Ninja Gaiden 4 aims to bring a resurgence of the pure action or the hack-n-slash genre which is drastically different from the cavalcade of the slower and methodical gameplay mold of Soulslike titles that dominate the action genre today. Where the Soulslike titles have RPG mechanics in place that can help you mitigate the difficulties in a number of ways, the hack-n-slash genre of games have none of that and just leave you with a deep and satisfying combat mechanics where it’s completely up to you to learn and master them to be able to get through the game.
This approach often results in notoriously hard difficulties where it can take entire days (or even weeks) to get through a particular level and Ninja Gaiden 4 is bringing all of that back in the mainstream gaming with style, but according to several developers of the upcoming title, the whole experience will still be based on fairness.
There’s always a fine line between fairly challenging and unfairly frustrating and Ninja Gaiden 4 is designed to maintain that balance at all times, in all of the game’s difficulties which means if you actually take the time to master the mechanics, your experience of the game will be immensely rewarding in ways that not many games can come close to.
In a recent interview with Automaton, directors Yuji Nakao (PlatinumGames) and Masakazu Hirayama (Team Ninja) have shared lots of insights on Ninja Gaiden 4’s varying difficulty levels:
“What really stands out throughout the Ninja Gaiden series,” said Nakao, “is how enemies are on equal footing with the player. They guard, and they even use throws.”
“We focused not only on making the action feel satisfying, but also on offering the cathartic release of overcoming disadvantageous odds, that was a core part of development.”
Hirayama emphasized that Ninja Gaiden 4 provides a huge degree of player agency which enables gamers to successfully try different approaches after death, which is possible cause of the above mentioned balance.
“If the player gets killed unreasonably,” he said, “it’s hard for them to reflect and think about what they could’ve done differently. But if they die because they made the wrong choice among several options, they’ll think, ‘Okay, let’s try this instead’. That kind of trial-and-error cycle requires a fair dynamic between offense and defense to work. That’s something we talk about a lot at Team Ninja, and it’s something we’ve always valued throughout the series.”
Overall, Ninja Gaiden 4 is “not a game you’ll be able to breeze through” and has “hardship…scattered throughout”.
“That sense of catharsis you feel when you overcome those challenges is something I truly value,” Nakao stated.
The fourth entry in the legendary hack-n-slash series, Ninja Gaiden 4 is currently scheduled to arrive on October 20 for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC, and Game Pass. Developed in collaboration between Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja and Platinum Games, Ninja Gaiden 4 will feature a whole new character named Yakumo, besides returning protagonist the iconic Ryu Hayabusa.
