It’s hard to believe, but it’s literally been 32 years since the last 2D Ninja Gaiden game, and that’s only if we count the ones outside of the original trilogy. Not only that, but Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound was made by The Game Kitchen, popularly known as the devs behind the Blasphemous games. Due to how familiar I am with those, I had few doubts that this game would be more than up to the task of standing alongside its forebears. Sure enough, it offers all that and more, not only emerging as a terrific Ninja Gaiden game in its own right, but a creative action platformer that shows this old genre can still have some tricks up its sleeve.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound does this in a few ways. For instance, you can now use a technique to bounce on top of enemies while doing minimal damage, which feels as intuitive as it does useful. These are easy to chain together (and are this game’s version of Ryu Hayabusa’s famous Guillotine Throw for all intents and purposes.) But there are also enemies that, when hit with either a melee or ranged attack depending on if they’re glowing green or purple, will grant you a powered-up strike that can kill even stronger foes in a single hit. You can also sacrifice some health to grant yourself this state at any time.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound takes place alongside the very first Ninja Gaiden and puts you in the shoes of a Hayabusa Clan ninja named Kenji, who ends up fused to a Spider Clan ninja called Kumori. Fusing with Kumori allows you to throw projectiles (a shuriken that’s always equipped or a secondary projectile of your choice,) as well as a Ragebound Art that you can choose. There are also talismans you can equip in two slots. Everything is purchased from Muramasa’s shop in exchange for scarabs found in the levels. For a linear sidescroller, there’s a fair amount to consider, although the game is still quite simple, as it should be.
In addition to the aforementioned moves, Kenji can use his sword, dodge, and climb on walls and ceilings. The gameplay here feels fantastic. The controls are pitch perfect, movement is smoothed, and everything flows together beautifully in a ballet of slicing and jumping. There are 27 levels in Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and the game can be beaten in as little as six hours, but that’s a pretty solid amount of time for a game like this. Plus, once you beat the game, a hard mode is unlocked that changes up the levels in a few ways, such as more hazardous traps or stronger foes. As such, you’ll certainly get plenty of bang for your buck to make the game’s price tag worthwhile.
Levels are broken up between main missions and special ops that you’ll unlock by finding scrolls in levels. There are eight of these and they’re typically shorter but can be more challenging. For the most part, though, anyone expecting something as challenging as the first couple of NES Ninja Gaiden games won’t find it here (but mostly because this game is generally fair.) The game is reasonably challenging but didn’t frustrate me particularly often. Some of the boss battles can be pretty annoying on the hard difficulty, although that’s more due to new hazards placed in boss arenas than anything else.
Despite the fairly brisk runtime, I found that I’d eliminated over 3,000 enemies during my normal mode playthrough. The number of enemies the game throws at you can be quite intense, which couldn’t help but make me think of Ninja Gaiden II. All of the game’s levels are ranked and have three challenges and some collectables to find. Getting A and B ranks is easy enough typically, but S ranks are more demanding (and can often require you to bring a talisman that makes the game more difficult.) But, replaying levels is inherently enjoyable given the satisfying ways the level design flows.
There are some hiccups here and there, though. I would classify a few sections as unfair or tedious, as there are moments where the design trips over itself a bit (such as a couple of Kumori sections that barely give you enough time to complete your goal, or a section towards the end of the game where you have to spend far too long riding monotonous platforms,) but these are exceptions. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is overall above board and is as good as, if not even better, than I had expected it to be. This is probably the best linear action platformer I’ve played in years and the game is more than worth playing.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is everything I wanted from a new 2D Ninja Gaiden game and more. Between its silky smooth gameplay and terrific level design, the game shows that these sorts of old-school action games can still pack quite a punch. – Andrew Farrell
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