Ninja Gaiden is having a renaissance. The final mainline entry was initially launched greater than a decade in the past, however by the top of 2025, there will likely be three new Ninja Gaiden titles. Two are 3D: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a modern-day remaster of Ninja Gaiden II launched earlier this 12 months, and Ninja Gaiden 4, co-developed by PlatinumGames and set to launch in October. However there’s a brand new 2D sport, too. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a retro-styled side-scrolling platformer from Dotemu and the builders of Blasphemous — and it completely rips.
In Ragebound, you play as Kenji Mozu, a younger ninja educated by regular sequence star Ryu Hayabusa. Early on, Kenji’s physique turns into inhabited by the spirit of Kumori, a member of the rival Black Spider clan who provides throwable kunai weapons to Kenji’s arsenal and is briefly playable in particular sections.
As you bounce and climb by way of ranges, you’ll must tackle hordes of enemies that impede your path. Many enemies are strategically positioned to simply get in your approach, forcing you to seek out intelligent methods to dodge them or take them out.
Most enemies may be killed with one hit, however a couple of larger ones take a couple of assaults to put on down and are higher at standing their floor. Nevertheless, you may get a superpowered strike that defeats these larger foes in a single shot by killing close by enemies with glowing auras round them. A turquoise glow means it’s essential to do a sword kill, whereas a magenta glow means it’s essential to toss a kunai at them. These glowy enemies are additionally strategically positioned all through ranges to usually arrange a one-two punch of killing a small fry and a giant man, and nailing the dance of taking out enemies in the fitting order is extraordinarily satisfying.
The bosses are sometimes large monstrosities which can be thrilling to combat, and they are often fairly powerful. Luckily, the sport has an Help Mode you may activate everytime you need to tweak the problem, which I usually used to show down the injury so I may persevere by way of a battle for a little bit bit longer or simply to assist me get unstuck.
I cherished exploring the sport’s ranges, that are drawn with attractive pixel artwork and happen in some inventive locales, like a pirate cave and a building website. There are additionally hidden collectibles, together with scarabs you should utilize to unlock upgrades and scrolls that open up extra-hard secret phases. And the soundtrack is crammed with heavy guitar, synth, and drums to make you are feeling like a ’90s-era motion hero.
If I had one nitpick, it’s the sport’s story and writing, which isn’t as sturdy because the moment-to-moment motion. It’s simply bizarre to see Kumori, a badass ninja girl, say “good grief” to kick off one of many ranges. However it’s not that huge of a deal; it is a sport with a sequence the place you experience a jet ski to flee a navy boat, in any case. In a approach, the weak writing provides to the widely campy vibe.
In a second the place there are loads of nice retro motion video games to play, Ragebound exhibits what makes the Ninja Gaiden sequence particular. After my practically six-hour playthrough, I really feel like I’d like different Ninja Gaiden video games — and even when I don’t, Ragebound stands out nicely by itself.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is on the market now on Nintendo Change, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.