The action game genre has been stuck in the same rut for years, with every developer chasing the same slow-paced, methodical Soulslike combat formula. Team Ninja has apparently had enough of this nonsense and decided to do something radical: make an actual action game again.
Ninja Gaiden 4 is positioning itself as the antidote to an industry obsessed with stamina bars and deliberate pacing. The studio is openly rejecting what’s popular in favor of what actually made their series great in the first place.
Recent comments from the dev team reveal just how intentional this rebellion really is. They’re not accidentally going against the grain here.
Team Ninja calls out the Soulslike takeover
The action game space has been completely dominated by one particular style for over a decade now. Every developer seems convinced that slow, methodical combat is the only way forward. Team Ninja isn’t buying it.
Producer and director Masakazu Hirayama recently spoke about this shift in the industry during an interview (via GamesRadar+) at the Summer Game Fest. His comments reveal a studio that’s tired of watching genuine action games disappear.
The conversation about action games has changed quite a lot since the last Ninja Gaiden game… Soulslikes have kind of taken center stage.
This acknowledgment feels particularly significant coming from Team Ninja. The studio contributed heavily to the Soulslike trend with Nioh and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Now they’re essentially admitting that trend has gone too far.
The irony is delicious. Team Ninja helped create the monster that devoured their own genre. Now they’re the ones trying to kill it.
Ninja Gaiden is about having high speed, pure action gameplay. So we are going against the trend in that way.
This isn’t just about game design philosophy. It’s about preserving what made action games special before everything became about stamina management and deliberate pacing. The industry forgot that sometimes players want to feel like unstoppable killing machines instead of cautious survivors.
PlatinumGames partnership signals serious intent
The collaboration with PlatinumGames isn’t accidental. These are the developers who kept the dream of pure action alive while everyone else chased Dark Souls clones. Their involvement suggests Ninja Gaiden 4 won’t just talk about rejecting trends.
PlatinumGames understands spectacle in ways most studios have forgotten. They know how to make players feel powerful without making games easy. That balance is exactly what modern action games have lost.
When you pick up the controller and you play, it has that responsiveness, that really satisfying gameplay. Right when you pick it up, it feels like an evolution.
The emphasis on immediate satisfaction is telling. No learning curves that take hours to master. No complex stamina systems that punish aggression. Just pure, responsive combat that rewards skill and speed. This partnership could spark a renaissance for traditional action games.
If Ninja Gaiden 4 succeeds, other developers might finally remember what the industry seems to have forgotten: that not every game needs to be a Soulslike.
After all, sometimes players just want to cut through enemies like butter instead of carefully timing every attack while dodging and waiting for an obligatory opening after a hundred failed attempts at one single boss fight. And to that end, the October 21 release date can’t come any sooner.
What’s your take on Team Ninja’s decision to reject Soulslike mechanics? Are you excited for a return to classic high-speed action? Drop your thoughts below!
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