Xbox Reveals ‘Ninja Gaiden 4,’ the Next Generation of Brutal Action Gaming
Today, Microsoft unveiled new looks at multiple upcoming games during its Xbox Developer Direct 2025 presentation, livestreamed on the official Xbox YouTube channel. Although it was known that the showcase would provide new details on previously announced titles like South of Midnight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Doom: The Dark Ages, one unannounced mystery game was scheduled to be revealed that left fans speculating about what Xbox had up its sleeve.
To everyone’s surprise, that game turned out to be Ninja Gaiden 4, the long-awaited sequel in one of gaming’s most acclaimed 3D action franchises, set to be released in Fall 2025.
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Published by Xbox Game Studios, and co-developed by Team Ninja, the studio behind the previous games in the series, Ninja Gaiden 4 looks to bring the franchise’s brutally difficult, hyper-precise action gameplay back with style. But with the announcement came another surprise: the game is being co-developed by PlatinumGames, the beloved studio behind cult action classics like Bayonetta (2009), Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013), and Nier: Automata (2017).
The first new mainline entry in the franchise since 2012’s Ninja Gaiden 3, which launched for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Ninja Gaiden 4 is set some years after the previous iteration and looks to feature dual protagonists, with players taking on the role of both series’ mainstay Ryu Hayabusa and newbie ninja Yakumo, with the rival characters embroiled in a conflict that sets them on a collision course.
It’s unclear how much of the game centers on each of its leads, with gameplay footage showing both ninjas as being playable, but much of the time spent during the presentation focused on introducing Yakumo to viewers. Yakumo is a young member of the Raven clan, a rival to Ryu’s own. In the video, Yuji Nakao, product and director at PlatinumGames, states that Ryu will “play a pivotal role in the story” and that his “motives will be revealed as the story unfolds and lead him to clash with Yakumo.”
Tomoko Nishii, the game’s art director, describes Yakumo as “someone who can stand alongside Ryu, the pinnacle of what it means to be a ninja — and a potential Master Ninja of the next generation.” Nishii also teases brand new characters, “as well as some familiar ones.”
Gameplaywise, Ninja Gaiden 4 continues the series’ predilection toward fast-paced, yet methodical weapons-based combat, featuring the ninjas slicing and dicing monstrous fiends and human foes alike, with splashing ribbons of viscera abound. Like earlier installments, it appears a huge emphasis is placed on perfectly timed parries before unleashing savage and acrobatic killing blows (a good defense is key to offense), as well as tons of platforming and wall-running sections in line with the shinobi skillset.
The game’s developers note that each character will have their own unique playstyle that offers variety to gamers who are previously familiar with the series from its earlier incarnations.
Ninja Gaiden is one of the industry’s most storied franchises, dating back to the original 2D beat-em-up released in arcades in 1988. Shortly after, that same year, an NES version of Ninja Gaiden was released that was developed separately and plays entirely differently, setting the foundation for the series that most players of the time became familiar with. The series was rebooted in 2004 for Xbox, kicking off the modern iteration of the series this new installment follows. Pretty much any version of Ninja Gaiden is famous for having intense difficulty, with newer rereleases of specific titles even adding easier modes and accessibility options to make the games more playable for mainstream audiences.
In pop culture, the series original protagonist, Ryu, is well-known not just for the mainline Gaiden series, but for his regular appearance in Koei Tecmo’s Dead or Alive fighting game franchise, a 3D brawler that exploded in popularity during the 2000s in the Xbox and Xbox 360 era. Like multiple Dead or Alive games, Ninja Gaiden (2004) and its sequel Ninja Gaiden II (2008) were initially launched as Xbox exclusives, making them synonymous with Microsoft’s console at the time.
The series is seeing a resurgence of late, following the reveal of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound — a throwback 2D pixel-art platformer published by retro label Dotemu — announced during The Game Awards 2024, due to release in Summer 2025. The Xbox Developer Direct showcase also revealed that an updated remaster of Ninja Gaiden II (called “Ninja Gaiden II Black”) will be available today on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC.
No firm release date has been announced for Ninja Gaiden 4, although it’s currently slated to release on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC in Fall 2025.
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