As a good chunk of Ninja Gaiden 4 takes place in a fictional near-future Tokyo, it is unsurprising that the developers at PlatinumGames drew inspiration from the mother of all cyberpunk settings, Blade Runner. Several of the urban locations that Ryu Hyabusa and newcomer Yakumo visit are dark, oppressive, and cloaked in shadow – places where Rick Deckard would feel right at home.
In an interview with Game*Spark, art director Tomoko Nishii, level design director Yudai Abe, and lead composer Masahiro Miyauchi comment that the city settings in Ninja Gaiden 4 were made to continue the sense of heaviness found in past Ninja Gaiden games. The constant dark, heavy rain juxtaposed with bright, neon lights was intentional, as the developers wanted players to feel like their surroundings were closing in on them.
According to Miyauchi, elements in the urban areas (such as art, level design, and music) were inspired not just by Blade Runner, but also by Ghost in the Shell. Using Ninja Gaiden 2’s Tokyo environment as a springboard, the developers created what they envisioned to be a natural, cyberpunk-flavored evolution of the location. On the other hand, they introduced a distinct Japanese feel through the game’s enemy designs, some of which are inspired by traditional folklore.
The words “Cyberpunk” and “Japanese” are the core foundations of Ninja Gaiden 4’s design, with the developers building off of Ninja Gaiden 2’s towering skyscrapers. By asking themselves how the buildings in the city would have evolved 10 years later, they created a future Tokyo that is daunting and exciting to explore.
Ninja Gaiden 4 is set to release on October 21 for PC (Windows), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
