If you’ve got ninja nostalgia running through your veins, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is going to slice straight through your expectations and deliver a precision strike to the pleasure centres. A deft blend of pixel-perfect platforming, twitchy combat, and exquisite retro visuals, this 2D throwback unsheathes top-shelf action.
Even better, it draws its steel from multiple inspirations. From the obvious NES-era Ninja Gaiden trilogy, the modern high-octane Team Ninja reboots, indie darling The Messenger, and, my cult classic adoration, Ninja Five-O on GBA.
This potent cocktail, ki-bursting with class is not just a tribute. It’s a cleverly reinvented resurrection of side-scrolling shinobi swagger. An absolute izuna drop of a release that deserves way more of your attention.
Slicing With Style
At its core, Ragebound delivers stage-based action where speed and precision are king. You control Kenji, a Ryu Hayabusa understudy who eschews the shit out of stealth in favour of a tight melee combos and movement tricks. In short order, you’re also Kumori, a sworn enemy turned spirit ally who fires off ranged attacks, creating a dance of steel and shadow as you switch between close-quarters carnage and ranged support.
The big hook is the Hypercharge system. Certain enemies glow blue or purple, indicating whether they need a melee or ranged finisher to trigger a power-up. Pull it off and your next attack becomes an instant kill. It’s an elegant mechanic that rewards sharp observation, reflexes, and split-second strategizing.
Essentially, Ragebound is a mini-puzzle layered over a combat loop tighter than Hayabusa ‘s parenthood-jeopardising leather onsie. Each fight feels deliberate, not just button-mashy chaos. It’ll dig its tekko kagi claws into you early and deep.
Traversal is just as spicy. Wall-jumps, double-jumps, dashes, and mid-air shuriken throws give you constant options for fluid movement. One moment you’re scaling a crumbling castle under siege, the next you’re dive-kicking through a bamboo forest laced with traps. The controls are crisp and responsive, to the point where every cock up genuinely felt like overexuberance on my part.
Stages With Substance
Each of the 14 levels in Ragebound plays out like a lovingly crafted diorama of destruction where environments aren’t just pixel perfect backdrops, they’re lethal playgrounds. Flaming arrows arc through the sky, platforms regularly betray you, and horrors jack in the box from unassuming angles. Checkpoints, mercifully, are abundant.
Better yet, every easily replayable (and rank challenge oriented) stage introduces a fresh twist. I’ll not spoil any of them here as the runtime on this is short enough at 5ish hours. But trust me; there’s a definite sense of escalation that never dips into cheap difficulty spikes. Even the nastiest traps can be handled with enough patience and pattern recognition.
You can double that runtime I mention if you’re going for full klepto complete. Hidden collectibles add a layer of replayability. Some are tucked behind tough platforming sequences, others require clever use of Kumori’s ranged skills to unlock doors or disable hazards from afar. They’re more than just filler, unlocking lore snippets and passive perks that flesh out Kenji’s world.
Honour Duels and Horror Shows
On the big bad front, Ragebound delivers From level spectacle and substance. These are not just health sponges. Each encounter is a test of pattern recognition, movement mastery, and smart use of your full move set.
Early bosses include rival ninjas with mirrored movesets, turning the game into a deadly fencing match. Later fights embrace the fantastical. All of them are beatable with skill, not stat grinding. All of them have generous checkpoints that create an “oh, you bastard, just one more turn and I’ve got you” addiction loops.
Most impressively, every boss teaches you something that carries over. Learn to parry a flurry of blades from a rival ninja and you’ll use that same technique against late-game assassins. It’s a drip-feed of mastery that makes each victory feel earned.
A Pixel-Art Parade
Visually, Ragebound is a feast. The master-level pixel art evokes the classic 16-bit era but isn’t bound by it. Backgrounds are layered with parallax detail, character sprites animate smoothly, and lighting effects bathe everything in moonlit mystique. It feels like what my brain remembers NES games looking like, not what they actually were.
Every level has a distinct visual identity. Rain-slick rooftops, cursed temples, snowy peaks, even techno-infused dreamscapes — each one is rich with small details and atmosphere. Enemy design is another high point, blending Japanese folklore with cyberpunk flourishes. You’ll fight oni in gas masks, robot ninjas powered by spirit flames, and biomechanical horrors stitched from scrolls and steel.
The soundtrack is equally impressive. These toe-tappers fuse traditional Japanese instrumentation with modern synths, creating a vibe that’s equal parts old-school and cinematic. Boss tracks are pulse-pounders, exploration themes drip with tension, and every slash and shuriken throw lands with satisfying sonic punch.
Sharpened With Respect
If there’s a spiritual through-line in Ragebound, it’s respect. This is a game made by incredibly talented connoisseurs who love ninja games, not just the aesthetics but the philosophy. It rewards patience, observation, and clean execution. Every stage is designed to be learned, not breezed through. Every death teaches you something useful.
That said, it lacks that FromSoftesque cruelty. Difficulty feels tuned for growth, not punishment. Respawns are fast, checkpoints are fair, and every tool you need to succeed is available or not far away. Upgrades help, but they’re not crutches. The true path to victory lies in reflex mastery, not min-maxing.
If you want an easier time, the assist mode offers a more forgiving route without watering things down. You still engage with all the systems, but you get extra health, more generous checkpoints, and slower enemy patterns. It’s a smart accessibility feature, and it never feels like a second-class experience.
From Gaiden to Greatness
For fans of the classics, Ragebound is a joyous throwback. Its platforming challenges evoke Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos. Its stylish boss fights recall the tension of Ninja Five-O. The narrative nods to The Messenger, playing with time and legacy in clever ways. Yet it never feels like a copy-paste job.
The new mechanics give it an identity of its own. Kumori’s ranged synergy, the Hypercharge system, the dynamic level design, they all create a rhythm that feels fresh yet familiar. It’s retro revival done with scalpel precision, not a blunt nostalgia bat.
Technically, it shines on PS5. Load times are near-instant, animations run at a crisp 60 frames, and the DualSense integration is subtle but effective. You can feel every wall-run thrum through the triggers and every katana clash pop with haptic feedback. Performance is silky, even in the chaos of endgame gauntlets.
A Masterclass in Modern Retro
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a standout in the crowded field of pixel-art action games. It honours its roots while forging a new legacy. Whether you grew up memorising platforming patterns on a CRT or you’re just discovering the joy of ninja precision for the first time, this is one of the most finely tuned action experiences in years.
It’s sharp, stylish, and smartly designed from top to bottom. Every stage offers fresh thrills. Every boss pushes you to improve. And every pixel is lovingly placed. Simply put, Ragebound is one of 2025’s true must-plays.
This review was made possible by a no strings attached review code provided by DotEmu
