To be honest, when it was announced that the studio behind Blasphemous was working on a new Ninja Gaiden instead of another all-original work, I was a tad disappointed. It’s nothing against Ryu Hayabusa, as he’s been the star of some of the most celebrated action games ever made (particularly Ninja Gaiden Black), but considering how The Game Kitchen’s previous work was deeply steeped in the specific religious touchstones of a historically self-flagellating Catholic Spain, it was a bit of a bummer to see that the developer’s next outing would be part of a well-established series instead of something else drawing from an ultra-particular cultural context.
However, after around an hour and a half with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and its twitchy 2D platforming, these preconceived notions largely melted away; sometimes it’s simply fun to cut through an uncountable number of minions in a tightly designed retro-throwback. The central action here is precise and pure while mixing in enough modern complexities to distinguish itself from its predecessors and the countless other nostalgia-oriented platformers aiming to scratch a particular itch. While I’m still looking forward to The Game Kitchen’s next entirely original vision, what I’ve seen of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, which should be out this summer for all modern systems, justifies this wait.
Ragebound’s gameplay loop begins simple enough: at first, you can basically only jump and perform a slash attack. In the introductory level (this is a level-based game and not a Metroid-styled experience like The Game Kitchen’s previous work), you play as Jô Hayabusa (Ryu’s dad) immediately after the opening of the original Ninja Gaiden, navigating a jungle by climbing trees and performing wall jumps. It sounds fairly standard, but if something immediately stands out, it’s just how instantaneous these actions are, which contrasts with Blasphemous’ more Dark Souls-inspired emphasis on animation priority. Most standard enemies go down in a single slash, which matters because they tend to swarm the screen from both sides, forcing you to contend with kunai and multiple flavors of swordfighter in rapid succession. Thankfully, the zippy movement combines with gratifying details like the ability to deflect incoming projectiles by timing your slash, giving everything a frenetic feel that lets you stay in control. But while this baseline speed is much more in keeping with the Ninja Gaiden series rather than in Blasphemous, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s pixel art is just as striking and detailed as The Game Kitchen’s previous work, looking particularly great in motion as smooth animations sell hacking and slashing through these stages.
However, that is all just the baseline of mechanical complexity because more layers are introduced as perspective switches to one of the game’s actual protagonists, Kenji Mozu. After Ryu Hayabusa gives Kenji a run-down of his moves in the training level, we’re pushed past the two-button controls of the original games. Specifically, you learn how to use an invincible roll to get past specific hazards, like big wooden traps, which probably only exist in videogames, martial arts movies, and obstacle course gameshows. Beyond clearing these hazards, the roll was also a godsend for the second level’s boss, a flying gargoyle demon with leaping strikes. I-framing through these well-telegraphed attacks was when this demo reminded me the most of Blasphemous and its FromSoftware-ish battles, making clear how it combines retro simplicity with dodge-rolling good times.
Then there’s the Guillotine Slash, an air-bound ability that lets you bounce on foes as you turn into a spinning death ball. It’s as gratifying as it sounds, allowing you to get the extra air time needed to pass through certain platforming gauntlets while looking cool in the process. Eventually, you also get ranged attacks after soul-bonding with Kumori, an unlikely ally from the Black Spider Ninja Clan—she and Kenji are two consciousnesses sharing one body; it’s a whole thing. Kumori allows Kenji to use kunai attacks and a secondary equipable projectile, in this case, an arcing sickle that hits angles her horizontal reaching kunai couldn’t. While you need to spend Ki to use Kumori’s moves, there’s a fairly consistent supply as long as you mix in close-range strikes, encouraging you to switch between the two instead of just projectile spamming from a distance. Making this more readily available is a smart touch compared to many other old-school platformers, like the original Castlevanias, where you would quickly burn through mana for your ranged attacks, making these tools an afterthought.
And then there’s the game’s defining ability, Ragebound arts, which are in the title for a reason. These powerful moves can be charged up by killing specific enemies with a glowing aura or by holding down an attack button to sacrifice some health. If stocked up, they can cut down strong foes in a single strike, which you’ll want to do as much as possible because the screen is typically filled with nasty demons that threaten to overwhelm you if you’re not careful. Where Ragebound Arts get particularly interesting is that they come with an Ikaruga-inspired twist: you need to kill glowing blue enemies with a sword attack to stock up a blue Ragebound Art, while you need to kill red enemies with a ranged attack to get a red projectile-based one. And then, if you want to kill a larger enemy in a single go, you need to match your blue or red Ragebound attacks with the foe’s corresponding color. Adding just one more layer, using these powered-up moves will charge up even stronger screen-clearing special attacks, creating even more incentive to pay attention to these glowing auras.
While many of these moves are satisfying in a vacuum, where the game really shines is how it forces you to combine them all in rapid succession. You barrel through tightly designed linear stages as you roll, Guillotine Slash, and Ragebound Art through foes streaming in from both sides, bouncing and weaving in a flashy display. It’s good that the controls are so responsive because this entire experience embodies speed, and you’ll be batting incoming projectiles out of the air (which, again, always feels very satisfying) between rapidly picking out red and blue glows to decide which attacks should be used to power up. While the number of skills and pace of these battles may sound overwhelming, it’s really only necessary to combine them flawlessly if you’re going for high marks (there’s a grading system that judges your performance), as there are plentiful checkpoints throughout that keep this from being as crushing as its NES predecessors.
Additionally, the snappy levels I saw (they ran from eight to 15 minutes) did a good job mixing these different modes, as fights seamlessly bled into platforming segments that required a combination of climbing, wall jumping, and rolls. There are also little side paths in these stages that let you find optional Scarabs, which can be used to upgrade your abilities, another example of how the game seems to combine the central simplicity of old-school platformers with lots of modern additions.
From what I’ve played of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, it seems to be another example of publisher Dotemu finding the right studio to revitalize an established formula, mixing in contemporary design decisions without abandoning the core appeal of the originals. It’s fast, rewarding, and with just a hint of cerebral pattern recognition as you pick out which gnarly glowing monster to cut through next so you can charge up your abilities. While so far, Ragebound doesn’t quite have anything as brain-searing as the first time you see The Pentinent One perform a Baptism of blood (CW: blood and gore) in Blasphemous, it makes it very fun to slash through a bunch of guys with a katana, and that’s pretty cool too.
Elijah Gonzalez is the assistant Games and TV Editor for Paste Magazine. In addition to playing and watching the latest on the small screen, he also loves film, creating large lists of media he’ll probably never actually get to, and dreaming of the day he finally gets through all the Like a Dragon games. You can follow him on Bluesky @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social.
