Ninja Gaiden is a name that goes back a long, long way in gaming. Though most people might know series protagonist Ryu from the 3D games that started on the Xbox (or his side-hustle as a fighter and male model in the Dead or Alive series), the new Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound harkens all the way back to his side-scrolling arcade debut in 1988. And boy, does it look phenomenal.
I’ve had Ragebound on my radar for PC games that don’t need graphics cards since it was announced in December. Koei Tecmo teamed up with Dotemu and The Game Kitchen, developer of the highly-acclaimed 2D soulslike Blasphemous, for a throwback pixelated side-scroller. The initial trailer showed some blistering combat that reminded me of Dead Cells, but it’s the latest one that really made my eyes pop out:
In this trailer we see both new protagonists, Hayabusa clan protege Kenji Mozu and Spider clan assassin Kumori. It’s the latter who gets the spotlight here, showing off fluid moves and arachnid-themed special attacks. It looks like at least some parts of the game will let you switch between both fighters, or call the off-screen character in for a tag team attack.
Halfway through the trailer Kumori hops on a motorcycle, in classic 80s beat-em-em up fashion. Then she hops on a demon. She butt-stomps a demon with a motorcycle, backflips her hog, then butt-stomps another before coming back to the ground. Hell yeah.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is set for a summer 2025 release. It’s available to wishlist on Steam right now, and also coming to all consoles.