Ninja Team threw some cool teasers in Ninja Gaiden 4, and man, is Tokyo having a really rough time. I mean, it’s bad all the way. It seems that the city is flooded again by some horrible miasma-whatever that means, but it sounds bad; along with that, an ancient evil wakes up to spoil everyone’s day. All of a sudden, there is a new young genius of ninjas getting all his feet big enough to save this city to remove this curse. Yeah, no pressure, kid.
First of all, I mean, guys, can we just talk about how Ninja Gaiden is BACK? For real this time. The last time a mainline entry was released was, what, about ten years ago? And here we have a sequel set in Tokyo looking as if it got blasted by an otherworldly fog machine gone berserk. This feels so dark fantasy ninja apocalypse; we are at it.
We have Yakumo, the star-new face of the franchise, and Team Ninja is kind of vague about whether Ryu Hayabusa still matters or not. I mean, is he retired? Dead? Just chilling in the background? Who knows? But Yakumo’s in line to fill big shoes, and from what we see in the trailer, he’s got chops to back it up. Fast-paced combat, acrobatic flips, and probably more than a ton of swords-classic Ninja Gaiden stuff, but with some added shine of next-gen polish.
The tweet also dropped a link for wishlist submissions, thereby signaling how much more advanced in development it actually is compared to what people thought. No release date announced just yet, but hey, it is coming. If Team Ninja’s track record is anything to go by, then this will be just another blood-and-guts-no-holds-barred action fest.
So, about that “ancient curse”-what even IS that? Some kind of demonic plague? A ghost army? Or maybe just a really angry spirit that can’t stand Tokyo’s rent prices? The lore is still murky, but Ninja Gaiden has never been shy about throwing wild, supernatural threats at players. Remember the fiends from the earlier games? Right, this will probably be worse.
And, can we say how great things look? The teaser image shows a neon-drenched Tokyo skyline swallowed by this eerie miasma, it’s giving off some significant “Blade Runner meets Onimusha” energy. If these aesthetics are preserved in the actual game, we’re going to have a good time.
So yeah, Ninja Gaiden 4 exists, Tokyo’s doomed (again), and now there’s a new ninja to carry the line. No information yet if we will get to see some familiar faces back on screen, or if this is a complete reset, but what one can assure is this-Team Ninja is going all out. Now, if you will excuse us, we’ll be over here sharpening our katanas and praying we survive the first level.
And yes, go wishlist it. You know you want to.
AloJapan.com