We all think ninjas are pretty cool, right? Despite how popular they are in other mediums, it feels like they’re slowly becoming less of a presence as video game protagonists in favor of soldiers, adventurers, and regular guys. How surprising, then, that 2025 brings stealth warriors with six major games: Ubisoft’s Shadows of the Assassin’s Creed, It’s Sucker Punch Yotei’s ghost, said Sega Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, the Game Kitchen’s Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, and Team Ninja Ninja Gaiden 4 and remastered in 2008’s Ninja Gaiden II.

These all belong to franchises, both ongoing and relevant, and both becoming relevant again with their first new installments in years. It’s the second category that feels particularly special; at one time, Shinobi and Gaiden are some of the most popular ninja games around, characterized primarily by their punishing difficulty and famous association with their respective developers.

Gaiden lasted a little longer than shinobi, but both disappeared in the 2010s as Sega and Team Ninja moved on to other franchises. Sega at least gave fans a heads-up that it was looking at the revival Shinobi back in 2023 with some of these other dormant franchisesbut Team Ninja is never that declarative Ninja Gaiden.

So if the Very angry the announcement was a surprise, then Guide 4‘s is a real shock to the system; modern games fell after 2013’s Ninja Gaiden 3—the first of which was not directed by Tomonobu Itagaki, who left the studio in 2008 and died this past October—and Team Ninja moved into it Dead or Alive series (which was also eventually shelved) and co-developed third-party games.

But both Final Fantasy I prequel Stranger in Paradise and himself Nioh The games show that the developer has never walked away from his brand of hard action, so it makes sense to see the studio team with PlatinumGames to bring Ryu Hayabusa back to the front.

if Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden made fans “They’re back!”, Shadows given the Assassin’s Creed The fanbase is a reason to say “It’s about damn time.” Ubisoft’s action-stealth series is famous avoided Japan in its early days, and many think it will be beaten in 2020 by said Yotei followed Ghost of Tsushima. On the one hand, it is admittedly funny how the two revenge-seeking ninja and samurai are placed as their main characters: Shadows star Naoe and Yasukeand Yotei there is Atsu and his brother Jubei, who is the only playable of the two. But with almost seven months gap between them, both sports chose to play to their individual strengths and respectfully acknowledge the other when the situation calls for it.

From top to bottom, Shadows is a Assassin’s Creed game by and by, and Yotei is a Ghost game in all the ways that defined Sucker Punch’s previous titles. Gameplay-wise, it is Shadows who wins the way of the ninja, using Naoe to promote stealth, which continues to be the weakest element of Ghost games.

Thematically, however, it means something more of a ninja in the world Yotei: the game best side story REFLECT Tsushima The protagonist Jin Sakai is remembered as “the First Shinobi,” a legend whose story was banned by the shogun to prevent civil disobedience from the people. The “dishonorable” tactics he used in the first game, such as assassinations and poison weapons, have since been adopted as the “Way of the Shinobi” by an evil clan, with Yotei positioning Atsu, already a swordsman for hire as the game unfolds and a skilled spy, as the rightful successor to his job and mantle as “Ghost.”

But no single game has the legacy of a ninja game; despite their overlap and the generational divide they faced in sensibilities, all six felt important in helping the genre make a comeback. We don’t know how it all turned out to be commercial-only Yotei and Shadows reports sales figures to date, and Ninja Gaiden 4 Publishing on Xbox means we’ll never know how they sold—but it’s a good sign they’re being received individually.

There is clearly an audience that wants to hide and cut it as ninjas, so hopefully we will see it again, or even newcomers to the fight. The more ninjas, the merrier.

Want more io9 news? Check when to expect the latest wonders, Star Warsand Star Trek releases, what’s next for DC Universe in film and TVand everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.