Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound | PS5|4, XBOX SERIES X|S, SWITCH, PC | July 31st, 2025 | Metacritic: 86 Opencritic: 87

[Grand Conde]

Stuck on Demon Lord all day.

fukking finally.

 

[New Jeruzalem Journalist]

I just started my hard play through (which unlocks after being the game the first time). This one isn’t too bad, but there are definitely ways to make it easier or more difficult although this one shouldn’t be too bad for you.

I never played the OG Ninja Gaidens, but I do believe the checkpoints and a few of the talismans in this one can really make or break your play through. There are some that completely heal you at each checkpoint or give you health back for every enemy you kill after a certain number or something like that. And then there’s the accessibility mode which I won’t even get into lol but it trivializes everything. On the flip side, there are talismans that remove all health orbs from the level or if you die make you start from the beginning of the level instead of at your most recent checkpoint.

I do enjoy all the little ways you can tweak the difficulty so you can make it as hard or difficult as you like honestly.

Appreciate the breakdown. Looking forward to introducing my son to this like I did Double Dragon. Cool seeing him play updated remakes of the games I grew up on.

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

I never played the OG Ninja Gaidens, but I do believe the checkpoints and a few of the talismans in this one can really make or break your play through. There are some that completely heal you at each checkpoint or give you health back for every enemy you kill after a certain number or something like that. And then there’s the accessibility mode which I won’t even get into lol but it trivializes everything. On the flip side, there are talismans that remove all health orbs from the level or if you die make you start from the beginning of the level instead of at your most recent checkpoint.

I do enjoy all the little ways you can tweak the difficulty so you can make it as hard or difficult as you like honestly.

It's interesting that they used items to adjust dificult like they did. But they missed an easy difficulty setting lay up in not making a mode just like the original games where you have a small number of limited lives and limited continues. I believe the original games, you had maybe 3 lives and about 2-3 continues and this was to outright beat the game. Not just a level or anything. No level selects either. Just a 1-shot playthrough essentially, as if you ran out of continues, you're sent back to the very beginning of the game. They could've did this with a special kind of trophy or in-game costume or other select in-game item that you could only get if you chose this mode from the onset of playing your first time and was how you beat the game.

 

[Animal House]

Ain't been a serious gamer in decades, but probably gonna cop this.

Beat the original NES version multiple times (*humble brag* ), and NG2, but I know this is prolly gonna give me fits, lol.


Any of y'all ever read the Ninja Gaiden novel from back in the day? I remember copping that at a school book fair. Was one of my favorite reads as a kid.

Breh I told my son years ago that when I was in grade school I beat all 3 ninja gaiden games on nes and he laughed at me until he tried playing the first game and got his ass kicked by those hawks. He gave me dap

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

Breh I told my son years ago that when I was in grade school I beat all 3 ninja gaiden games on nes and he laughed at me until he tried playing the first game and got his ass kicked by those hawks. He gave me dap

It's funny, in those games, moments like that were unequivocally cheap. Like cheap just to be cheap too (possibly contraints of hardware/tech/game design at the time) and getting hit during a jump in those parts equaled certain death. In this game, getting hit during a jump in similar situations grants you the ability to kick jump again, to whereas it may actually even save you from death rather than most certainly cause it.

 

[Animal House]

It's funny, in those games, moments like that were unequivocally cheap. Like cheap just to be cheap too (possibly contraints of hardware/tech/game design at the time) and getting hit during a jump in those parts equaled certain death. In this game, getting hit during a jump in similar situations grants you the ability to kick jump again, to whereas it may actually even save you from death rather than most certainly cause it.

But there was a way to get passed them lol. You just had to have the timing right

 

[BlackMamba824]

It's interesting that they used items to adjust dificult like they did. But they missed an easy difficulty setting lay up in not making a mode just like the original games where you have a small number of limited lives and limited continues. I believe the original games, you had maybe 3 lives and about 2-3 continues and this was to outright beat the game. Not just a level or anything. No level selects either. Just a 1-shot playthrough essentially, as if you ran out of continues, you're sent back to the very beginning of the game. They could've did this with a special kind of trophy or in-game costume or other select in-game item that you could only get if you chose this mode from the onset of playing your first time and was how you beat the game.

Agreed. That is one thing that I definitely felt like was missing and it could have been done easily. I feel like in general games hold your hand these days. There are a ton of NES/SNES and Genesis games i never saw the end of until emulation with save states and YouTube because back then you had to beat everything in one sitting or with limited lives.

 

[Marks]

Blasphemous is dope but this is an action platformer, not a metroidvania/soulslike.

i know thats why is said "if you fukk with metroidvanias and soulslikes" just saying devs are solid

 

[Flexington]

I enjoyed this, was worried I’d overdo it on the ninja games but this is much different than Shinobi will be based on the demo.

A perfectly short game to run through in a couple of sessions. Got 2 endings in about 6 hrs of playtime, definitely will return and replay levels with other amulets and arts equipped…

I kinda forgot to change them after you get both characters

 

[homiedontplaydat]

This boss at the end of 3-5 man

I was coasting for a minute but this is the first one that's testing me

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

 

[Jaguar93]

I enjoyed it Shinobi is next

 

[Grand Conde]

Better than Shinobi.

 

[Zero]

Better than Shinobi.

 

[PS5 Pro]

It's interesting that they used items to adjust dificult like they did. But they missed an easy difficulty setting lay up in not making a mode just like the original games where you have a small number of limited lives and limited continues. I believe the original games, you had maybe 3 lives and about 2-3 continues and this was to outright beat the game. Not just a level or anything. No level selects either. Just a 1-shot playthrough essentially, as if you ran out of continues, you're sent back to the very beginning of the game. They could've did this with a special kind of trophy or in-game costume or other select in-game item that you could only get if you chose this mode from the onset of playing your first time and was how you beat the game.

Why not just beat the game the way you're describing?
You say they holding hands and then you complain that they didn't hold your hand enough to get you to try to beat it like we used to have to.
Just do it. You might find a secret achievement if you do

Breh I told my son years ago that when I was in grade school I beat all 3 ninja gaiden games on nes and he laughed at me until he tried playing the first game and got his ass kicked by those hawks. He gave me dap

I recorded myself beating all 3 ninja Gaiden gamers on VHS. And I didn't die on any of my runs either. I'm not even sure I took a hit.

Better than Shinobi.

I felt that was the case but I only played the Shinobi demo