Every so often you finally get to a game on your backlog that truly surprises you. “Where have you been my whole life?” I caught myself saying as I played Ninja Gaiden II via the recently shadow-dropped Ninja Gaiden II Black. The short answer is that it was there all along, waiting for me to experience its tense, tough and fast-paced action glory. With every delightfully bloody dismemberment or over-the-top set piece, Ninja Gaiden II has shaped me, quickly becoming one of my favourite action games ever. I have finally seen the light. Ninjas. Are. Cool.

Ninja Gaiden II Black follows the series’ mainstay Ryu Hayabusa as he works to thwart an alliance of evil forces known as the Black Spider Ninja Clan and Greater Fiends who aim to resurrect a dark and foreboding figure known as the Archfiend. Across seventeen stages and with some help from his CIA friends, the Dragon Ninja has quite the job ahead of him. Let’s get this out of the way first: the story is nigh incomprehensible. It features what feels like hand-stitched-together cutscenes that will suddenly plop the player in a new environment without a moment’s warning nor explanation as to why you’re here. Charmingly awkward cutscenes are something of a staple from developer Team Ninja, as shown in many of their games. Of course, that’s not why you’re coming to Ninja Gaiden, is it? You’re here for the incredible set piece levels and gory goodness. Have I got some good news for you!

Across the 9 or so hours I spent with the campaign, I feel like I trotted the entire globe as Ryu. Ninja Gaiden II does so much with its limited screentime and its wonder is only bolstered by the Unreal Engine 5 upgrade. A lot of rich visual storytelling lets you in on its world, bolstering what the story doesn’t. Your opening mission is a visual feast, taking place in a futuristic Cyberpunk city where you’re hundreds of meters above the ground atop a series of skyscrapers that double as traditional Japanese temples, cherry blossom trees planted around the buildings with flying cars dotting the skyline in the background. You battle through New York’s Times Square as demonic bats fly out of cracks in the concrete, with Hell visible from below. A boss fight later amalgamates on top of the Statue of Liberty. You’re slicing your way through waves upon waves of Lycanthropes in a European city that looks like a mock Russia, with river channels and a building that closely resembles the Kremlin.

I could easily focus the entirety of this review on the breadth of environments because it truly does feel expansive. I’m in awe as I’m tearing apart what feels like thousands of ninja soldiers as I try to escape a giant aircraft that is crumbling to pieces thousands of kilometres into the sky. It feels like Ninja Theory was obsessed with delivering players every possible setpiece under the sun, short of taking Ryu to space. They deliver on that promise and it results in a rich world full of ethereal dark monsters and a villainous society of multiple enemy forces. No doubt this was impressive as is back in 2008 when Ninja Gaiden II was originally released, but it’s even more breathtaking with its visual upgrades made possible with today’s technology.

Yes, the vistas and lighting are magnificent in Ninja Gaiden II Black with all their fidelity glory. Yet it’s the little details in environments and character designs that are the most striking and memorable. Late in the game when you’ve seen just about all there is to see, a Lovecraftian-esque environment has blood and membrane matter that webs its way along the floors and walls. A villain that transforms into an undead demoness angel has their body barely holding together, with a few strings of flesh and their spine separating their upper and lower torso. I appreciate when games use fidelity to make games look pretty, but I really appreciate when games use fidelity to make games look gross. It’s not marketed or detailed clearly whether Ninja Gaiden II Black is a remake or remaster. If it’s like the original Ninja Gaiden Black treatment, it’s more likely the latter. If it is a remaster, Ninja Gaiden II Black is a remaster that has really gone the whole mile with great attention to detail, not too dissimilar to the Metroid Prime Remaster. Superb.

Ninja Gaiden is an infamously difficult action series. However, with this offering, I was surprised by how easy it was to begin and make my way through. This is because Ninja Gaiden II Black most resembles Ninja Gaiden Sigma II, the 2009 PS3 remaster that is divisive amongst fans, trading off enemy counts and blood viscera detail for stable framerates with its increased resolution at the time. Though I can’t tell how 1-to-1 this version of that version is, I found it an incredibly welcoming instalment as a franchise newcomer. Playing on the normal difficulty, if there was what was considered a low amount of enemies to be slicing your way through, I certainly didn’t notice it. What will undeniably be a disappointment for the purists is that some of the bosses were straight-up cut out.

The most significant and new feature is the “HERO PLAY STYLE” gameplay difficulty which II Black introduces as an effort to appeal to people who want to dabble with the franchise for the first time. Though this isn’t the difficulty route I chose to take, it’s a good effort from both an accessibility and approachability standpoint that will help Ninja Gaiden feel that little bit less impenetrable. Alas, with different bits and bobs missing (or too generously added depending on who you ask), Ninja Gaiden II Black will not be the definitive release that some people want from it yet. Once again, we have another Persona 3 Reload situation where even the most recent version won’t be for everyone.

It’s immensely fun working within these confines thanks to the diverse set of weapons and abilities given to you. These include: Ryu’s Dragon Sword, a staff, Falcon Talons, a bow, a pair of flails, dual-wielded swords, a hand cannon, a chain sickle, a Tonfa, and a scythe. Each weapon has a wide range of combos and skills to work with, and each is good for different contexts. A scythe is good for sweeping attacks that can dispatch a horizontal line of enemies in front of you while the flails are good for close-quarter attacks for enemies immediately in front of you, also providing stray hits to baddies behind you. There are no misses with any of the weapons, each is thoroughly fun to tool around with and causes many a dismemberment and gallon of blood to be shed.

With all of this considered, the sky’s the limit with combat and this is reflected in the animation work and combat choreography. It’s a hard beauty to describe and justify in words but with each character you play and each weapon you use, it feels like you’re playing out your bloody combat ballet. How heavy and light attacks string together, how Ryu can spin around, flip over or traverse obstacles… it’s animation work that even games today can’t compete with. My favourite touch is the heavy attack finishers that you can use to put an enemy down once and for all if they’ve already had a limb taken off. Depending on who you play as, you can pry the head off your foes, drenching yourself in blood.

Ninja Gaiden II Black makes you feel like you can tackle God. That’s because you damn near do. A fight against a werewolf and his hundreds of furry minions in a coliseum, a dragon that is hellbent on enveloping you in fire, Genshin the iconic cyber ninja. Boss designs and encounters run the gambit. Though Ninja Gaiden’s normal difficulty is quite tough. It never left me stuck on a boss too long, clearing many first try and only being stuck on a few for maybe a couple of goes. Bigger, gigantic bosses that are ten times your size are always the easier ones to topple because, like any game with close-quarters combat, you can just dodge and duck under their feet and take them down quickly and efficiently.

In all its bloody and fast-paced glory, Ninja Gaiden II Black is tough, but you can do it. On normal difficulty, it’s an experience that you can mostly tank and heal yourself through as it’s quite easy to get a plentiful supply of items. Purists might pick apart how this should’ve been harder and more refined but frankly as a newcomer I found it just right.