Bloodsoaked Tokyo is Chapter 01 in Ninja Gaiden 4, taking place after the tutorial mission, Dark Descendant. In it, you’ll break through the DDO’s defense network so you can infiltrate deeper into Tokyo. This walkthrough will show you how to find the first two energy pylons you need to disable and where you’ll find some loot along the way.
Here are the objectives you’ll move through as you complete this mission:
Find the First Pylon
You start in a small container yard with Seori in your ear, telling you what you need to do. You’re looking for three pylons that you must disable to break through the DDO’s defense network.
Before you go looking for the first pylon, take a left to find a treasure chest containing a Crimson Blood Balm, which you can use to increase your Bloodbind Gauge buildup rate temporarily. Then, continue through an alleyway until you reach a gate you can open.
Rather than opening the gate, turn left to find another treasure chest, which contains a Senjin War Brew that temporarily increases attack power.
Open the gate and head through to reach another alleyway. Walljump your way up to the roofs and continue along the rooftops until you reach an L-shaped area with a large alcove blocked by boxes. Break the boxes to find a treasure chest containing a Life Elixir, which can restore a moderate amount of health.
DarkNest Shrines
When you approach the far end of the area, Yakumo will notice the DarkNest shrine, and Umi will speak through it. You’ll learn about how to use the DarkNest to buy items, speak to Umi, and—crucially—accept missions. You should have four missions to select from the get-go. Accept them all so you can start making progress. Try to resist the temptation to buy items. Your NinjaCoin will be put to better use soon.
Note: If you have the Deluxe Edition of Ninja Gaiden 4, you can acquire all the Deluxe Edition items from the DarkNest terminal by selecting “Receive Content.”
When you’re done with the DarkNest shrine, Flying Bird Flip your way up the nearby shaft to reach a higher platform where you’ll see a large pyramid guarded by three soldiers. Prepare yourself for a fight.
After you clear out the first three soldiers, another wave will drop in. These soldiers go down in just a few hits, even on Hard difficulty, but they are numerous. You’ll need to use what you’ve learned so far to dodge and chase down enemies efficiently.
The soldiers with guns add a new element to this fight: deflecting bullets. You’ll deflect bullets from any direction as long as you’re blocking or dashing, but if they catch you while you’re doing a combo, they can take a big chunk of your health. Prioritize these soldiers by going after them as soon as you see their red laser sight beam.
When the soldiers are defeated, make your way into the pyramid to destroy the first pylon. The defense network will report a system error, and you can proceed.
Take the stairs on the right, and you’ll find a treasure chest containing a Divine Life Elixir. Then, open the nearby door to continue down a hallway where three more soldiers will ambush you.
Meet Tyran
At the end of that hallway, you’ll open another door to be greeted by one of Tyran’s faithful ravens. Tyran himself then shows up to give you some training. At this point, you can spend your hard-earned NinjaCoin on new combat skills, expanding Yakumo’s repertoire of deadly maneuvers.
You should select combat skills that work with the way you play. Ninja Gaiden is nothing if not a series that celebrates skill expression, but here are a few recommendations:
Flying Swallow and Izuna Drop are both iconic moves for the franchise, as well as being deadly and stylish maneuvers. These should be your first pick. Art of Defense and Fatal Flash are great for defensive players who want to turn a well-timed defense into a devastating offense. Flying Swallow Barrage and Landing Ultimate Technique form a great offensive combo because you can end a barrage and go straight into charging up an Ultimate attack. You might need to save up some more coin to get both, but it’s worth grabbing one now.
Note: Keen-eyed players will notice a new technique mentioned in the Fatal Flash description: Parry. To execute a parry, you must use a heavy attack at the same moment that an enemy’s strike is about to land. If you have the Fatal Flash move, you can then follow that up with another heavy attack.
After you select a few new combat skills, try them out in the Training Room. When you’re ready, open the two treasure chests next to Tyran to find two Life Elixirs and then continue up the nearby steps to take the lift up.
Find the Second Pylon
When you enter the next hallway, you’ll suddenly be surrounded by eerie purple flames. Seori will explain that a daemon has found you and you’re headed into its territory.
Walk through the brief hallway and break the boxes to find a treasure chest containing an Incense of Rebirth.
Side Mission: Execute the DDO Distribution Officers
When you come out on the other side, you’ll see a destroyed road intersection, and Seori will explain more about the daemon. The way forward is to your left, but you should instead turn right and go down the hall. After a bit of wallrunning, you’ll find the officers you need to dispatch for one of your DarkNest quests.
These officers are tougher than your average soldier. They hit much harder and have more health. Now’s a good time to use Senjin War Brew to even the odds. Try to break them up immediately so you can take them down one by one with your increased damage.
With the officers defeated, you’ll complete one of your side missions in this chapter. You can turn it in the next time you reach a DarkNest terminal. For now, head back the way you came and continue down the long hallway flanked by a TV screen.
You’ll be ambushed by a few more groups of soldiers before you reach the end. You’ll also find a treasure chest containing a Life Elixir by the graffiti-covered wall before the tunnel.
When you reach the end of the hallways, you’ll find one more treasure chest guarded by a single, all-too-squishy soldier. Open it up to get an Incense of Rebirth, and then open the door to proceed.
Next, you’ll be let out into an open area where several soldiers are waiting patiently for your arrival. You’ll take on three waves of fighters in this room. For every wave, take out the missile launcher and gunner first so you can focus on bringing down the melee fighters.
The last wave includes a staff wielder who’s a little trickier than the others. They’re adept at blocking any attacks that come from the front, so your best bet is to get behind them with Perfect Dodge and Flying Swallow Barrage.
When those soldiers are defeated, you’ll be prompted to spend Weapon EXP to get even more new moves. You have several options, and again, choose attacks that work best for your unique playstyle. If you want a recommendation, go with Spiral Shadow; it’s a great way to break apart groups of enemies when you need a bit of breathing room.
Flying Bird Flip your way up to the next set of rooftops and cross the series of pipes to reach another DarkNest shrine. Umi will send you the Caddis Wire, a grappling hook that gives you yet another way to parkour around Tokyo.
While you’re here, you should also be able to turn in two missions:
Execute the DDO distribution officers: 2,500 NinjaCoin Defeat 25 DDO soldiers: 2,000 NinjaCoin + Crimson Blood Pellets x1
After you turn those two in, accept the new one to defeat 50 enemies with the Takeminakata.
Before you go too far, check out the blue containers on the opposite side of the area from the DarkNest shrine. Jump up to the top of them to find a treasure chest that contains a Divine Life Elixir.
Before you put the Caddis Wire through its paces, use the yellow ladder on your right to head down into the area you’ll be crossing. You’ll find two more soldiers you can take down. They aren’t guarding anything, but they are two more kills to count toward your new DarkNest mission. Then, climb back up and use the Caddis Wire to swing across.
Purgatory Gate
Before you swing again, turn left and head around the trucks to find a path wrapping around the side of the building. At the end of the path, you’ll find a shaft you can walljump up to reach the roof.
On the roof is a Purgatory Gate, which you can use to take on some extra difficult combat encounters that are worth a lot of NinjaCoin and Weapon EXP. You can choose to reduce your maximum health by a percentage during the encounter; the more you wager, the more you’ll win. Enter at your own risk.
Gourdy
When you’re done with the Purgatory Gate, head back down and swing across the next gap. Turn left to find a Gourdy at the end of the path. Interact with it and press the correct series of buttons to capture it. That’ll satisfy another one of your side quests, and you’ll have caught the first of many of these little critters.
Next, swing your way across the next gap and then turn right to pick up a treasure chest containing a Life Elixir.
Turn around and continue along the path to catch a soldier unaware. Sneak up behind him for an assassination. Then swing across the gap ahead, immediately assassinate the soldier there, then jump and use a Flying Swallow attack to take out the drone.
Rather than continuing toward your destination, head the opposite direction on the walkway to find a hidden path that leads to a treasure chest containing your first accessory: a Cobalt Ring that increases your defense. You’ll have to put it to good use against three soldiers before you can head toward your destination.
The next area is a sandbox where you get the drop on the soldiers and can decide how you want to take them out: stealth or all-out combat. It isn’t a particularly large group—only five soldiers in total—so all-out combat is faster and simpler in this instance. Assassinate the first one or two, and then let them come at you.
Side Mission: Find the data chip in Sky City Tokyo
Before you leave this area, open the treasure chest near where the drone was to collect Crimson Blood Pellets. Then, head to the nearby alcove, where you’ll find the data chip you need for one of your DarkNest missions and three treasure chests with Life Elixirs.
Turn left just before you take the ladder leading up to the next area to find a treasure chest against the far wall. Collect the Divine Life Elixir and then head up the ladder, where you’ll find two more chests containing a Life Elixir and an Incense of Rebirth.
You’ll get the drop on a whole room this time, but now isn’t the time for assassinations. You’ll learn about the Berserk ability in this fight, a mode you can engage to crank up your damage and perform Bloodbath kills. You can fill the Berserk Gauge by getting hit, hitting enemies, or performing Obliterations.
When you engage Berserk, you can perform certain Bloodraven skills that trigger a Bloodbath kill, which means instant death for most enemies. Bloodraven skills that trigger Bloodbath kills say so in their description.
After you’ve learned all about Berserkering, you’ll leave the area to find another of Tyran’s ravens and a DarkNest shrine. You should have two missions to turn in:
Capture 1 Gourdy: 2,000 NinjaCoin Find the data chip in Sky City Tokyo: Phantasmal Herb
Note: Phantasmal Herbs are combined with another collectible, Black Scales, to raise your maximum health.
Before you go, look high up to your right, where you’ll notice a treasure chest atop some shipping containers. Open it to collect a Life Elixir and then continue up the stairs on the opposite side of the area to find another treasure chest containing a Divine Life Elixir.
At the top of the stairs, you’ll be ambushed by three soldiers. After defeating them, turn left to find another treasure chest at the end of a narrow path. It contains an Incense of Rebirth, but you’ll have to defend yourself against two more soldiers who come running down the path.
Continue toward your destination to take a lift further up (how tall are these buildings?). After assassinating a few soldiers and a bit of wallrunning, you’ll find yourself on yet another lift that takes you to a platform with another DarkNest shrine and a raven. This is your last chance to do any upgrades or buy items before you take on a boss fight that will close out this chapter.
Defeat the DDO Commander
The second pylon you find during the Bloodsoaked Tokyo chapter is guarded by a DDO Commander, the first real boss fight of the game. He’s essentially just a suped-up DDO soldier, with similar attacks and combos but also two huge health bars.
As with most of the battles you’ve encountered up to this point, positioning and timing are the keys to victory. Perfectly timed dodges can get you around behind the commander to line up long combos, and your Bloodraven attacks will interrupt him when he uses power attacks. He’s especially open on his right side, where many of his attacks don’t reach. Dodge that direction to duck under most attacks.
On Hard difficulty, the DDO Commander deals incredible damage; just a few hits can drop Yakumo. Kongou Iron Brew and Senjin War Brew can help you even the odds, but they’re short-lived effects, so use them wisely.
Note: For more tips on this fight, check out our dedicated boss guide to
the DDO Commander.
When the DDO Commander is defeated, head into the pyramid to destroy the second pylon. That brings this mission to a close, taking you to Chapter 02: Haunted District.
Here are all the checkmarks from this walkthrough. If you missed something, you might want to replay this mission:
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