Chatting the return of the ninja, difficulty and meeting fan expectations with Ninja Gaiden 4’s Directors

This coming October marks the next mainline game in the Ninja Gaiden series in over ten years. Following on from the events of 3, Ninja Gaiden 4 promises a lot; whether that’s a dazzling spectacle of cyberpunk ninja futurism or the brooding, spunky new hero in Yakumo. We recently got the chance to chat with Directors Masakazu Hirayama and Yuji Nakao at PlatinumGames’ offices about what to expect from the series’ triumphant return. What emerged was an enlightening discussion about returning to the beloved ninja series, managing fan expectations and approaching difficulty.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is an exciting project and prospect, seeing the collaboration of both Team Ninja and PlatinumGames tasked with returning the series in a big way. Naturally, the first burning question is, what exactly did the development of Ninja Gaiden 4 look like? How much of the share was it between Team Ninja, as the creators of an illustrious IP, and how much of it was PlatinumGames getting to flex their own creative muscles with a new title? Nakao-san was able to provide some insight on this.

“The development itself took place at PlatinumGames, but core members of Team Ninja who’ve been involved in prior Team Ninja games were very closely involved with the development,” He continues. “They were looking at the builds on a daily basis—not only from a structural sense but also getting down into the nitty-gritty details.” 

He describes daily discussions that were occurring between him and Hirayama-san. That close monitoring, collaboration and care already show in the 2-3 odd hours of play I’ve experienced thus far. The world and attention to detail, and how combat feels, are all very true to the Ninja Gaiden series, while there’s still plenty of flourishes and style that feel quintessentially PlatinumGames.

All in all, from what they’ve talked about here and what I’ve seen, this doesn’t feel like it’s a situation where the IP holder is holding an iron grip over what the new blood developer can and cannot do. Juxtaposing this, it appears PlatinumGames understand the assignment and is making something very true to form for the franchise.

“This year marks a milestone for the series and IP in general,” Hirayama begins, alluding to this being the 30th year since Team Ninja’s founding and almost 40 years since the series’ start. After referencing the three new Ninja Gaiden experiences you can get stuck into this year, he continues: “Each of these games provides a distinct flavour. Though Ninja Gaiden 4 releases in October, in the meantime, we hope players will bide their time by experiencing these other facets of Ninja Gaiden.”

These talking points essentially boil down to Team Ninja going all in on the franchise this year, both in the talks with me and in marketing; they refer to 2025 as the “Year of the Ninja,” a hell of a term to coin if you ask me.

You can measure the excitement and passion for the project and the greater Ninja Gaiden series in the room with both Nakao-san and Hirayama-san, but I was curious to see what that passion looked like, specifically at Team Ninja to return to the world of Ryu and co after all these years. Is this a one-off revitalisation burst for the series? Are we going to have less of a wait for a possible Ninja Gaiden 5? I asked Hirayama about this, and it caused a bit of a laugh in the room at the idea of already even thinking about a follow-up. But he responded gracefully:

“At Team Ninja, everyone is happy and excited that Ninja Gaiden is back. But not only that, but that we’ve had this opportunity to collaborate with PlatinumGames, who have such huge action-game accomplishments in the form of Bayonetta and Nier.” He begins. “This collaboration allowed us to do things that wouldn’t necessarily have been possible if we were to make it on our own. We really had good synergy.” 

One of the big pushes with Ninja Gaiden 4 is the new protagonist, Yakumo, co-starring alongside the beloved hero Ryu. Labelled as someone that’s both newcomer-friendly and there to bridge the gaps in the story of all the time that’s passed between Ninja Gaiden 3 and 4, he’s got a bit of a mystique about him that I was eager to hear more about. How did he come to be? What’s his relation to the story? There’s so much intrigue surrounding him.

“When this collaboration started, PlatinumGames proposed the idea of introducing a new protagonist in the form of Yakumo. One of the reasons we wanted to do this was since it’s been more than ten years since the last Ninja Gaiden came out, we wanted to provide a fresh experience for returning and new players…Having Yakumo, this new character, to be a vehicle for this experience but also provide a contrast to Ryu Hyabusa…it was one of the intentions behind his design,” Nakao explains. “Of course, we had to make sure we took care of Ryu Hyabusa as well, which is why we made him fully playable in the game. That contrast between Yakumo and Ryu is not only apparent in his physical appearance, it’s also apparent in his combat style. You’ll see this plays out in the story: Ryu Hyabusa is the apex ninja, the pinnacle, whereas Yakumo is an up-and-coming ninja prodigy, but he’s still developing his personality and he’s still developing as a character.” 

“The story will illustrate this growth. Likewise, Ryu Hyabusa provides a mirror to Yakumo. You’ll be able to see what kind of experiences and growth Yakumo is going through when he’s compared to Ryu. Likewise, Ryu will look, in comparison to Yakumo, more awesome and absolute. That was the intention behind designing and introducing Yakumo.”

All that’s said here makes for an intriguing proposition of a character, and I’ve certainly felt that sentiment while playing Ninja Gaiden 4 so far. Still, what I find myself dying to know is that, given we know both Ryu and Yakumo are feuding in the game, what does this dynamic look like for players, and how will it play out in combat? Can we expect to choose who to control in scripted fights between the two?

Hirayama-san was very coy when it came to this: “It’s a very good question. We can’t reveal details at this stage.” A very smart response that neither confirms nor denies, and has me champing at the bit to find out for myself as soon as I can.

The question on all fans’ lips whenever a new Ninja Gaiden comes out is ‘What’s the difficulty like?’ In the marketing and in several of these interviews about Ninja Gaiden 4, I keep hearing the word ‘adversity’ come up. I asked the pair to speak more about what this means for the game and what awaits players in relation to this. Turns out, this theme transcends more than just that difficulty you’ve come to know and love.

“The adversity refers to the relentless, aggressive enemies that will attack you. Building on that, we also use that as a keyword to guide the design of the other elements of the game”. Nakao uses a set-piece moment from the demo that sees Yakumo skating along rails in the sky as an example of this, witnessing an onslaught of oncoming trains and rails collapsing, requiring players to be quick on their feet. “There’s always a challenge and an adverse situation that you need to overcome. This theme of adversity is a central throughline throughout the whole game, not just in the combat but in the sections in between the combat scenarios as well.”

Hirayama-san adds to this: “Adversity was also a key word and guiding principle for the story itself. There’s always a challenging situation that Yakumo must face, and it’s through this adversity that he’s able to grow as a character.”

As for how difficulty is going to work, the pair had the following to say: “In the full release version, you’re starting out with Hero mode, Normal mode and Hard mode to select. Once you finish your first playthrough on these difficulties, you’ll unlock Master Ninja. Master Ninja stays true to the design sensibilities of previous Ninja Gaidens. It’s not just about increasing damage output of enemies or increasing their health; the enemy placement will be different, and behave differently; they’ll behave more aggressively with different attack patterns. A one-on-one fight that you played on Normal difficulty, that battle will play out differently due to the behaviour being different. Even seasoned are going to have to step it up if they want to complete Master Ninja.”

They wrap up this thought: “When we were making Ninja Gaiden 4, we wanted to give players the option to curate their difficulty experience based on their progression as a player. Even if you select Hero mode at the beginning, you’re not stuck with this mode. Once you feel like you’ve levelled up a bit as a player, you can up the difficulty to Normal and then Hard. For Master Ninja, you have to be committed, and you won’t be able to change things halfway.” 

This concluded my interview with both Hirayama-san and Nakao-san about all things Ninja Gaiden 4. Getting to explore PlatinumGames’ office in Tokyo, playing a good few hours of the game and talking with the talent behind the scenes, it’s clear this is an action game that is going to land and satisfy many come October. I’m all in for Ninja Gaiden 4, and really, you should be too.

After more Ninja Gaiden 4 coverage? Why not check out our interview with the core creative team or our hands-on preview?

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Checkpoint Gaming was flown to Tokyo as a guest of Xbox for this Hands-on Preview.