I finished this game recently on Hard difficulty.

As a mega fan of Ninja Gaiden Black and a really not so much fan of the subsequent games (they felt like failed attempts to recapture the magic of that first Xbox outing) … I actually reasonably enjoyed this latest entry.

The game focuses on a new ninja named Yakumo … whose design is rather blandly generic … perhaps designed to be more like an slightly angry mission focused teenager. I don’t much mind this, but Ryu Hayabusa’s design definitely feels more purposeful. Could be just nostalgia. Anyway, some will mind this … I don’t, I care more about the game overall. And they do bring Ryu back, so you get in some missions with him as well as subsequent trials and new game plus runs.

The combat itself didn’t feel quite like Ninja Gaiden Black … in particular, the dash/roll and jump movement is extremely clunky and not quite as bufferable or smooth as the original game. But maybe I’m just carrying over too much baggage and that’s how it’s supposed to be?

The combat also has some odd mechanics where you can perfect guard or clash and counter attack … but I rarely actually did this on purpose, and the reactability window is so small that I couldn’t counter unless I was already fishing for the perfect guard to begin with.

Enemies also go into an armored power up mode which you can punish them out of. But the punish consists of using mode shifting into “bloodraven” form, which costs an energy meter. Crucially, doing the move is quite slow, and you can’t cancel into bloodraven form as far as I can tell, so “reacting” to these power moves is again sort of impossible unless you wait for them deliberately. It’s probably OK if one is willing to spend more time with the game, but it feels unintuitive to be told you can punish moves and then have them mostly not be punishable.

There are some traversal sections to the game that end up being QTE challenges for you to swing between points, jump into wind tunnels, dodge trains on rails, etc. These sections feel like filler, really make no sense and don’t feel grounded in the overall world, and are overall just a waste of time. To the extent you lose these, it’s often because the camera doesn’t even bother to point you near the next direction, so you just lose track of what the hell the game is asking you to do.

Speaking of which, the art style is quite sub par. The levels consist of basically three biomes … forest temples, neo-futuristic corridors and buildings, or underground sewers. This goes on for 19 levels. The level design has no real character either … it’s just area after area of enemies, boxes, and crates. So some of the levels really drag on, and the world feels completely ungrounded. This is a action game at its core, so not the end of the world, but it certainly doesn’t have the magic or character of previous entries, and overall is a real weakness.

The UI and aesthetic has a digital feel to it, as if the game is trying to tell you you’re in cyberspace. Your checkpoints are often with a monitor that pops up in various locations where you talk to the disembodied voice of a friend of yours. All of this digital focus feels oddly inconsistent with a ninja game.

And with regards to checkpoints … they don’t really work well at all. You can reach what looks like a checkpoint with training, health restoration and item purchase … these are regularly scattered through the game. But you don’t actually save there! So you’ll buy a bunch of stuff, take missions, organize things, die in the next fight, and realize you have to do all of that again. Makes no sense at all. What does seem to help is going into the training room with Tyran and exiting it immediately. Dumb way to force a checkpoint, but at least it works.

Overall, I did enjoy the game. It’s not bad, but not really a must play either. I think clicking with the combat mechanics would take a lot more time than I have, and I suspect engaging with them more is a “me” issue needing both time and the ability to let go of previous Ninja Gaiden games. I found myself enjoying some of the boss fights more in retrospect, but at the time they often felt kind of spammy and high damage. There’s also replayability in the form of Boss Trials, new game plus, challenges, and Ryu as a playable character that can extend the length of the gameplay for those interested.

While the game never rises to the heights of Ninja Gaiden Black, there is substance to the game. Worth a look.