Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is the newest game in the long-running Ninja Gaiden series, but it looks to take the series back to its roots as the first 2D side-scrolling entry in over three decades. As I mentioned in my preview back in June, I’m sort of a newcomer to the Ninja Gaiden series. I’ve always wanted to dip my toes into the high-octane action that this series is known for, but I didn’t know where to start. After my time with Ragebound, I don’t think I could ask for a better jumping-in point. The Game Kitchen, well known for the Blasphemous game series, has created one of the best 2D action games of this generation, and I think fans of the Ninja Gaiden series are in for a treat.
The Bonds That Tie Us
After a short playable prologue, I was introduced to the first of two main characters in Ragebound, Kenji, a young disciple of series protagonist Ryu. During a training bout between Kenji and Ryu, their village is attacked by a swarm of demons. Kenji takes on the task of protecting the village while Ryu travels to America after receiving a letter from his deceased father. From here, Kenji embarks on a journey to discover the source of these demon attacks and how to stop them. Elsewhere, a young member of the Black Spider Ninja Clan named Kumori, Ragebound’s second protagonist, is also dealing with a demon attack in her clan’s HQ. She is sent by her clan leader to seek out the demons and use a sacred kunai that will allow her to trap a demon’s soul and wield their power. Eventually, these two find themselves in a perilous situation that forces them to ally up by having Kenji use the kunai to absorb Kumori’s soul into his body. They must work together using each other’s unique abilities in order to defeat the demon horde and save their clans.
It is a decent setup, and the game does a good job of painting Kenji and Kumori as rivals who slowly start to care and respect each other. Their relationship grows over the course of the game, and you get some funny and sweet moments between the two that seem believable and not forced. For example, there is a moment before starting a mission, which has you exploring a secret pirate hideout, and Kenji lets it slip that he is actually really into pirates. Kumori teases him about this and calls back to it later on in a very cute and humorous scene. It’s little character moments like this that allow the player to care, even just a little bit, about Kenji and Kumori that I really appreciated. There are also plenty of gorgeous 2D pixel cutscenes that appear throughout the campaign that really help build drama in certain scenes. Ragebound isn’t going to win any awards for its story or characters, but it does just enough to entice you to figure out what is going on and learn the fates of Kenji and Kumori.
The Flow of Combat
This is a difficult game that really expects you to learn patterns and enemy strategies. The opening few missions of Ragebound waste no time, throwing you right into the action. There will be tons of enemies rushing you and launching attacks in the opening minutes of the game that require quick reflexes and focus to react to and avoid taking a hit. If you aren’t paying attention, you will quickly find yourself being swarmed or careening down a bottomless pit to your doom. Thankfully, Ragebound gives the player more than enough ways to handle the demon horde.
I’m just going to get straight to the point here: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has some of the best-feeling action and platforming I’ve experienced in a 2D action game. There is something so satisfying in the way that you move through a mission while utilizing Kenji’s guillotine boost attack, a move that Kenji can use mid-air to slice enemies or bounce off of them, to keep your momentum going. I would often have to force myself to slow down to make sure I wasn’t passing up any hidden secrets in levels, because I would be in such a groove that I would be flying past sections of a level without fully exploring them. It’s been a while since I’ve had a game click so fast and control so intuitively from the start. It’s obvious The Game Kitchen worked hard on perfecting the flow and feel of the game, and I cannot praise them enough for what they’ve accomplished.
On top of Kenji’s basic sword swipe and guillotine boost attack, you will also have access to Kumori’s kunai and spider weapons. Using Kumori’s actions takes ki, which is represented by a red meter below Kenji’s health bar. Ki can be restored by slicing enemies with Kenji’s sword or breaking ki energy orbs that are placed throughout missions. There are times you’ll find yourself out of ki when needing to take care of a long-range enemy and curse your past self for blowing through it. Learning when to use your ki and deciding when to use your spider weapons, or which spider weapon, is important if you expect to make it through Ragebound’s seven-hour campaign.
A Ninja Always Prepares
Throughout the game, you will collect gold scarabs that you can use to purchase upgrades or new spider weapons in between missions. There are quite a lot of these weapons, and each offers a different way for you to approach combat, especially boss encounters. I never found one of these was particularly powerful or better than the rest; instead, I found each had its own utility and use. I like that it doesn’t feel like there is a definitive kit, and players can change their loadout to fit their playstyle the best.
Besides weapons, there are also talismans that Kenji can equip that give him small perks that can help them on their journey. One prevented Kenji’s health from going below one once after being hit, while another gave more ki charge when attacking an enemy. There are a decent number of these talismans to purchase as you progress through the story, and I could see the use for pretty much all of them. Whenever I would see a new one in the shop, I would always have to stop and think if it was worth swapping out one of the two I already had equipped.
If you are feeling particularly bold, you can also equip talismans that put a handicap on the player in exchange for a higher ranking in a mission. You see, after each mission, you are given a rank based on four factors: how fast you made it through the level, how many enemies you killed, how high a kill chain you made, and how many of the optional objectives you completed. Earning higher ranks in a mission unlocks new abilities and talismans, so if you are finding it difficult to reach the higher rankings, you always have the option to sacrifice some health or damage to try and push yourself to the next rank.
Outer Body Experience
Kumori isn’t always constrained to Kenji after they fuse together. By communing with demon altars, Kumori can take on a corporeal form to navigate using platforms that Kenji cannot see or use. The only caveat is that she can only stay in this form for so long and has to break floating orbs to stay in this state. While controlling Kumori, you have infinite use of her kunai, which gives you a distinct advantage when fighting demons. The long-range projectiles can melt through most enemies, making them hardly a problem. The Game Kitchen recognized this, so instead of making combat the focus of these sections, you have to rely on your platforming skills. This team did not hold back when making these, especially in the game’s Secret Ops levels.
These Kumori segments require precise timing and platforming in order to reach the end. There are also no checkpoints during these sections, so you have to make it through in one go, or else you have to start them over again from the demon altar. They seem relatively simple at first, and they are generous with the time given between orbs to collect. However, once you get into the later levels or start playing through the Secret Ops missions, you’ll quickly see how demanding these levels can be. I found myself banging my head against some of these segments for up to twenty or thirty minutes just trying to figure out how the heck to get through them in time. These segments were the highlight of the experience for me, as I felt they truly tested my abilities and mastery of moving through these levels at a breakneck pace.
Those Who Fight Further
Boss fights in Ragebound act as challenging punctuations to certain levels throughout the campaign. Each of these bosses is usually introduced at a level’s beginning and has a little preamble with Kenji and Kumori before and after a fight. It gives each of them a personality, if ever so slightly, and makes you more motivated to take them down. While these can be somewhat difficult, I was slightly disappointed with these fights overall. Most of them had a pretty clear pattern they would follow, so once I learned what it was, it became pretty easy to slice my way through them. I will praise the design for most of these bosses, though. The beautiful pixel art and animations go a long way to bring these abominations to life.
For those looking for even more challenge, after completing the campaign, you unlock Hard mode. This mode alters each level to have more hazards, more enemies, and more challenging platforming. The first level of the game alone amps up the challenge quite a bit, forcing you to think on your toes and not rely on the muscle memory in the normal version of the level. I found this mode very fun and just the right amount of challenging. I still haven’t completed the hard mode at the time of writing this review, but I will definitely continue to grind away until I topple the Demon Lord once and for all.
Kickstart My Heart
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound took hold of me from the start and didn’t let go until the credits rolled. I wasn’t a fan of the Ninja Gaiden series before playing Ragebound, but I can guarantee that I’ll be diving more into this series after my incredible time with this game. Although those other games will have to wait until I’m fully finished with Ragebound. I still want to go back and try and reach S rank on every mission, beat hard mode, and I still don’t know how to unlock the secret mission promised by the trophy list. I’ve spent so much time with Ragebound and loved almost every minute of it, and I still haven’t had my fill. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go slice through some more demons while grinning ear-to-ear.
Disclaimer: Dotemu provided a PC (Steam) copy of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound for review purposes.
