When it comes to pure action games, there is still one that stands above the rest. The Ninja Gaiden series is a pure legend of the genre, with the first game of the rebooted saga (and its enhanced re-release Ninja Gaiden Black) among some of the most perfect action games ever created. The second game was filled with issues, but had unmatched combat. Then came the third game and, well, killed the franchise. While it lives on with references and connections to Team Ninja’s other series, Dead or Alive and Nioh, it has been dormant for years. Well, it seems they know some of us are craving for a new entry.
In an interview with IGN, Nioh 2 Director Fumihiko Yasuda talked about how he knew there was still strong yearning from fans for a new game in the franchise. Not only that, he said the core team (many who are now working on Nioh) still want to make another. A rash of other ninja-themed games have made that desire stronger.
“The core members of the team that worked on Ninja Gaiden want to make a new game,” said Yasuda. “We are aware that some fans wanted Ninja Gaiden more than Nioh 2. Now we see a lot of ninja games like [Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice] as well, and we see a lot of good inspirations in those games, so we hope to deliver some good news one day.”
Hopefully, one day the master ninja Ryu Hayabusa will rise again. But for now, we’ll just have to look forward to Team Ninja’s other output, with the next being Nioh 2, which will launch for PlayStation 4 in March.