemy designs range from horrifying organic monstrosities to sleek mechanical opponents, all animated fluidly.

Environmental variety keeps things visually interesting throughout. The rain-soaked Tokyo streets early on give way to corrupted zones that look like something from a horror game, then pivot to sterile military installations before culminating in truly surreal final stages that embrace full psychedelic excess.

Combat maintains visual clarity despite the chaos. Even when the screen fills with enemies, particle effects, and environmental hazards, you can still track Yakumo and incoming threats. That’s crucial for a game demanding precise timing and positioning.

I encountered zero crashes and only occasional minor visual glitches across my entire playthrough. Load times are quick, checkpointing is generous, and the UI clearly communicates information without cluttering the screen. From a technical standpoint, this is a polished release.

Sound Design: Metal Meets Traditional

The soundtrack blends traditional Japanese instrumentation with industrial metal and electronic elements, creating an eclectic but effective audio landscape. Combat themes are appropriately energetic, boss music hits hard, and quieter exploration sections provide atmospheric respite.

Voice acting quality varies, with Yakumo’s performance being solid and Ryu sounding appropriately grizzled. Some supporting characters lean into anime tropes heavily enough to be occasionally grating, but nothing breaks immersion completely.

Weapon impacts have satisfying weight. The meaty thunk of a Dragon Sword strike, the metallic clink of deflected blades, the wet squelch of finishers—it all contributes to making combat feel visceral and impactful.

Replayability: Built for Multiple Runs

Ninja Gaiden 4 wants you to replay it. Multiple difficulty modes offer genuinely different experiences rather than just enemy health/damage adjustments. Unlockable costumes provide cosmetic variety. The ranking system encourages experimentation with different weapons and tactics.

Speedrunning communities will find plenty to optimize. Combat encounter variety means different approaches work better in different situations. The relatively short campaign length (10-12 hours on Normal) makes repeat playthroughs feel manageable rather than daunting.

I’ve already started a second playthrough on Hard difficulty and found myself approaching encounters completely differently than my first run. That speaks to the depth of the combat system and how much room exists for skill expression.

Minor Gripes: The Few Rough Edges

Despite loving Ninja Gaiden 4, a few issues warrant mention. Some boss battles feel slightly overtuned, with damage output that can two-shot you even with upgraded health. This wouldn’t be as frustrating if checkpoints placed you right before the fight, but some force you to replay preceding sections first.

The camera occasionally struggles in tight corridors, getting caught on geometry or failing to keep up with Yakumo’s acrobatic movement. This happens infrequently enough to not be a major problem, but it’s noticeable when it occurs.

A few late-game enemy types rely on projectile spam that feels cheap rather than challenging. Learning to deal with them is possible but annoying, especially when mixed with melee threats in confined spaces.

The Verdict: Best Action Game of 2025

Ninja Gaiden 4 succeeds on every level that matters. The combat is phenomenal—deep enough for mastery but accessible enough for newcomers. Yakumo proves himself a worthy protagonist capable of leading future entries. The collaboration between Team Ninja and PlatinumGames produces something greater than either studio could likely achieve alone.

Coming off Ninja Gaiden 2 Black earlier this year and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s excellent 2D throwback, Ninja Gaiden 4 completes a remarkable 2025 for the franchise. It proves the series can evolve and thrive under new creative direction while respecting what made it special originally.

For fans of character action games, this is essential. For Ninja Gaiden veterans, this is a worthy successor that earns its place in the canon. For newcomers, this is the perfect entry point—accessible without being dumbed down, challenging without being punishing, and stylish as hell from start to finish.

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