This is Nishii, Art Director for NINJA GAIDEN 4. This time let’s take a look at some enemies, along with rough sketches and designs.

In an action game, enemies can be just as important as the protagonist, and are sometimes even more so. As such, their designs should be visually organized to some degree. In a fast-paced game like this one with a high enemy count, if players can’t instantly recognize enemies and react accordingly, it can lead to a frustrating gameplay experience, so there’s no room for shortcuts. The three enemy factions we revealed weren’t distinct from one another in the early stages of development, but as the action of the game was finalized and we started moving into the production phase, we decided to have some consistency within enemy types.

I’m talking about visual design, so the result is pretty much what you see, but I have some images I’d like to show for the first time.

Much like in the previous art articles, these are internal development materials edited for public viewing. Please keep in mind that various elements may differ from the final product.

Without further ado…!

The Divine Dragon Order is the first enemy faction you face when starting the game, and they also make their first appearance in this title. The basic D.D.O. soldier enemy existed before we classified and organized enemy designs, so it was used as a base for designing the others.

Contrasting with the protagonist using a key color scheme of white and light blue made the blood stand out more vividly. This allowed us to create more gruesome imagery and depict even more brutal violence. Sometimes, a solution to one issue ends up complementing other areas, which is very satisfying.

Regarding the equipment and design: since they’re a faction of humans, we gave them standardized gear as a base and added variation through their weapons and armor. Their white armor and metallic areas use the same material to indicate they belong to the same organization, and their designs heavily feature triangular and linear patterns. It’s a very human thing to employ standardized equipment and uniforms, and maybe that sense of uniformity itself is a defining characteristic. They also have some giants among their ranks, but they’re not straight-up monsters.

Personally, I think this faction provides fun combat with humanoid opponents. Sometimes the basics are all you need, right?

Daemons are another new faction introduced in this title. This faction includes enemies with a deceptively spiritual or charming appearance that belies their ruthless, sneaky attacks. They often have very specific patterns within the game, so they might be confusing in your first encounter with them.

They essentially serve as enemies meant to mix things up. They’re introduced once players have gotten used to the basic actions, so we designed them to have a distinctly different vibe and movement from the D.D.O., hopefully making you wonder, “wtf is this thing?”

This series was never about fighting only sci-fi mechs (in fact, slashing monster-like creatures feels more natural), and we’ve set the stage in Japan/Tokyo, so we chose a “yōkai” motif because:
they blend biological and inorganic elements seamlessly, making it easy to add variety
they have a reasonably established foundation (name recognition)
they go well with Japanese aesthetics

They’re separate from the Fiends due to their nature and the world setting, but that’s a story for another time… You should hopefully find all that out through gameplay, so I won’t give too much away!

While Fiends are a familiar force in the series, we needed a decent number of new designs. We had roles for enemies we needed to fill, and forcing existing enemies into those roles might have felt jarring, especially to longtime fans… However, we didn’t want to lose the defining aggressiveness of the Fiends’ designs, so we decided early on to give them less charm or spirituality than the Daemons.

On bringing enemies over from the previous games: like many players, I didn’t know about NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black until it was announced (understandably, as it was classified information), so I was stumped: how do you upgrade 10-year-old designs!? Memory bias plays a role too. To avoid having their characteristics overlap with other factions, we ultimately decided to use scales, horns, claws, and other elements to reinforce the Fiends’ identity as one of biological ferocity. I think this approach helped them to stand apart from the others.

In any game, a “boss” should be a special entity. They’re a key element in building hype for the story, and from a creator’s perspective, they’re also enemies we enjoy putting extra effort into. While staying true to the design guidelines for each faction mentioned earlier, we aimed to create formidable foes with memorable traits, making them more difficult to design. Ultimately, however, I think we ended up with quite a unique set of designs.

Let’s talk about the Kitsune Courtesan boss. This boss is a beautiful, graceful Daemon with a rhythm that differs from the standard movements of the D.D.O. soldiers that you’ll have fought up to that point.

Kitsune Courtesan is an enemy who was designed from an early stage in development to be a boss with a unique design. As an early game boss, Kitsune Courtesan serves as a prelude to the following boss battles in NINJA GAIDEN 4. Early in development, the team was still figuring out the best way to create enemies. While we didn’t start completely from scratch, the approach subtly changes depending on the team. In game development, reusing/adapting assets isn’t as versatile as people think… Most of the time, it just doesn’t work…

Compared to regular enemies, boss designs have more varied actions and enter a second phase after losing half their health, so we consciously aimed to add extra visual elements and gimmicks. We envisioned every boss as a “Ninja vs. [SOMETHING]” scenario, so I hope each one’s motif comes across effectively.

Another boss design: Kagachi, general of the D.D.O. He is a one-armed warrior who carries a massive tachi sword on his back. There are very few characters in this game with a clearly visible face, so he’s a rare straightforward human design.

The team agreed that the pinnacle of humanoid enemies within the organized D.D.O. should be samurai, and that the ninja vs. samurai dynamic would be compelling. We contrasted him with Yakumo in different ways than Ryu, incorporating themes such as ninja vs. samurai, black/red vs. white/blue, youth vs. experience, and good vs. evil.

Because he comes off as a bit standard, we pondered what kind of twist to add, but you’ll be able to face him as a boss soon and see what we decided on for yourself!

Extra bonus: a mysterious creature found in various spots. You could say it’s kinda cute… maybe?? Players can capture them in-game, and there are some people in the world who collect them. I love Yakumo’s lines when he captures one, so I hope players will seek them out and hear them!

It’s almost time to cross swords with the creatures we introduced today, which has got me so excited! I’m looking forward to seeing all you master ninjas out there dishing out some punishment… or ending up on the receiving end. By the way, even after years of development and playtesting, the lantern Daemons still give me a hard time.

Hope you’re looking forward to NINJA GAIDEN 4!

Just like last time, I made this illustration especially for this blog. The awesome UI assets really helped me create a great layout—I’m so happy with how it turned out!

Tomoko Nishii After joining PlatinumGames in 2011 and working on “The Wonderful 101” as an environment artist, she worked on various titles as a concept artist. She contributed work and provided original illustrations for the picture book section in “NieR: Automata,” and was in charge of the character design and overall visuals as art director for “Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon.” In her latest work, “NINJA GAIDEN 4,” she supervised the overall visuals of the game as art director and personally handled a number of the character designs.