Hello, all! This is my first blog post. The game is finally out! Thank you so much for playing!!!! I hope you‘re all enjoying it.
This is Ishikawa, Lead Game Designer for NINJA GAIDEN 4. In this role, I worked alongside Director Nakao to oversee the gameplay throughout the entire game. I was also responsible for designing all the enemies, some of the stages, and the deep gameplay elements (Master Ninja, Purgatory, Trials, etc.). There are many topics I’d like to discuss, but this time I’ll talk a bit about the enemies.

Firstly, when creating the enemies for NINJA GAIDEN 4, our core principle was: “Make enemies for the NINJA GAIDEN series, not just any other action game.” I believe that enemies in the NINJA GAIDEN series lack mercy or compassion to a satisfying degree. To properly carry this signature NINJA GAIDEN feel over to the enemies in this game, we made sure they didn’t spend much time standing around. Attacks from off-screen are as relentless and unforgiving as ever, whether on the ground or in the air. After all, it’s a fight to death with the player, so of course enemies would go for the kill, even if they’re not visible on-screen.

This installment significantly enhances the player’s mobility compared to previous games, and enemy mobility has also been enhanced to account for this. When you first see the D.D.O. soldiers lunging at you, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking, “Whoa, wait, already!?” Simply increasing the speed of enemy attacks without allowing the player enough time to react would make the game unplayable, so we standardized the fastest frame rates for both normal and Power Attacks. Even after getting used to them, the fast attacks will still feel fast, but players will gradually learn to react naturally.

It is these things that have allowed the game’s distinctly vicious enemies to return once again.

This time, let’s take a look at the enemies you encounter in the early stages of the game.

First up are the folks from Divine Dragon Order.
The D.D.O. Soldiers let you experience the series’ signature multi-target combat intensity and the new speed of this installment right from the start. (I’m sure you experienced this firsthand in Chapter 01.)
They also serve to teach you the new systems introduced in this installment. They can be defeated relatively easily just by experimenting with different controls, while the D.D.O. Officers, with their frequent blocking and Power Attacks, become much easier to handle if you properly stagger them using the Bloodraven Form. Basically, the D.D.O. as a whole are designed to act as a kind of tutorial for the game.

Next up are the first two types of daemons you’ll encounter.
Throughout the game, daemons are designed to be cunning creatures with deceptive actions and attacks that seem to mock the player. However, many of these enemies become easier to fight by utilizing new actions introduced in this game, such as the Bloodraven Form and Raven Gear.

The first two to greet you inside Tokyo’s pleasure quarter are the Oni and the Burabura.

The Oni is a common enemy with a unique rhythm of combo attacks and a blue-glowing counter guard. Attacking it with Base Form during its counter guard will result in a swift and painful counterattack, making it crucial to deal with it using the Bloodraven Form.

Then there’s the Burabura (lantern daemons).
In action games, especially the NINJA GAIDEN series, I believe even the lower-class enemies must feel threatening with some high-stress foes that make you think, “I really hate having to fight this thing…” The Burabura, the first daemon created during development, embodies these two roles of conveying the aforementioned elements and emphasizing the troublesome nature of these tricky daemonic beings.

Burabura are also emblematic of the deadliness that enemies have in the NINJA GAIDEN series, exploding on the spot when killed, or charging and exploding when attacked… They don’t go down easily.
While it’s safest to defeat it using the Bloodraven Form’s Charge Attack or ranged attacks, once you get used to it, quickly retreating when you see it about to self-destruct after attacking with Base Form becomes fairly easy.
When a Burabura is defeated, the floating souls around it will vanish, so if you leave it with a soul remaining within, it will charge at you with its self-destruct attack. If this suicide charge activates, there are two safe countermeasures. The first is to hit it with a shuriken or the Bloodraven Form’s ranged attack. The second is to use the Caddis Wire or the Bloodraven Form jump to evacuate to higher ground. You can use these countermeasures to deliberately trigger their suicide attacks with wide-ranged attacks, putting them all in a self-destruct state and eliminating them all at once.

There are still plenty more of these quirky types of daemons in there, so please look forward to facing them in the game.

I’ve gone on at length, but I’d like to conclude by discussing a couple bosses.
Director Nakao and I debated daily when creating enemies, but we poured even more effort into creating bosses for this installment. Our focus was on designing boss battles that allow players to experience their growth through combat. You’ll likely get crushed the first time you fight them because you won’t understand what’s happening. However, we designed them with the intention that, as you keep fighting, you’ll naturally learn things like, “A powerful attack is coming next!” or, “This attack is dangerous; I need to counter it immediately with a stagger!”
The more you play, the more you’ll naturally engage in high-speed back-and-forth, snatching your turn back the moment the enemy’s turn begins. Before you know it, you’ll be able to take an aggressive and offensive stance even against bosses, executing stylish ninja actions befitting a master ninja!

The early bosses, “D.D.O. Commander” and “Kitsune Courtesan,” are made for players to learn this style of combat. The D.D.O. Commander will teach you the fundamentals of attacking and defending against bosses, while also emphasizing the importance of staggering, while the Kitsune Courtesan will add those daemonic elements mentioned earlier to the mix, serving as a sort of review test. Using the Bloodraven Form and Raven Gear flexibly should give you an advantage in battle.

These two bosses are major hurdles, but once you overcome them, the combat style for this game should become second nature.

Honestly, I would love to talk about many more enemies, but that’s all I’m allowed to go into for now.

Thank you for reading to the end! Please enjoy every last bit of NINJA GAIDEN 4!!!

Until next time!

*Bonus
There was a particular boss that I played against in a previous game that made me think that if it were up to me, I would change it in a certain way. In this game, I actually got to pay homage to that past boss by adding my own twist to it. If you’ve played the previous games in the series, see if you can guess which boss I’m referring to. (Not sure if I’ll ever be able to reveal which one it is, though… lol)

Takuma Ishikawa Joined PlatinumGames in 2020. Served as a stage designer before becoming action leader. For our latest title, “NINJA GAIDEN 4,” he took on the role of Combat Director and Lead Game Designer, overseeing all enemy design, some stages, and replayability elements, managing the “fun factor” alongside the director. Outside of development, he actively participates in recruitment events and contributes to team building and internal talent development.