I Finished Ninja Gaiden 4 and I'm Conflicted... (Full Review)

0:10Ninja Gaiden 4 picks up after the events of Ninja Gaiden 3, with the dark dragon skeletal corpse hanging over Tokyo. spewing a cursed blood rain called the rain of dark rot the city's been evacuated transformed into this moody neon lit nightmare that's both gorgeous and oppressive you play as yakimo a young ninja prodigy from the raven clan who's hunting down the dark preacher sayori to end the dark dragon bloodline once and for all the problem is ryu hayabusa and an elite military force are protecting shrine seals that keep the dark dragon contained putting yakimo directly at odds with the legendary super ninja himself ryu is fully playable throughout the campaign giving you two distinct play styles across the game's 20 chapters.

0:49The setup had potential for an interesting mentor versus student dynamic, but here's where I need to be really honest with you. Most protagonists are disappointingly bland. Neither Yakumo nor Ryu has any real personality, and what could be a really compelling story about conflicting ideals just falls flat. The side characters don't help either. Their dialogue adds nothing of value, and interacting with them can be pretty and genuinely annoying. If you're coming to Ninja Gaiden 4 for the story, you're going to be very, very disappointed. But let's be real, you're not here to hear about deep character development, you're here to slice and dice demons into pieces, and that's where Ninja Gaiden really does deliver.

1:23If you're a series veteran, all the favorite techniques are here, the Azuna drop, flying swallow, and more, and they feel really satisfying, just like you remember. The game changer here is the Blood Ninja Ninjutsu system that lets you transform weapons and unleash devastating special attacks. Yakumo can equip two weapons at a time, with the second weapon transforming for blood-based counterattacks and combo finishers. We're talking war rapiers that become massive drills, staffs that transform into rocket-powered hammers, and all of these weapons give a bunch of variety that is really excellent.

1:54Every single one feels genuinely fun to use. The switching is instant and seamless in letting you adapt to your playstyle on the fly. Yakimo's signature ability is the Blood Raven form, which manipulates blood to create powerful weapons that can strike down multiple foes at once. Build up your meter through aggressive play, you activate it, and you become this devastating force, and you can even pause time and horizontally slice enemies with this flashy cinematic attack. It's pure power fantasy, and it feels fantastic. Ryu only has his trademark katana this time, but he's so powerful and satisfying that the limited arsenal doesn't really matter.

2:26He has his own gleam form equivalent to Blood Raven, plus all of his classic combos and ninpo special moves. While both characters use similar core techniques, they feel distinct enough to keep things interesting. Now let's talk gore, because this is among the bloodiest action games in recent memory history. Limbs fly, blood sprays, and gorgeous arcs, and the dismemberment system creates this incredible feedback that makes you feel like an unstoppable killing machine. Finishing moves are brutal and satisfying. They do a fantastic job making those moments feel weighty and powerful, but that said, they do get pretty repetitive after a while.

2:59By hour 10, you've seen most of the variations, and what was shocking becomes standard. It's still fun, just not as impactful as it was in those early hours. Here's the thing, though. Beyond the new mechanics, this doesn't really feel that different from previous Ninja Gaiden games. If you were hoping for a radical reinvention, this isn't it. This is Team Ninja and Platinum Games saying, here's more of what worked, refined and polished. And honestly, for fans, that's probably exactly what you wanted. This is still a Ninja Gaiden game, so expect to die and die a lot. A playthrough on normal difficulty and it's challenging but fair, but you'll need to learn enemy patterns and manage resources and actually use all the tools that the game gives you.

3:35Button mashing will get you murdered for sure. Then I tried Master difficulty and folks, it is brutal. It is exactly what you think. It is the most infamous difficulty that the mode returns with and as a new game plus mechanic, cranking everything up to sadistic levels. Every hit from enemies does massive damage and we're talking about like two or three hits and you're done. It's designed for masochists and speed runners and I absolutely respect the fact that the game refuses to compromise on challenge. But here's what's smart. There's also a hero difficulty with auto evade, auto block and auto assist features and it it lets newcomers experience the game and practice timing without getting demolished every 30 seconds.

4:11The game maintains fair combat through enemy group ups and attacks from all angles, but you have some soft target locking, combo preservation through shrunken throws, and instant weapon swaps to handle it. When you die, it's because you messed up, not because the game cheated, which I really, really loved. This is a game for people who love a challenge, and if you wanna feel powerful while actually earning that feeling, Ninja Gaiden 4 delivers that in spades. Visually, this game is stunning. Character models are incredibly detailed, then the game maintains a smooth 60 frames per second across all platforms.

4:40I played on both Xbox Series X and PC, and it ran beautifully on both. No frame drops, no stuttering, just buttery smooth ninja action, and the game will target up to 120 FPS on capable hardware. That high frame rate makes a real difference in responsiveness during combat. The game is chapter based and highly replayable. You can go back and replay any chapter with either character. Plus, there's a trials mode for additional challenges. With 20 chapters in the campaign, you're looking at a solid length for an action game with plenty of reason to return. So here's the bottom line. Ninja Gaiden 4 is back, and it's a rock-solid action game that delivers exactly what fans have been asking for, awaiting 13 years for its comeback.

5:17The combat is excellent, the weapons are all fun to use, the challenge is brutal but fair, and it runs like a dream, and it's all available on day one on Game Pass, which is an incredible value. But I have to be honest, the story and characters are a massive letdown. Lifeless dialogue, boring protagonists, and annoying side characters, drag down what could have been a more complete package and a perfect one at that. If you're looking for any semblance of narrative depth here, you won't find it in this game. Ninja Gaiden 4 gets an 8 out of 10 from me. Fans of the series will be very pleased and this will be more of what you love, refined, gorgeous action, and if you're a newcomer who loves challenging action games and can ignore a very weak story, you'll have a blast.

5:54Just don't come in expecting character development or plot twists because you're not getting them here. that's going to be it for this episode of spawn to me and our review of ninja garden for let me know in the comments if you're picking up ninja garden for and whether you're brave enough to go tackle master ninja mode let me know how the review went how you liked it and please please a big shout out and thank you to our friends over at xbox again for providing us review code for the game and shout out to the folks over team ninja and platinum games for an interview that we had with them earlier in the year you can definitely check out across our channels much love to you all hope you're having fun with the game let me know in the comments what the deal be and we'll all talk to you soon much love and peace

6:58.