Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound preview — On the right path

Every Ninja Gaiden fan knows that to walk the path of the master ninja, you need to meet certain standards. Skill, precision, and persistence separate the master ninjas from the ninja dogs. All of these things are required to master a Ninja Gaiden game and have a satisfying experience. That principle extends to the games themselves – Ninja Gaiden stained its reputation with some lackluster entries that failed to live up to those standards, so it’s no surprise that it ended up fading into the shadows. Yet just as swiftly as it left, Ninja Gaiden seems to be back: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black kicked off the return a few months ago and Ninja Gaiden Ragebound aims to keep up the momentum. After spending some time with Ragebound, I’m relieved that it appears to be on the right path. 

Ragebound doesn’t just bring Ninja Gaiden back with its first brand new entry in over a decade, it brings the series (almost) all the way back to its roots with a return to 2D platforming. Although Ragebound resembles its NES ancestors, it’s only skin-deep. Your ninja performs the classic sword slashes, rolling jump, and wall climb of the ninjas of yesteryear, but does them in a way that’s smooth and seamless to control. Layered on top of that is a dodge roll, used to squeeze between enemies and obstacles without needing to stop and start. You’re much more nimble and free, creating a looser type of platformer.  

If the NES games emphasized careful movement and patience, Ragebound focuses more on slick movement and staying nimble. Running through levels often evokes the spirit of a choreographed performance, further emphasized by enemies bathed in red and blue auras. If you kill them with the right weapon, your next attack powers up. Hitting the right enemies at the right time carves an efficient path through waves of enemies. The process begs for players to find and perform the most efficient routes and obtain S ranks. I like the emphasis on clear-cut routing through levels, although I wonder if in the long run this decision may box in players a little too neatly in how they approach the game. 

The only point where Ragebound encourages the player to slow down somewhat is with the boss encounters. These encounters are where you can best feel the developers’ pedigree, as they don’t stray too far from the formula of their Blasphemous games. You study their attacks, dodge through them, and lay some hurt on them during your brief openings. They look cool and put up a decent enough challenge. In the few encounters I played in the demo, the dodge felt a little too much like a get-out-of-jail free card, with only one attack I can recall requiring me to take a different approach, but these are admittedly early fights. 

Despite some potential concerns,  in the moment everything about Ragebound feels right. Between the awesome visuals and energetic soundtrack (that contains just the right amount of nods to the NES games), Ragebound evokes the spirit of the Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS spin-offs of longrunning series. While the consoles got the big budget 3D iterations of games like Sonic, Mega Man, or Castlevania to inconsistent results, their 2D adventures had a renaissance on handhelds with refined visuals and renewed vigor in pushing their formulas into new directions. Ragebound channels the spirit of that era perfectly, giving respect when due while pushing the basic platforming concepts in new directions.

I feel that same spirit in the narrative. As one of the 5 people on the planet who cares enough about the ongoing narrative of Ninja Gaiden to discuss it in detail, I was pleasantly surprised by basically everything Ragebound seems to be doing. You play as a new protagonist, a disciple of series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, who has to leave his protege to defend his home because, shockingly, he has to go experience the events of the first NES Ninja Gaiden game. Now, do I really believe that Ryu Hayabusa a.k.a. “the Super Ninja” a.k.a. "the Singular Super Ninja", a.k.a. "the Dragon Ninja" a.k.a. "the Modern Day Ninja" a.k.a. "the Ultimate Ninja" would ever leave his home without first personally Izuna Dropping everyone and everything that means him harm within a 50 mile radius? Absolutely not; it’s a contrived and unbelievable setup. 

Fortunately, it’s an interesting contrived and unbelievable setup, as it directly connects the two distinct eras of the series (NES and Xbox) while also introducing new characters and dynamics to the series. I’m particularly intrigued by the Black Spider kunoichi who joins forces with your hero halfway through the demo. Ryu has a long and deadly history with the Black Spiders throughout multiple games, so it’ll be fun to see where that particular relationship goes. 

Despite the title of the game, I thankfully have no real rage to report from my time with the demo. I had a great time checking out the game and I’m excited to experience it in full when it releases next month. Ninja Gaiden Ragebound appears to be on the right path, but of course I’ll let you know if the final product strays from it.