The best action game of 2025 is a game nobody bought – Reader’s Feature

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Ninja Gaiden 4 – a great game but not a great seller (Xbox Game Studios)

A reader offers his view on a largely ignored game from last year, published by Xbox and developed by Bayonetta and Vanquish creator PlatinumGames.

Well shower me in rubber shurikens and enrol me in shinobi school. Ninja Gaiden 4 is a splendid continuation of the series, that deeply reveres the rich, rambunctious foundations created by the late, legendary Tomonobu Itagaki (rest in peace, my good sir), whilst skilfully binding new creative blood to the formula, to infuse the experience with the DNA of an altered digital beast.

Fresh-faced new lead Yakumo’s actions feel turbo-charged, with a frenzied, squirrel-like spark to the way he interacts with his surroundings and decimates foes. Once you’re in the zone, effortlessly separating marrow from bone, the spectacle is almost akin to a sacrificial ritual bloodbath!

The controls and new traversal mechanics, like the grappling hook and rail-grinding, feel velvety smooth and fun to execute. The parts of the campaign that involve the prolonged rail grinds and having to deploy your grapple hook and wall-running techniques to evade missiles and incoming trains are aesthetically lovely and riveting to play.

The new blood bind mechanic does a great job of introducing a new layer to the combat with the alternate weapon modes, and guard breaking adds more dimension and grit to the fighting.

I also love the fact that there are multiple parry mechanics that feel so satisfying to pull off and really enliven the dynamite dynamism and ultra violent viscera of the bloodletting.

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The new human and demon enemy designs, and the bosses, are definitely a highpoint and suitably bloodthirsty in their aggression, and certainly less frustrating than Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2, by default of having a more disciplined camera system and far less Poundland cheap, instant deaths.

There are a few drawbacks that preclude Ninja Gaiden 4 from occupying the same plane of luminary space as all-time roaming hack ’em-up classics such as Bayonetta 1, 2, and 3; Devil May Cry 1, 3, and 5, Metal Gear Rising, or indeed Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 Black.

There are some glaring pacing issues where the chapters go on for far too long, there’s a lack of enemy, weaponry, and location variety compared to Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 (we’ll try to forget the intrinsically mediocre Ninja Gaiden 3, and especially the abominable Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z), and the Devil May Cry 4-echoing reheated chapters for Ryu Hayabusa’s campaign.

Ninja Gaiden 4 commands my vote for the best pure action game of last year, and quite possibly this generation. I’m just over the moon my beloved PlatinumGames, aka the creative spiritual successors to Treasure – otherwise known as the emperor of arcadey action games with deep combat systems and immense replayability – are back!

Although in fairness, they were also responsible for the best parts of Final Fantasy 16: the epic boss fights. And I always felt Sol Cresta and Bayonetta Origins were quite underrated.

Unfortunately, Babylon’s Fall was a bronze quality effort by PlatinumGames standards, and an unmitigated disaster that foreshadowed the internal turmoil and subsequent exodus they’ve endured these past few years.

Anyways, 2025 will surely go down as one of the finest years for ninja games with the highly accomplished Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance as well. Verily we live in an age of ninja gaiety!

By reader GG