Ninja Gaiden II Black is something that wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card, but I couldn’t be happier with its arrival. As much as I enjoy games such as Nioh and Rise of the Rōnin, I have always wanted to see Koei Tecmo resurrect Ninja Gaiden back from the dead.
With the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4 later this year, Koei Tecmo took the opportunity to also (aptly) stealth drop Ninja Gaiden II Black, a complete remake of the 2008 classic, remade using Unreal Engine 5. Incorporating both the base game contents of the 2008 release and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2’s content from the following year, Ninja Gaiden II Black is the complete experience on modern platforms.
Remakes go a few different ways: faithful recreations of what came before it or a vastly different and distinct departure that kind of does its own thing while still respecting the source material. Or, at the worst of times, a clinically sterile and safe redo that loses the essence of what made the original so great (I’m looking at you, Panzer Dragoon).
“Ninja Gaiden II Black is the complete experience on modern platforms.”
Thankfully, Ninja Gaiden II Black falls into the first category: a solid recreation of Sigma 2. Built on Unreal Engine 5, Ninja Gaiden II Black will feel familiar to series veterans as level design and individual map layouts are essentially unchanged, with asset quality and geometry being the focus of the remake. Assets, including textures and models, are redone entirely, taking advantage of modern hardware. Lighting, in particular, looks quite stunning in the default 60FPS mode on PlayStation 5.
Playing Ninja Gaiden II Black also offers players with capable displays, a 120hz mode, which on PlayStation 5 Pro, results in a significantly smooth experience, but one at the cost of some visual downgrades, such as paired-back lighting and noticeable aliasing on hair and fine mesh detail. Additionally, the HDR in the game also tends to behave in strange ways when toggling between the two refresh rates offered in the game, ultimately making the default 60FPS more enjoyable.
From a purely aesthetic point of view, Ninja Gaiden II Black captures the look and feel of the pre-rendered FMV cutscenes of past games while still delivering a rock-solid and smooth gameplay experience. Although minor, I did experience some graphical issues during the opening hours of the game on PlayStation 5 Pro — visual artifacting, including a kaleidoscope of broken colours that messed with the lighting, missing weapon models, and enemies that just popped into existence, marred the otherwise faithful recreation, which thankfully, after a restart, seemed to alleviate.
“Ninja Gaiden II Black captures the look and feel of the pre-rendered FMV cutscenes of past games.”
If you’ve played any Ninja Gaiden games in the past, I strongly recommend starting Ninja Gaiden II Black on the hard difficulty setting. The Acolyte or normal setting seems much easier than its original release, which can be an issue, especially considering you can’t change the difficulty level after starting a new game.
In terms of gameplay, Ninja Gaiden II Black approximates the feel of Sigma 2, which is a great thing, but if you’re new to the series, the gameplay may take some time to get used to. Unlike Nioh and other modern Koei Tecmo releases, Ninja Gaiden has a very distinct feel that locks in the player with their target, something that can feel almost archaic to newer players who expect fluidity and target-locking mechanics in their character action games.
On the topic of targeting, it has been several years since I’ve played Sigma 2. However, using secondary weapons, such as the bow and the cannon, feels somewhat more refined, with a snappier targeting reticle, which aids in their utility and ultimately made me rely on them more than I did back on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
The Ninja Gaiden series has always been a technical showcase, but over a decade since its Sigma 2 release, Ninja Gaiden II Black elevates an already fantastic game to new heights and is an absolute must-play for fans of the long and storied franchise.
