Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound review – don’t rage against the machine

After a long hiatus, the makers of Blasphemous 2 bring back Ninja Gaiden, with a 2D action game that should please both new players and veteran fans.

It seems appropriate that the one Japanese-made franchise most closely associated with Xbox (alongside sister series Dead Or Alive) is also one that was largely unknown to European gamers, even in its early days. Ninja Gaiden started off in arcades, as a fairly ordinary scrolling beat ‘em-up, which in Europe was known as Shadow Warriors. It was ported to various home computer formats of the day, including the Amiga, but it was the NES game, also from 1988, that defined the franchise for the next four decades.

Created in parallel with the arcade game, the NES title was more of an action platformer, noted for its excellent graphics and extreme difficulty. Given the arcade game had a different name and the NES was never very successful in Europe – as a result of arriving years late and with a sky high price tag – most European gamers assumed the 2004 Xbox title was the first game in the franchise.

Although versions of the game and its sequel were also released on PlayStation it’s still thought of as primarily an Xbox game, although the double whammy of Ninja Gaiden 3 and Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z put the whole franchise on ice for over a decade. But now it’s back, with PlatinumGames developing Ninja Gaiden 4 and, ironically, Spanish studio The Game Kitchen making this 2D homage to the original games.

The Game Kitchen is best known for the two Blasphemous games, which are an excellent pair of 2D Metroidvanias with a Dark Souls influence. Despite what you might imagine, Ragebound doesn’t have much in common with them and it’s definitely not a Metroidvania. It’s also not that similar to the NES game, although that is clearly the primary influence.

Although series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa is in the game you spend the majority of your time playing as his protégé Kenji Mozu, who starts off the game having to protect Hayabusa Village from yet another demon invasion. Thankfully, whether demon or human, most enemies succumb fairly easily to your sword and while the game is never easy the first few hours are certainly less difficult than you might imagine.

There are some welcome complications to Kenji’s repartee, with the ability to deflect projectiles and make use of enemies with a blue aura, who after you kill them leave you hypercharged so that the next enemy you attack dies in one hit. Although you can also hypercharge yourself at any moment by sacrificing a portion of your health.

As well as a dodge roll and climbing up walls, and across ceilings, Kenji can also perform a Guillotine boost, which allows him to bounce off projectiles and enemies for a double jump. That feels like something straight out of the NES game, but again it’s a lot easier to pull off than you’d think in the early stages.

A little way into the story you encounter Kumori, a female member of the Black Spider Clan – the traditional enemies of the series. Both are at death’s door when they meet, which results in Kumori fusing with Kenji and he being able to use her long range kunai attacks and the ability to teleport short distances.

This opens up the gameplay in various ways, with enemies that have a pink aura, that have to be killed with Kumori’s weapons to trigger a hypercharge, and more powerful weapons like a chakram (the circular throwing weapon Xena used to use). On top of this is a smart bomb-like magic attack and various defensive powers, like a shield, as well as timed platform sections where you control Kumori directly, but against a very strict time limit.

That’s just about the right size of moveset for a 2D action game and for the first several hours it’s a lot of fun, even if it’s not really doing anything new and the pixel art is a little drab at times. Coming from publisher Dotemu, who’s been responsible for Streets Of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, you can’t help but wish for 2D animation of that quality but while Ragebound has a few nice flourishes it’s never that ostentatious.

There’s some good mission variety though, considering the limitations, with levels scrolling in different directions, hidden areas and collectables, and vehicle sections, such as Kumori’s introduction on the back of a motorbike.

The most surprising thing about the game is that it’s not that difficult. It’s definitely above average but not the ultra-punishing perversity that previous Ninja Gaiden titles would lead you to expect. There is a hard mode though, and some ultra difficult secret levels, so veteran fans shouldn’t feel abanonded.

But we found the game’s more reasonable challenge to be very refreshing, allowing you to enjoy the mechanics instead of constantly cursing their inflexibility. Things do get harder the further you get, especially with the boss battles, but it’s definitely not as spiteful as you’d expect.

Ragebound isn’t going to change the world, or change anyone’s opinion about Ninja Gaiden, but as a prelude to Ninja Gaiden 4 it’s very welcome and has a sensibly low price. We always wonder why retro themed games are so obsessed with being overly difficult, since that always seemed the least appealing thing about them, back in the day, and it’s nice to see Ragebound confirm that they would be more fun if they were more reasonably minded. Which means that, in actuality, Ragebound is not that rage inducing at all.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £20.99
Publisher: Dotemu
Developer: The Game Kitchen
Release Date: 31st July 2025
Age Rating: 16

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