The series is renowned for its “pure, uncompromising action” and punishing difficulty, but following a 13-year hiatus the developers factored in that newcomers would be playing. In an interview, director Masakazu Hirayama and Yuji Nakano outlined their approach to difficulty options.
“This is our first action title in over a decade, and we want everyone to be able to try it — series newcomers, those new to action games, and seasoned players. That’s why we’ve implemented a flexible difficulty system,” Hirayama explains.
One such option is Hero Mode, which does more than simply lower the challenge — it provides an assisted playthrough with toggleable features like auto-block and auto-dodge. A player can, for example, practice defense by turning off auto-dodge while keeping other assists active, gradually honing their technique.
“We want players to feel the spirit of Ninja Gaiden, to build their own skills and engage in battles that suit their level of mastery,” Hirayama adds.
Easy, Normal and Hard settings are also available and can be changed before each chapter. After finishing the game there’s an NG+ under “Master Ninja” mode, where difficulty options are locked and the trial is as unforgiving as possible.
Nakano stresses:
“Easy mode doesn’t make the game trivial. We’ve tuned it so everyone can still experience Ninja Gaiden’s trademark brutal combat.”
Ninja Gaiden 4 launches on October 21, 2025, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Source: iXBT.games