Ninja Gaiden is having a renaissance. The final mainline entry was initially launched greater than a decade in the past, however by the top of 2025, there can be three new Ninja Gaiden titles. Two are 3D: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a modern-day remaster of Ninja Gaiden II launched earlier this yr, and Ninja Gaiden 4, co-developed by PlatinumGames and set to launch in October. However there’s a brand new 2D sport, too. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a retro-styled side-scrolling platformer from Dotemu and the builders of Blasphemous — and it completely rips.
In Ragebound, you play as Kenji Mozu, a younger ninja skilled by standard sequence star Ryu Hayabusa. Early on, Kenji’s physique turns into inhabited by the spirit of Kumori, a member of the rival Black Spider clan who provides throwable kunai weapons to Kenji’s arsenal and is briefly playable in particular sections.
As you bounce and climb via ranges, you’ll need to tackle hordes of enemies that impede your path. Many enemies are strategically positioned to simply get in your approach, forcing you to search out intelligent methods to dodge them or take them out.
Most enemies may be killed with one hit, however a number of larger ones take a number of assaults to put on down and are higher at standing their floor. Nevertheless, you will get a superpowered strike that defeats these larger foes in a single shot by killing close by enemies with glowing auras round them. A turquoise glow means it’s essential do a sword kill, whereas a magenta glow means it’s essential toss a kunai at them. These glowy enemies are additionally strategically positioned all through ranges to usually arrange a one-two punch of killing a small fry and a giant man, and nailing the dance of taking out enemies in the appropriate order is extraordinarily satisfying.
The bosses are sometimes big monstrosities which might be thrilling to combat, and they are often fairly powerful. Happily, the sport has an Help Mode you possibly can activate everytime you wish to tweak the issue, which I usually used to show down the injury so I may persevere via a battle for a bit bit longer or simply to assist me get unstuck.
I beloved exploring the sport’s ranges, that are drawn with beautiful pixel artwork and happen in some inventive locales, like a pirate cave and a building web site. There are additionally hidden collectibles, together with scarabs you should use to unlock upgrades and scrolls that open up extra-hard secret phases. And the soundtrack is crammed with heavy guitar, synth, and drums to make you are feeling like a ’90s-era motion hero.
If I had one nitpick, it’s the sport’s story and writing, which isn’t as sturdy because the moment-to-moment motion. It’s simply bizarre to see Kumori, a badass ninja girl, say “good grief” to kick off one of many ranges. However it’s not that massive of a deal; it is a sport with a sequence the place you trip a jet ski to flee a navy boat, in any case. In a approach, the weak writing provides to the widely campy vibe.
In a second the place there are loads of nice retro motion video games to play, Ragebound reveals what makes the Ninja Gaiden sequence particular. After my almost six-hour playthrough, I really feel like I would like different Ninja Gaiden video games — and even when I don’t, Ragebound stands out effectively by itself.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is offered now on Nintendo Swap, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
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