All Modern Team Ninja Games Ranked — From Nioh to Ninja Gaiden 4

From spearheading the Dead or Alive franchise to the 3D reinvention of Ninja Gaiden and beyond, Team Ninja has carved out a unique niche within the industry from the strength of its games alone — many of them genre-defining titles, but all of them definitively Team Ninja. With the release of the studio's latest title, Nioh 3, just around the corner, it felt like a perfect time to go back through the studio's modern output from 2016 onward. After the departure of Tomonobu Itagaki (RIP), Team Ninja underwent a restructuring that saw the studio focus more intently on its strengths as an action game developer while simultaneously venturing into new territory as a third-party partner with Nintendo and Square Enix on several key projects. Most significantly, though, was Team Ninja's foray into Soulslike territory, a path that has defined much of its output in the 8th and 9th console generations.

• Release Date — March 1, 2019
• Publisher — Koei Tecmo
• Genre — Fighting
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Just because we've listed Dead or Alive 6 as the weakest of the modern Team Ninja games doesn't mean that it's a bad game. Far from it, actually. What it does mean, though, is that the Dead or Alive franchise had begun to show its cracks by the time of DOA 6's release, especially when it came to multiplayer. Perhaps even more so than with Ninja Gaiden, Itagaki's absence from Team Ninja was most keenly felt within Dead or Alive, where the series somewhat stagnated after his departure, leading to entries with diminishing returns. Still, Dead or Alive 6 can be a ton of fun when playing in single-player or local multiplayer, and its turn toward more gory and violent visuals during fights helped it earn a nice middle ground between something like Tekken and Mortal Kombat.

• Release Date — February 1, 2017
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 74% (Mixed or Average)
• Platforms — Android, iOS

The Dissidia games are traditionally the fighting spin-off of Final Fantasy, so when Square Enix announced it was releasing a mobile-only turn-based RPG set in the Dissidia universe, fans were understandably excited. Here was a merging of worlds that many had hoped for since the very first Dissidia game on PSP, mixing the stylized modern interpretations of beloved heroes and villains from across the Final Fantasy universe with honest-to-goodness RPG gameplay. And, to its credit, Team Ninja did a great job crafting a compelling role-playing experience that works great on mobile, to the point where it's a wonder why the developer hasn't attempted anything else in the genre. The servers for Dissidia Opera Omnia shut down in 2024, but it garnered enough of a cult following for many players to still look back fondly on this unique game in the Final Fantasy franchise.

• Release Date — October 21, 2025
• Publisher — Xbox Game Studios
• Genre — Action
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Were it not for PlatinumGames' involvement in Ninja Gaiden 4, it would have landed much, much higher up on this list, because it's easily one of the best action games of 2025 and a fitting return to form for the franchise's 3D legacy. However, because Team Ninja's involvement was limited and Ninja Gaiden 4 was primarily (and obviously) spearheaded by PlatinumGames, it winds up at a spot further down the list in a ranking of the studio's games. Still, Ninja Gaiden 4 is everything you'd want a new 3D Ninja Gaiden game to be (at least, as far as most players are concerned). It's lightning fast, features some undeniably flashy combat, is ridiculously over-the-top with its violence, and features just enough of a "tough-but-fair" challenge. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a new era for 3D Ninja Gaiden.

• Release Date — June 24, 2022
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Action, Hack and Slash, Musou
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — Nintendo Switch

Next up in our ranking are two games contracted by Nintendo for the Switch spearheaded by Team Ninja, with the first being Fire Emblem Warriors. As the name suggests, Fire Emblem Warriors is a Dynasty Warriors-style musou take on Nintendo and Intelligent Systems' iconic TRPG franchise, and it's arguably one of the better IPs to get the Warriors treatment in terms of its characters and setting being a natural fit for musou gameplay. Instead of watching one-on-one battles between two warriors play out on screen, Warriors lets players take full control of a whole roster of iconic Fire Emblem heroes and engage in some frantic hack-and-slash action. It's mindless compared to the strategic depth of a mainline Fire Emblem game, but that's kind of the point, and what makes it fun.

• Release Date — July 19, 2019
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — ARPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 73% (Mixed or Average)
• Platforms — Nintendo Switch

Team Ninja's other Nintendo Switch exclusive is none other than Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, which is every bit as enjoyable as its two predecessors in the series in terms of offering up some solid ARPG action featuring iconic Marvel heroes and villains. But, in a twist that was pure Team Ninja, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 showers players with plenty of loot in the form of gems that they can equip to greatly alter their stats and combat effectiveness, transforming the traditional Marvel Ultimate Alliance experience into something much more akin to Team Ninja's work on games like Nioh. In theory, you could spend dozens of hours grinding out the highest-level gems in a sort of "endgame", but you'll more than likely get everything you want out of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 by playing through the campaign with the varied roster.

• Release Date — June 10, 2021
• Publisher — Koei Tecmo
• Genre — Action
• Review Aggregate Score — 73% (Mixed or Average)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One

If it happened to contain the original, unaltered versions of the core trilogy and not the Sigma remasters, then Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection would be a lot higher up on this list. As it stands, though, these are undoubtedly the inferior versions of what are otherwise incredible character action games from the 6th and 7th generation, except in the case of Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge (which improves upon the original in some significant ways). But if you put the fact that its the Sigma versions of Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II aside, you can still find plenty of enjoyment from these games and recognize them for what they are: genre-defining, generational action games that went on to influence a host of imitators and even change the way we think about difficulty in games at large. Really, it's an essential collection for action game fans.

• Release Date — February 7, 2014
• Publisher — Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Genre — Action RPG, Soulslike
• Review Aggregate Score — 88% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5

Team Ninja's first foray into the Soulslike genre, Nioh was actually the studio's first game released following its restructuring, and it set the stage for the developer's modern era. Nioh proved that Team Ninja could do more than just imitate Dark Souls; it could put its own unique spin on the Soulslike genre that was steadily gaining in popularity, transforming it into something that incorporated the studio's past work in the character action genre. Nioh is incredibly hard in a way befitting Team Ninja's legacy, but it's also equally rewarding, providing players with an almost impossibly deep loot and customization system, along with a satisfying and robust combat sandbox. That they would only improve on it further in a sequel is the cherry on top.

• Release Date — March 22, 2024
• Publisher — Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5

After a run of successful attempts at the Soulslike formula, Team Ninja switched things up with Rise of the Ronin. There's still some Soulslike DNA to be found in Rise of the Ronin's combat and progression, but it's much more indebted to the Assassin's Creed franchise in terms of its emphasis on open-world exploration and historically-charged storytelling. And for the most part? It really works here. Rise of the Ronin isn't a great open-world game, per se (at least, not nearly as good as a game like Ghost of Tsushima), but its unique partner system and deflection-based combat are fantastic. It's worth playing through Rise of the Ronin's twin campaigns just to experience all the great fights a second time.

• Release Date — March 18, 2022
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — Action RPG, Soulslike
• Review Aggregate Score — 72%
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

It might not have resonated as well with critics, but Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is easily one of Team Ninja's best games and a surprisingly great reimagining of the events of the original Final Fantasy. Looking past the memes and initial knee-jerk reaction to the game's debut trailer and public demo, Stranger of Paradise is a title that only becomes more and more rewarding the more you play, and it has everything to do with the game's almost overwhelming buildcraft and combat system.

Unlike Nioh and Nioh 2, which shower players with gear but ultimately only differentiate combat by a player's stance and weapon choice, Stranger of Paradise has a whopping 28 different jobs, each with its own gear pool, stats, and skills that players can mix and match to create a character and party that fit their ideal playstyle and allow them to break challenging bosses. It's a min/maxer's dream.

• Release Date — March 3, 2023
• Publisher — Koei Tecmo
• Genre — Action RPG, Soulslike
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Following both Nioh and Nioh 2, Team Ninja returned to familiar territory with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, but took a page from a different FromSoftware game for inspiration. As much as Nioh and its sequel are influenced by Dark Souls, Wo Long is clearly indebted to Sekiro, swapping Japanese history and mythology for Chinese but still featuring white-knuckle deflection-based combat. And, much like Sekiro, once players get into a good rhythm with Wo Long and learn how to effectively block, parry, and punish different enemies' attack patterns, it proves itself to have one of the most satisfying combat systems of any Team Ninja game. Wo Long takes things a step further than Sekiro with its unique elemental build system, too, giving players a glimpse at what Sekiro would have been like with a little more player customization.

• Release Date — January 23, 2025
• Publisher — Koei Tecmo
• Genre — Action
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Ahead of the launch of Ninja Gaiden 4, Team Ninja surprised everyone with a reveal and surprise shadow drop of an Unreal Engine 5 remaster of Ninja Gaiden II. Even though Ninja Gaiden II Black is based on the Sigma version, some tweaks were made to the game's balance that bring it more in line with the Xbox 360 original, making it a sort of definitive version of the game for modern hardware. The new visuals are a notable improvement as well, taking what was an already visually impressive game for its time and giving it a complete overhaul that leaves it looking just as good as Ninja Gaiden 4. It's the best of both worlds, really.

• Release Date — March 12, 2020
• Publisher — Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Genre — Action RPG, Soulslike
• Review Aggregate Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5

Taking in all of Team Ninja's modern games, it's hard not to be left with the indelible impression that Nioh 2 reigns as the studio's magnum opus. As a sequel, Nioh 2 builds upon everything that made the original great while smoothing out its few rough patches, and it significantly ups the challenge in ways that even the most hardened action game veterans weren't fully prepared for. It's a phenomenal Soulslike but also a phenomenal Team Ninja game that bears the unmistakable mark of the studio's strengths with creating deeply rewarding combat systems, high-spectacle boss encounters, and just the right amount of push and pull when it comes to character customization and tailoring a build toward a particular challenge. There's a good reason why many consider Nioh 2 their favorite non-FromSoftware Soulslike game.