Review: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound (PS5) – A Throwback Worthy of the Hayabusa Name

by

For quite some time now, the Ninja Gaiden series has evolved significantly, transitioning from 2D action platform games to immersive, high-budget, 3D journeys. Although many are familiar with the franchise due to its more recent hack-and-slash titles, the latest installment, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, harks back to its side-scrolling roots and has been quite successful in doing so.

Set within the same timeframe as the initial game, Ragebound narrates the story of Kenji, Ryu’s disciple, who is engaged in a separate quest to thwart a potential demon invasion before it becomes catastrophic.

By accident, he finds himself joining forces with Kumori, a representative from the Black Spider Clan, longtime adversaries of the Hayabusa family. As her power resides within Kenji now, they collaborate, offering the player the skills of both characters combined.

This setup offers a straightforward plot for a tale, setting the stage for a game where you encounter numerous foes to vanquish, all within diverse settings.

Fundamentally, Ragebound is a fast-paced action platformer emphasizing lightning-quick combat and nimbleness reminiscent of a ninja. It’s the kind of game that thrives on smooth movement and intuitive controls, and luckily, this is one of its top attributes.

Navigating through every setting provides a highly reactive, immensely gratifying experience as I eliminate anyone who poses an obstacle.

In Ragebound, the Guillotine boost – an aerial maneuver that allows you to strike projectiles and enemies, prolonging your jump – isn’t something entirely novel, but it seamlessly integrates into the gameplay. With all the wall jumps and dodges you can execute, the movement mechanics in this game are almost perfectly tailored to what you’d expect from a title like Ragebound.

As a fervent admirer, I’ve found that most adversaries succumb in a single blow, either from Kenji’s powerful melee attacks or Kumori’s swift kunai projectiles. Yet, there are some formidable foes that require multiple strikes to vanquish. However, with the Hypercharge system, these challenging battles become significantly less daunting.

Some adversaries will be surrounded by an aura of either blue or pink. Defeat them using the appropriate method (close combat for blue, throwing kunai for pink), and you’ll enter a Hypercharged state. During this temporary phase, your next attack will deal significantly increased damage, potentially allowing you to slice through powerful foes with a single strike.

Certain sequences will let you link these attacks consecutively, and it always gives a gratifying sensation.

The system introduces an interesting twist to what could have been monotonous combat, offering diverse enemies and well-crafted encounters that challenge your abilities and encourage the use of all available resources.

Sometimes, the positioning of enemies can be maddeningly tricky, or the boss battles may unleash attacks that seem almost impossible to dodge; however, such challenging moments occur infrequently.

The level design is remarkably robust. While the stages are primarily linear, they offer a delightful experience as you traverse them due to their exceptional settings and situations.

When Kumori and Kenji team up, Kumori regains her playable status at certain demon portals. During these stages, you’re provided with a time limit to reach the finish line, navigating through quick platforming challenges by hurling her kunai.

Instead of merely backing Kenji’s journey, it’s crucial that she actively participates in the adventure as her special skills are essential for achieving our goal.

Every stage offers multiple opportunities for repeat play too. At the conclusion of each stage, you receive an evaluation in the form of a letter grade judging your performance according to factors like completion time, number of kills, and maximum combo, as well as unique tasks tailored to that particular level.

Scatter some secret treasures at random locations, and there are multiple strategies available for you to enhance your skills and achieve the coveted S ranks.

Despite the game being relatively short, lasting under 10 hours, its high replay value and additional levels called Secret Ops ensure prolonged playtime. Completing the game once grants access to the challenging Hard mode, making it an engaging experience even for committed gamers.

A point that leaves us somewhat skeptical is the type of gear you can utilize. By discovering golden scarabs throughout levels, you can purchase passive charms to enhance your skills; for example, dealing more damage as your health decreases, or kunai attacks passing through multiple enemies.

While there are many acceptable choices and several excellent options available, the Secret Arts offer fewer selections, and their impact seems less significant compared to the others.

Frequently, we’d overlook using our unique Spider Weapon, which shares the same energy gauge as your standard kunai strikes, and the available Ragebound Arts are limited, resulting in a rather narrow range of options to choose from.

Even though it’s relatively minor, this issue can still be bothersome. Once you discover the perfect gear setup for your needs, it certainly makes a significant impact. However, we can’t help but wish for a wider variety of choices or incentives to change things around every now and then.

Regardless of your choice, everything will appear stunning due to an incredibly robust design sensibility. The pixel art in this piece is top-notch, and the animations are smooth as well. We’re really fond of the approach taken here, as the visuals evoke nostalgia from classic games while still feeling modern and refreshed.

Ultimately, we’d like to extend our appreciation to the adaptable level of difficulty. The standard setting strikes a perfect balance — in Ragebound, the challenge level fits the game perfectly, featuring some incredibly tough battles, which aligns well with the series’ expectations.

In other words, when you encounter difficulties, there’s a feature called Assist mode that you can activate. This enables you to slow down the game pace, reduce damage received, prevent being knocked back, and offers additional benefits. It’s really nice to notice such helpful options incorporated.

As a gamer, I’d say, “I can crank up the challenge by slotting in specific Charms that make the game tougher. For instance, if I die, it’s back to square one on the stage, not just a restart at the checkpoint. Or, I might choose to take more damage with another Charm.

It’s terrific that numerous methods exist for gamers to achieve an appropriate level of challenge. In Ninja Gaiden, difficulty is renowned, and this game maintains that reputation. However, offering adaptability seems like a wise decision, and it’s executed effectively.

Read More

2025-08-01 20:38