Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is available now, offering up a stunning Unreal 5 character action game. Here's how it holds up to Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and the original.

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The recently released Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is set for a physical release on PlayStation 5 only. There is no word on an Xbox physical release.

Ninja Gaiden is one of the most popular and longest-enduring ninja game franchises. Ryu Hayabusa's exploits began in the arcades in 1988 and have continued across numerous console generations. The modern trilogy of Ninja Gaiden games began with the reboot in 2004.

Not the exact remaster some were hoping for, but Ninja Gaiden Black 2 is still an action game with few equals.

During the Xbox Developer Direct January 2025, Koei Tecmo surprised-dropped Ninja Gaiden 2 Black for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. The game is also available on Xbox Game Pass.

At the end of the reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4, Team Ninja revealed that they remastered Ninja Gaiden 2 with Unreal Engine 5, and this new version was Microsoft’s second ever stealth drop, after Hi-Fi Rush. They call this version of the game Ninja Gaiden 2 Black.

I'm in a similar situation with Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, which has just shadow dropped, rather appropriately, on Game Pass. This updating of a 2008 classic feels absolutely incredible, and yet - I'm far from an expert on most things, and Ninja Gaiden falls well within "most things" in this case - I'm almost powerless to express why.

Say what you will about Ninja Gaiden 2, the game commits to its ridiculous over-the-top action tone. I never grew up with Ninja Gaiden. The original games came before my time, and the rebooted franchise was synonymous with the Xbox 360,