Review of NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound for PlayStation 5

NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound is like taking a wild trip down memory lane, only with a few extra explosions and a lot more button mashing. The Game Kitchen and DotEmu hit us with this wild pixel frenzy, and look, I don’t usually go for sidescrollers, but this was, uhm, something else. Remember that old NES classic with Ryu Hayabusa? Yeah, me too. It’s like they took that vibe, cranked up the chaos, and called it a day.

You start this journey with Ryu heading off to America — not really sure why that detail stuck, but it made me chuckle. While he’s out, all hell breaks loose at Hayabusa Village. Total chaos. Demons everywhere. So Kenji Mozu, this young ninja dude, decides to step up and kind of, sort of teams up with the Black Spider Clan. Ironic, maybe. Or just practical. Kumori, an assassin, jumps in on the fun. Their mess happens alongside the original NINJA GAIDEN storyline, which is weirdly cool.

Anyway — back to the chaos. The controls? Classic but with sprinkles of modern chaos, you know? The left stick’s your buddy for movement, then there’s the X for jumps and Square for slashing through, well… everything. Climbing walls got super easy, makes you feel like a ninja in a cheap movie, but hey, it works.

One funky move is this guillotine boost — hit enemies mid-air, and you’re zooming. Kumori, with her kunais, adds a bit of distance damage, so there’s that. Felt stylish, though maybe I was distracted by how loud my controller was.

Enemies with a glowy aura (vibrant enough to make a rainbow blush) offer a shot at these hypercharge attacks. You can sacrifice health to power up, which frankly makes boss battles a lot more bearable. Imagine getting a boss all dizzy and flickering like a neon sign—strange, right?

Oh, and there are challenges in each level if you’re hunting trophies or something. Things like avoiding spikes by clinging to ceilings. Sounds easy? Nope. A bit like trying not to spill coffee while driving. Also, you can look for collectibles to, uh, complete your gaming repertoire or something.

Golden Scarabs? Yeah, collect those little things and exchange them at Muramasa’s shop. They’re there to buy Dragon Talismans, boosting abilities. One of my favorites lets you regain health unwisely during a combo. Another one restores your health at checkpoints. Thoughtful, isn’t it?

As for trophies, the game has a lot of them. Platinum for the overachievers. Tasks range from completing levels to slaughtering thousands of enemies. Might seem daunting, but with every enemy you defeat, it kind of becomes second nature—or a noisy habit.

All this happens with some solid accessibility options. You can tweak game speed, boost size, and more. Fancy, right? Plus, buying it means you get it on both PS4 and PS5. Gotta love a deal like that!

That wraps it up. Was this game a whirlwind? Heck yeah. Not sure why I feel like a ninja now, but if you’ll excuse me, there’s some imaginary shuriken throwing I need to attend to.