While we were at the Xbox event for Pax West 2025. We not only got our hands on Hollow Knight: Silksong with the ROG Xbox Ally X, but we also got to play some Ninja Gaiden 4. Keith and I were both able to play portions of the first chapter of the game. I played the first chapter as Ryu Hayabusa the protagonist of the main series. Keith tried his hand at the new playable character Yakumo, on hard, while everyone else took a stab on the normal mode, and, if you were worried about a challenge, don’t be.
Combat Is King
Gameplay in Ninja Gaiden 4 is focused heavily on the combat. Not only is the combat revamped and polished thanks to the efforts of PlatinumGames, but traversal also plays a heavy role in combat. As you are diving headfirst in the gauntlet of enemies with all sorts of weapons, you will see orange arrows on the wall. These arrows can be grappled to and then allows you to reframe your position before heading back into the thick of it.
You have a light attack that can be the start to a combo or combo light attacks to get rid of the squishy enemies. There are heavy attacks that are slightly slower but if you get under an enemy’s guard, you can instantly tear them apart, and that is tear them apart literally. As you combo together heavy attacks you can slice off limbs and spines from your foes.
You can shift different modes of combat with the directional buttons on the D-pad. For Ryu I only had access to Gleam and another mode. Gleam mode once activated would have Ryu disappear and reappear behind an enemy you locked on. This also can be a combo you can string together with light and heavy attacks. The combos are the important part of the game. Once you have a big enough combo you can fill your true dragon meter. If you press both analog sticks down, you activate true dragon. If you press both analog sticks down again while in position of multiple enemies being a close enough away from you, you can combo all of them into oblivion as you slice and dice them to shreds.
The combos and the pace of the game feels amazing. You control such speed on the battlefield. You may have a dozen enemies on you at once but as long as you are shifting your focus on the biggest threats and the immediate attacks, you can have a good combo going. Fighting a large group of enemies feels like bliss. I was ecstatic being able to ping pong between enemies to combo up one to two of them at a time. There are arrows and small white indicators over the HUD that are barely visible that help you see the location of your enemies, so you know where you need to ping pong next even if they aren’t on your screen. The white indicators start flashing as an enemy tries to attack you and you can parry or dodge accordingly.
Parrying a hit will mitigate all damage and give you a small opening to dish out some hits before they get their bearings once again to try and attack you. Be careful around multiple enemies though, you can parry a hit that can give you a small opening but if you are too tunnel focused on a specific enemy then you might get back attacked right after you parry an attack from the front. It is all about figuring out the timing and when you should parry, or dodge or go for the killing blows.
Keith here again: As Scott mentioned, I went with Yakumo, the more agile and combo-driven of the two protagonists. Even before I touched the controller, I could already see PlatinumGames’ signature style shining through. If you enjoyed NieR: Automata, you’re going to love how Yakumo moves; fluidly weaving in and out of combat, chaining dial-in combos, and dodging mid-attack to slip behind or above enemies before cutting them down in what feels like an elegant dance of death.
There are even shades of Vanquish in his moveset, thanks to a slick running slide that flows straight into heavy combos or his devastating blood-based abilities. The combat is fast, stylish, and endlessly satisfying;the kind of gameplay that keeps you grinning as you mash those attack buttons.
Fighting The Boss
There is a boss at the end of the chapter we were able to fight. This is where you really need to figure out your consumable items. There are tonics and even a respawn soup that you can activate if you are going to die from a hit. If you tap the r1 button, you will use the item immediately next to your health bar. If you hold it, you can bring up a radial menu that allows you to select with the analog stick which one you want to use. The radial menu will even give you a look at how much health the item will restore.
The boss has a small moment you can parry but it might be better to dodge depending on the attack. There are attacks that have a large range and some that are just in front of them. It is up to you to find out the enemy patterns. It took me two deaths before I had it down pat. When the boss winds up their weapon, they will send a shockwave directly in front of them but it is only directly in front of them. If you got behind them with the Gleam mode attack, then you dodged it completely. Bosses are about the mastery of the system PlatinumGames has created with the help of Team Ninja.
I personally felt so much satisfaction after charging up a large attack and depleting a full health bar from the boss. It was even more fulfilling when the enemy was dead and down for the count. This particular one had two health bars but you could see the status of their health on the gray block under the health bar. There was two gray blocks that then became red when a health bar was depleted. Both blocks were red once the boss was dead.
Overall Thoughts
Ninja Gaiden 4 to me was the best feeling PlatinumGames game to date. It was so much fun getting access to the different modes and combat situations you could be in. There was so much freedom in combat that let you jump from wall to wall and then strike from above or go down to the ground and ping pong killing enemies like a demon from the underworld. This game was truly a collaborative effort straight from the heavens. I hope to see Team Ninja and PlatinumGames evolve their systems even further!
Ninja Gaiden 4 will be released on October 21, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam.
