Ninja Gaiden 4 will end the action-platform series' decade-long dry spell when it releases this fall, Team Ninja announced at the Xbox Developer Direct, and the developer has also prepared and just shadow-dropped a remaster of 2008's Ninja Gaiden 2, dubbed Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
"The wait is finally over," Team Ninja director Fumihiko Yasuda says. "We are excited to announce Ninja Gaiden 4, a new mainline entry in this high-speed action series, where you become the ultimate ninja and take on relentless enemies in fierce combat."
The accompanying gameplay, showing off combat made in collaboration with Nier: Automata and Bayonetta developer Platinum Games, certainly seems to prove it. The game's inky new protagonist, Yakumo, slinks all over a cursed Tokyo, delivering nasty gut stabs and bloody finishers to every enemy he encounters. Series star Ryu Hayabusa will also play a "pivotal role in the story," Yasuda says, but as Yakuma's adversary.
Overall, Ninja Gaiden 4 looks like a dynamic return to form for Team Ninja, whose 2014 game, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, was, as we said at the time, an "unentertaining, cringeworthy affair."
A disappointment like that is sure to send any ninja into hiding, but enough time has passed for the Gaiden geyser to start gushing again. Team Ninja will release Ninja Gaiden 4 on Game Pass, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5 this fall. Platinum-side director Yuji Nakao said the game is currently "about 70 - 80% complete, and we've entered the polishing phase" after years in development.
Again, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is out today on Xbox and in Game Pass. "We chose NINJA GAIDEN 2 because it stands as one of the most solid action games in the series," Yasuda said on the Xbox blog. "We added ‘Black’ to the title to signal to fans that this is the definitive version, much like NINJA GAIDEN Black was for the first game.”
