{"id":50900,"date":"2025-08-09T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=50900"},"modified":"2025-08-08T18:50:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T09:50:12","slug":"ninja-gaiden-4-draws-influence-from-blade-runner-and-ghost-in-the-shell-platinumgames-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/ninja-gaiden-4-draws-influence-from-blade-runner-and-ghost-in-the-shell-platinumgames-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninja Gaiden 4 draws influence from Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell, PlatinumGames says\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As a good chunk of <strong>Ninja Gaiden 4<\/strong> takes place in a fictional near-future Tokyo, it is unsurprising that the <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/platinumgames-on-ninja-gaiden-4-were-not-making-it-for-team-ninja-were-making-it-together-with-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">developers at PlatinumGames<\/a> 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 \u2013 places where Rick Deckard would feel right at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NINJA GAIDEN 4 Official Trailer | Xbox Games Showcase 2025\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Orl7x7vUohQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespark.jp\/article\/2025\/08\/08\/155871.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Game*Spark<\/a>, 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s\u00a0Tokyo 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\u2019s enemy designs, some of which are inspired by traditional folklore.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1344\" height=\"752\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1344px) 100vw, 1344px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250808-50900-001.jpg\" alt=\"Ninja Gaiden 4\" class=\"wp-image-50910\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250808-50900-001.jpg 1344w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250808-50900-001-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250808-50900-001-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The words \u201cCyberpunk\u201d and \u201cJapanese\u201d are the core foundations of Ninja Gaiden 4\u2019s design, with the developers building off of <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/team-ninja-recommends-removing-ninja-gaiden-2-blacks-entire-hud-to-make-the-difficulty-even-more-extreme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ninja Gaiden 2<\/a>\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ninja Gaiden 4 is set to release on October 21 for PC (Windows), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ninja Gaiden 4 developers at PlatinumGames talk about the game&#8217;s cyberpunk setting and famous inspirations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":50908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-50900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ninja Gaiden 4 draws influence from Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell, PlatinumGames says\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ninja Gaiden 4 developers at PlatinumGames talk about the game&#039;s cyberpunk setting and famous inspirations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/ninja-gaiden-4-draws-influence-from-blade-runner-and-ghost-in-the-shell-platinumgames-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ninja Gaiden 4 draws influence from Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell, PlatinumGames says\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ninja Gaiden 4 developers at PlatinumGames talk about the game&#039;s cyberpunk setting and famous inspirations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/ninja-gaiden-4-draws-influence-from-blade-runner-and-ghost-in-the-shell-platinumgames-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-08T19:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20250808-50900-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1430\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"755\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ninja Gaiden 4 draws influence from Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell, PlatinumGames says\u00a0 - 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