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There were so many games I wanted to check out at Tokyo Game Show, but at the top of my list was Ninja Gaiden 4. Even though I was at past events this year, I never got the chance to play it, and I had heard so many amazing thoughts about it. However, that changed at TGS. Thanks to Koei Tecmo, I got the chance to try it out, and I was blown away by how accurate everyone else’s thoughts on the game are. This easily has the potential to be one of my favorite games this year.
In my demo, I played as the new character Yakumo, as we ran around the cyberpunk-esque Tokyo and slicing up enemies, leading to one big boss at the end. There wasn’t much to experience in terms of story, but I got a good slice of the action that we can expect in the full game, and it is brutal.
As Yakumo, I had access to three different weapons as well as a giant broadsword. And I would be going through slicing and dicing all of the grants that came through. The combat is as tight and gory as I remember from the previous Ninja Gaiden games. I was actually a little surprised by how familiar it felt. I know it’s another game in the series, and it’s known for its iconic fast-paced combat, but it brought back all the good memories of how exciting each encounter can be. With each slice and hit, my basic and heavy attacks, to the brutality of the charged specials, it was everything I had hoped for and more.
It felt like every single move I made was calculated to a tee. I assume this is largely part of the expertise of both Team Ninja and PlatinumGames, who are co-developing the game. Both Studios have a track record of tight combat in 3-D environments, and their specialties come together perfectly in Ninja Gaiden 4. Each attack, dodge, and even wall run feels impactful, flashy, and overall addicting. They could’ve given me a demo of just the same part over and over, fighting enemies, and I would’ve been satisfied. It just felt great to have a new game in the series that feels just as good, if not better, than the rest.
That’s not to say it’s easy, though. Getting through the grunts was flashy and relatively easy, but one false move and it could lead to getting hit. However, the boss is another story. He was definitely on the more difficult side, and I had to pull myself away from the button-mashing strategy that worked against grunts to a more varied strategy that included lots of dodging, basic attacks, dodging a variety of weapons, and switching to deal as much damage as I could when I had the windows for it. I had to try to defeat this boss about seven or eight times before I was successful, and each time I had so much fun. I never felt cheated. When I died, I could see exactly how my strategy didn’t work and was able to correct it.
The visuals and presentation were stunning to say the least, but the real heavy hitter was the music. The hard rock, EDM mixed beats hit so hard and pump me up the entire time. Period. Admittedly, I could just sit there and stand still and listen to that music on repeat. I’m going to be watching for the soundtrack to release on Apple Music so I can immediately add it to my library and start listening in my free time.
I really do wish my demo was longer, and I had more to try out, but unfortunately, I was not able to. Still, it was enough to convince me that this is going to be a game I need to own. I’m going to be very curious to see how it runs on the Steam Deck, especially since it has the verified badge, but I will be excitedly waiting to try it out for myself. It may be locked to 30 FPS, but as long as it’s stable, I know I will have a good time with it. If, for whatever reason, you can only get one game in October, Ninja Gaiden 4 should be it.
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