{"id":3586,"date":"2026-07-11T10:10:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T05:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=3586"},"modified":"2026-07-11T10:10:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T05:10:33","slug":"the-best-action-game-of-2025-is-a-game-nobody-bought-readers-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=3586","title":{"rendered":"The best action game of 2025 is a game nobody bought &#8211; Reader\u2019s Feature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"363\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_304833306-696d.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-29107924\" alt=\"Ninja Gaiden 4 key art of two ninja\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Ninja Gaiden 4 \u2013 a great game but not a great seller (Xbox Game Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A reader offers his view on a largely ignored game from last year, published by <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/xbox\/\">Xbox<\/a> and developed by <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2020\/02\/17\/bayonetta-vanquish-10th-anniversary-ps4-review-2-1-12255513\/\">Bayonetta and Vanquish<\/a> creator PlatinumGames.<\/p>\n<p>Well shower me in rubber shurikens and enrol me in shinobi school. <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/10\/21\/ninja-gaiden-4-review-revengeance-platinumgames-24477617\/\">Ninja Gaiden 4<\/a> is a splendid continuation of the series, that deeply reveres the rich, rambunctious foundations created by the late, legendary <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/10\/16\/dead-alive-creator-tomonobu-itagaki-dead-58-leaves-apology-note-fans-24442806\/\">Tomonobu Itagaki<\/a> (rest in peace, my good sir), whilst skilfully binding new creative blood to the formula, to infuse the experience with the DNA of an altered digital beast.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh-faced new lead Yakumo\u2019s actions feel turbo-charged, with a frenzied, squirrel-like spark to the way he interacts with his surroundings and decimates foes. Once you\u2019re in the zone, effortlessly separating marrow from bone, the spectacle is almost akin to a sacrificial ritual bloodbath!<\/p>\n<p>The controls and new traversal mechanics, like the grappling hook and rail-grinding, feel velvety smooth and fun to execute. The parts of the campaign that involve the prolonged rail grinds and having to deploy your grapple hook and wall-running techniques to evade missiles and incoming trains are aesthetically lovely and riveting to play.<\/p>\n<p>The new blood bind mechanic does a great job of introducing a new layer to the combat with the alternate weapon modes, and guard breaking adds more dimension and grit to the fighting.<\/p>\n<p>I also love the fact that there are multiple parry mechanics that feel so satisfying to pull off and really enliven the dynamite dynamism and ultra violent viscera of the bloodletting.<\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\" data-ico=\"factbox_article\" data-track-module=\"factbox_article\">\n<h2 class=\"factbox-title\">\n\t\t\t\tExpert, exclusive gaming analysis\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"factbox-content\">\n<p>Sign up to the <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/newsletters\/game-central\/\"><strong>GameCentral newsletter<\/strong><\/a> for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The new human and demon enemy designs, and the bosses, are definitely a highpoint and suitably bloodthirsty in their aggression, and certainly less frustrating than <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2021\/06\/11\/ninja-gaiden-master-collection-review-two-classics-and-a-dud-14756825\/\">Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2<\/a>, by default of having a more disciplined camera system and far less Poundland cheap, instant deaths.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few drawbacks that preclude Ninja Gaiden 4 from occupying the same plane of luminary space as all-time roaming hack \u2019em-up classics such as Bayonetta 1, 2, and 3; Devil May Cry 1, 3, and 5, <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/metal-gear\/\" data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\">Metal Gear<\/a> Rising, or indeed Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 Black.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NINJA GAIDEN 4 - Official Launch Trailer\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xvbQr84SW88?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><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>There are some glaring pacing issues where the chapters go on for far too long, there\u2019s a lack of enemy, weaponry, and location variety compared to Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 (we\u2019ll try to forget the intrinsically mediocre Ninja Gaiden 3, and especially the abominable <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2014\/03\/24\/yaiba-ninja-gaiden-z-review-z-grade-material-4674429\/\">Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z<\/a>), and the Devil May Cry 4-echoing reheated chapters for Ryu Hayabusa\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Ninja Gaiden 4 commands my vote for the best pure action game of last year, and quite possibly this generation. I\u2019m just over the moon my beloved PlatinumGames, aka the creative spiritual successors to Treasure \u2013 otherwise known as the emperor of arcadey action games with deep combat systems and immense replayability \u2013 are back!<\/p>\n<p>Although in fairness, they were also responsible for the best parts of <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/final-fantasy\/\" data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\">Final Fantasy<\/a> 16: the epic boss fights. And I always felt Sol Cresta and Bayonetta Origins were quite underrated.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Babylon\u2019s Fall was a bronze quality effort by PlatinumGames standards, and an unmitigated disaster that foreshadowed the internal turmoil and subsequent exodus they\u2019ve endured these past few years.<\/p>\n<p>Anyways, 2025 will surely go down as one of the finest years for ninja games with the highly accomplished <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/07\/30\/ninja-gaiden-ragebound-review-dont-rage-machine-23791707\/\">Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound<\/a> and <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/08\/26\/shinobi-art-vengeance-review-revenge-ninja-24002297\/\">Shinobi: Art of Vengeance<\/a> as well. Verily we live in an age of ninja gaiety!<\/p>\n<p><strong>By reader GG<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"363\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_271108425-922c.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-29107923\" alt=\"Ninja Gaiden 4 screenshot of Ryu Hayabusa (Xbox Game Studios)\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>The return of Ryu Hayabusa (Xbox Game Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>The reader\u2019s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><em>You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><em>Just contact us at <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/07\/11\/best-action-game-2025-a-game-nobody-bought-readers-feature-29107874\/mailto:gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk\">gamecentral@metro.co.uk<\/a> or use our <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/submit-stuff\/\">Submit Stuff page<\/a> and you won\u2019t need to send an email.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/07\/11\/playstation-xbox-dead-just-dont-realise-yet-readers-feature-29107546\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">PlayStation and Xbox are both dead, they just don\u2019t realise it yet &#8211; Reader\u2019s Feature<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/07\/05\/choo-choo-charles-reader-review-readers-feature-29034073\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">Choo-Choo Charles reader review \u2013 Reader\u2019s Feature<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/07\/04\/video-games-need-expiry-date-going-digital-readers-feature-29033638\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">Video games need an expiry date if they\u2019re going to be digital only &#8211; Reader&#8217;s Feature<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" class=\"metro-button share-bar-preferred-source\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--gaming\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>GameCentral<\/h4>\n<p>Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ninja Gaiden 4 \u2013 a great game but not a great seller (Xbox Game Studios) A reader offers his view on a largely ignored game from last year, published by Xbox and developed by Bayonetta and Vanquish creator PlatinumGames. Well shower me in rubber shurikens and enrol me in shinobi school. Ninja Gaiden 4 is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_304833306-696d_1783728092.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200&h=630&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}