Hello, everyone!
This is Nakao, producer/director of NINJA GAIDEN 4.

NINJA GAIDEN 4 is finally out today! We hope you all enjoy it.

Since today is the release date, I’d like to share some more of my thoughts.

We touched on the action a bit last time but this time I’d like to hone in on some details we paid extra attention to for Yakumo and Ryu individually.

Yakumo

Yakumo is a ninja born into the Raven Clan and has a tragic destiny. If the Dragon Lineage represents light, then the Raven Clan represents shadow, having never appeared in history before.

To portray him as the opposite of Ryu Hayabusa, we designed various elements to contrast with each other.
Accomplished ninja <-> Young ninja
Famous in history <-> Obscure in history
And from there…
Powerful <-> Lean
And then, with the action elements too, we wanted to create a sort of yin and yang contrast.
(Contrasting elements are also scattered throughout the stages and story, so please look forward to them.)

Additionally, we interpreted the action of the series up until now as being characteristically “subtle,” so Yakumo was given the theme of “bold” as production proceeded.

His Bloodraven Form is the very embodiment of “bold,” delivering a wide range of high-powered techniques never seen before in previous NINJA GAIDEN titles, offering a fresh and exhilarating PlatinumGames-style NINJA GAIDEN experience. That said, achieving the current level of playability and optimizing the game balance was no easy feat…

The NINJA GAIDEN series has always been a 3D action series that prides itself on its “subtle” and precise feel. While the “flashy” elements characteristic of PlatinumGames are nice and all, overdoing them would disrupt the series’ unique strategic balance of almost one-on-one style offense and defense. Ultimately, we prioritized maintaining the standard combat mechanics of previous NINJA GAIDEN games while introducing flashy forms that can be used like “bombs,” integrating them naturally into the NINJA GAIDEN combat experience.

Also, to prevent each element from becoming too siloed from one another, we designed it so that the Obliteration Technique, a familiar mechanic in the series, fills the Bloodbind Gauge that allows you to use the Bloodraven Form. Once the Bloodbind Gauge is full enough, you can use the Bloodraven Form to annihilate enemies, then you can absorb Blood Essence with Ultimate Guidance… and so on, creating a cycle that transitions seamlessly between “subtle” and “bold.”

While preserving the strength of this series that features Ryu Hayabusa as the absolute protagonist, we added new elements while remaining constantly aware of the connection between all these mechanics, so I’m really glad we were able to refine it into what it has become.

However, we’ve also made the enemies stronger to stand against the Bloodraven Form, so please give it a try!

Ryu Hayabusa

Ryu was a character we spent a ton of time and effort on. The reason being… as a huge fan myself, Ryu already felt complete to me. Renewing him from scratch would be disrespectful… Or more accurately, as a fan myself, I wanted to preserve the Ryu experience as much as possible, so aside from a few techniques, I aimed to keep the core of Ryu intact.
*While keeping the moves the same, we made efforts to improve their usability.

On the other hand, I also felt that keeping Ryu unchanged against Yakumo’s Bloodraven Form wouldn’t be interesting enough… If we were going to do this, I wanted to utilize “Ryu at his strongest” in this futuristic Tokyo. I wanted to play as him… I mean, I wanted fans to play as him… So, how could we make such a powerful Ryu…? Just as I began pondering this, the first thing that came to mind was “True Dragon’s Gleam.”

*The image is a screenshot from NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black.

True Dragon’s Gleam is powerful and incredibly cool, but in NINJA GAIDEN 2, it’s a spinning Ultimate Technique, so it’s a bit difficult to use in actual combat. Plus, it only appears later in the game, so I really wanted to use it more! I remember thinking way back then that if the afterimage charge attack were more freely controllable, it would be so much fun… (Sorry if you don’t know what I’m talking about lol)
With such thoughts in mind, I decided to proceed by reinterpreting True Dragon’s Gleam in PlatinumGames’ style.

Regarding this aspect, we consulted with Team NINJA from the very beginning of development and worked diligently to create the best Ryu possible. Team NINJA also put a lot of effort into refining both his abilities and visuals, and this collaboration was extremely effective.

As a result, we were able to create a Ryu Hayabusa that not only retains his familiar feel but also masterfully wields the ultra-powerful True Dragon’s Gleam, truly embodying the essence of the “Super Ninja.” We’ve also put a lot of effort into the visual details, such as the afterimages that appear during each attack, so we hope you’ll take the time to experience it for yourself.

For his more basic attacks as well, we’ve added minor changes to enhance playability and keep the action flowing, such as new techniques and added combo extensions to aerial attacks, so please give those a look as well.

So, just to reiterate, NINJA GAIDEN 4 is available today on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Steam. And for those with a Game Pass subscription, you can play right now! We hope you’ll give a play to this passionate collaboration between Xbox Game Studios, Koei Tecmo Games and Team NINJA, and PlatinumGames!

That’s all for now!

Yuji Nakao After working on several character copyrighted games as a director at his previous company, he joined PlatinumGames and worked as producer on “The Wonderful 101: Remastered,” PlatinumGames’ first in-house published title, and co-producer of “SOL CRESTA.” He oversaw the entire production of “BAYONETTA 3” as producer, and for his latest title, “NINJA GAIDEN 4,” he was appointed as both producer and director. In addition to managing projects and serving as an internal leader, he also makes efforts to nurture the next generation of developers.