NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound

The graphics, sound and music are all really well done. The sprites are large, detailed, and well animated. The level environments are awesome, and take place in various different environments that keep everything feeling fresh. The gameplay for the first few levels is really fun and engaging but then very quickly becomes just pure tedious frustration and is an exercise in patience more than anything else. In the first few levels you're dashing, jumping and slashing your way through enemies in a smooth flow that feels great. You're learning boss patterns, attacking at the right time and passing them after several attempts. It feels good and a nice amount of challenge. After that there's no more flow - everything becomes time based, with tedious stop/start gameplay, e.g. shield enemies (that you have to wait to attack before they take damage), pause to wait for this elevator, save enough ammo to shoot this switch to make this platform go up, pause and wait for this enemy to spawn so...

[h1]A gorgeous, satisfying work of art despite some inconsistencies[/h1] It is really easy to praise Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, especially if you hadn’t built up any hype or expectation. This 2D side-scroller is phenomenal! With top notch pixel art graphics and fluid gameplay, you are driven through an easily likable game which is sure to be one – if not the best – game in 2025 in terms of retro gaming. However, as nothing is perfect, there are also flaws. [h1]Entrusted to the right hands[/h1] Any retro gamer has at the very least already heard of Blasphemous and how The Game Kitchen succeeded in delivering a high-level, addictive work. Both the media and players speak the same language here. And so The Game Kitchen has been entrusted with bringing back to life a 2D perspective for Ninja Gaiden, especially considering the nostalgia the fans increasingly refer to the classic NES entries. Needless to say they once again succeeded in developing a great game which respects the Ninja...

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is one of those rare games where I found absolutely no flaws The art design is so amazing that it’s actually sad you can’t turn off the HUD every frame looks like wallpaper material The music is a whole vibe on its own, on one hand it’s chill and calming on the other it’s dynamic, aggressive but with a kind of warm vibe. It really captures the spirit of old NES games and it’s enjoyable to listen to even outside of the game. It sets the atmosphere perfectly The gameplay arsenal is simple but incredibly well put together basic melee attack, ranged attack with kunai, special move, double jump (jump of enemies) and an ultimate. The best part is that you actually use all of it. There’s not a single useless ability, every level is designed in a way to make you use your full arsenal to the max The game isn’t super hard, but there’s definitely a challenge. The coolest thing is if you die it’s 100% your fault. Not the game’s stupidity, it...

Really fun 2D Action Platformer. Gameplay is silky smooth and the music for it is peak. It's short, but its worth the price and entertainment you get out of it. Highly recommend.

NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound is a nearly perfect comeback of 2D Ninja Gaiden games that have been absent for over two decades! I was genuinely shocked when they announced this one and the 4th entry to the series back-to-back, as well as shadow dropping Black 2, since I wasn’t expecting any news regarding Ninja Gaiden any time soon. I mean, I always thought that a 4th entry could be possible, but having a new side-scrolling Ninja Gaiden game? Not in a million years. Anyway, here we are with Ragebound, so my prayers were answered! It plays pretty much the same as any other 2D Ninja Gaiden game, one-hitting all enemies on your way to bosses, but The Game Kitchen added a twist called Hypercharge that lets you power up your attack to take down the bigger enemies in one hit, too. The platforming elements are there and work great, and since the game features two protagonists, called Kenji and Kumori, the special attacks that used to be triggered by pressing the d-pad up and B simultaneously ar...

When I was a kid one of the many games I was obsessed with was [i]Power Rangers Dino Thunder[/i] on the Gameboy Advance. This felt like it scratched that very specific nostalgia hit and it honestly couldn't be more of a compliment. I am so obsessed with this idea of big IPs being lent to smaller, talented indie developers, including the co-lead of [i]Deadcells[/i] making a Prince of Persia game, and a Zelda-Crypt of the Necrodancer mash up. I really hope this is a trend that continues to evolve and grow because it allows us to have these smaller, tighter experiences while also allowing dev teams the larger publicity and reach these IPs allow. Great stuff.

As a fan of both Ninja Gaiden and Blasphemous I can say that this game lived up to the expectations. Well worth the money!

This is one of the best 2D platformers out there. Once you master a level, you can get into a great flow state, and it has amazing replayability for those who want to perfect every stage. Plus there's a hard mode that unlocks once you beat the game offering even more replayability. The Game Kitchen cooked with this one.

We need more games like this. Not too long, not too short and nothing too fancy in terms of systems. Just great art, great music and great gameplay.

Its a new game but feels like a blast from the past. Pure Video Game Heritage recommend it for everyone that just wants a no nonsense fun action game.