Hello! This is Abe, stage director and environment section leader for NINJA GAIDEN 4!

First, to quickly explain what exactly a stage director is, it’s the person responsible for directing the primary experience in each stage! To put it in game industry terms, it’s the director of the level design. To accomplish the project’s themes (“overcoming impossible adversity,” “excitement and cruelty,” and “creating maximum possible change”), I was responsible for considering aspects of the game experience like these:

“I want the overall experience to be like this, so let’s arrange the stages in this order.”
“I want players to learn action in this order, so let’s put this sort of enemy on this stage.”
“I want to have this kind of story, so this event should occur.”
“I want there to be some variation in the tempo, so I intentionally want this part to be slow, then immediately after have something exhilarating.”
I guess it’s like a chef who thinks about the different dishes in a course. The way I have to think is something like, “In order to bring out this flavor, the food should be served in this order!” Not that I know that much about cuisine, so sorry to all the cooks out there if I’m totally off.

So, as for the environment section’s job? That’s the creation of backgrounds and surrounding areas that make up the majority of the visuals! If you were to open NINJA GAIDEN 4 right now, you’d see that about 80% of the screen is “environment.” Defining the world, time, playable zones, dead ends… Showing players the game’s setting while signaling where they should go to create stages that are simultaneously immersive and easy to play is the job of the environment section. I guess it’s like a baker who makes a shortcake. The way I have to think is something like, “In order to make this strawberry (player character) look its best, the underlying cake needs suitable care!” Not that I know much about baking, so sorry to all the bakers out there if I’m totally off.

Okay, enough about me. Let’s talk about some of the appealing parts of NINJA GAIDEN 4!

▼Number 1: Endless Adversity!

Overcoming impossible adversity is a concept we set to further evolve the greatness inherent to the NINJA GAIDEN series. NINJA GAIDEN could be called the purest of action games, and I believe the best part of this series is the extreme tension of deadly fights, and the adrenaline you feel when you’re released from that tension.

In this game, we greatly boosted the number of enemies and the threat they pose to make it the toughest it’s been… or in other words, make it pose the greatest adversity! We hope you enjoy the sense of adversity of being surrounded by enemies equal in strength to the player, and the intense boss battles. Of course, we haven’t made the game unreasonable. Players have new tools at their disposal to help with this adversity… the “Bloodraven Form” and “Raven Gear” can turn the tables in your favor!

“Adversity” was the most important keyword in the stage design, and the oppressively tall surroundings and seemingly bottomless abysses both contribute to this adversity. I hope that every time players see a new stage, they’ll first shudder at the sights before them.

▼Number 2: Excitement and Cruelty!

This may go without saying… But chop off those arms and legs! Make heads roll! Slice the enemy in half! We put a lot of care into the gore, which contributes to the thrill of the battle. Blood splatter and dismemberment also make each attack feel exciting and satisfying. Yes, this is a MATURE rated title!

We designed the game so that enemies often come at you from all directions so that you can feel as many of these exciting moments as possible. And to keep things fresh, you can obliterate and decimate different enemies in numerous ways! 

▼Number 3: Maximum Possible Change!

In this game, we emphasized “change” in every sense of the word to make the experience as exciting as possible. We asked ourselves what the fundamental joy of action games is, and after a lot of thought, we came up with the word “change.”

The change in an enemy dying
The change in reversing a situation
The change in transitioning from a tough battle to a breakneck stage
The change in bloodying a clean enemy
The change in moving from a dark place to a bright place
The change in the screen turning bright red from bloodshed
The change in a new protagonist

Enacting intense change with one’s own hands is the greatest pleasure for action gamers…. This is what I mean. It is a simple and contrasting experience that isn’t found so much in other games.

I could go on, but in the end, I believe that these three things are what make NINJA GAIDEN 4 so appealing. It was my job to design the “what” and the “order” of the player experience to make each element shine as much as possible. The NINJA GAIDEN series is made up of high-grade action games, so there are inevitably many different action elements, and there are many new elements and scenarios that we want the player to experience in this game. It was a huge challenge to make these numerous elements both stress-free and memorable, while at the same time providing a speedy and impactful stage experience.

There were so many things to consider that it was hard to get them all in balance. But every individual part is important! We spent day and night in trial and error selecting the most interesting paths out of the infinite options available to us. The key to this is critical thought, passion and time. As a result, I think we found the ideal level design that lives up to the NINJA GAIDEN name.

The introduction is one of my favorites. I think we got across the concept of this game in the most straightforward and powerful way possible by organically combining all the visual, sound, and gameplay elements. Pick up the game and see the result for yourself!

To me, these past few years of trial and error on the front lines of action gaming have been a real treasure.

That’s all, so see you again sometime!

Yudai Abe Joined PlatinumGames in 2020 and worked on the stage design of “BAYONETTA 3” as an environment artist. On “NINJA GAIDEN 4,” he served as stage director and lead environment artist, overseeing level design for all stages and supervising the design of the setting and visual quality. He strives daily to create immersive and vivid gaming experiences for players through rich and expressive creativity.