Ninja Gaiden 4 by makers of Bayonetta out in 2025 Ninja Gaiden 2 Black out nowGameCentralPublished January 23, 2025 7:48pmUpdated January 23, 2025 9:11pm Why have one new Ninja Gaiden game when you can have three? (Xbox Game Studios)The mystery game in the Xbox Developer Direct was not quite such a mystery after all, as its revealed to be Ninja Gaiden 4 for Xbox and PS5.Despite Microsoft making a promise of a surprise new game reveal, during its Developer Direct on Thursday evening, the rumours quickly narrowed down what it was to either an Ecco The Dolphin reboot or a new Ninja Gaiden.Perhaps unsurprisingly, its the latter which turned out to be right, although the annoucement that Ninja Gaiden 4 will be a collaboration between series creator Team Ninja and Bayonetta and NieR:Automata developer PlatinumGames was a bit of a shock.The game will be published by Xbox Game Studios, not Team Ninja and franchise owner Koei Tecmo, but it will be released on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC (and, were willing to bet, Nintendo Switch 2) this autumn.Although the third person action is very much within Platinums area of expertise they had previously vowed to stop working on games where they dont own the IP. Considering the trouble the developer seems to be in at the moment, with no new games in some time and a number of high profile staff exits, its not hard to imagine why they backtracked on that.The brain drain has left Platinum a little short on big name directors though and Ninja Gaiden 4 producer and director Yuji Nakao has never directed a game of this size before, with his most significant credit so far being one of four producers on Bayonetta 3.Nevertheless, Ninja Gaiden 4 does look like vintage Platinum, with the developers emphasising the speed of the action and what looks like a complex combat and parry system.Theres also lots of platform-like traversal going on, with wall-running, swinging on a grappling hook, and grinding along rails.Although series regular Ryu Hayabusa is in the game, and is implied to be playable at some point, the protagonist is new character Yakumo from the rival Raven clan, who can use one of two different styles of combat.Ever since the reboot in 2004, Ninja Gaiden became one of the few Japanese-made franchises to be closely associated with Xbox, so its not hard to see why Microsoft signed up to publish this new entry. Although Tomonobu Itagaki, who was responsible for the reboot, is not involved, as he left Team Ninja some time ago to set up his own studio.More TrendingItagaki was producer and director on the 2008 reboot sequel though and a remaster of that, made in Unreal Engine 5 and called Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, was also announced during the Developer Direct. Surprisingly, its out now for 39.99 on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.The problem with that is that the remaster looks arguably better than Ninja Gaiden 4, whose visuals seem more abstract, with a more distant camera. The latter probably means it plays better but its a bit awkward seeing the two next to each other.This year is the 30th anniversary of Team Ninja and theyre really going all out to engineer a comeback for Ninja Gaiden, which hasnt had a new game in over a decade now.In fact, theres also a third game thats already been announced: a 2D title called Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, which is by the developers of indie title Blasphemous. Its good to have Ninja Gaiden back (Xbox Game Studios)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy