Best ninja games to play in 2024
Elusive as a fleeting shadow, the best ninja games throw you into the role of a sword-swinging and kunai-flinging assassin, who sneaks over rooftops and stalks their prey in silence before striking precisely and quickly. The whole pop culture ninja stereotype is not really reflective of the historical definition, but that shouldn't stop you from getting your fill of entertainment as you satisfy your katana's thirst for blood.
Whatever kind of ninja you prefer – the sneaky ones, the slicy ones, or the futuristic shooty ones – our list of the best ninja games to play in 2024 has something in store for every taste. Unless you're one of those honorable samurai fools.
Aragami
Lince Works
Inspired by the classic Tenchu series, Aragami has you running around silently in open levels, giving you various deadly tools to quietly and quickly take out your enemies. While this arsenal includes classic tools like kunai, you may also make use of your supernatural abilities to set magical traps or teleport to different locations – as far as ninja games go, Aragami is also a fantastic stealth game. You can also play Agarami with a friend in the fun co-op mode and try to coordinate your moves.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Warner Bros
They wouldn’t have made an anime called Batman Ninja if Batman wasn’t a ninja. Anime doesn't lie. He’s got the gadgets, the stealth, the obscured face. The only thing he’s missing is a sword, but his tank makes up for that. When you’re crouched atop a gargoyle and scanning for enemies before isolating them and taking them out, it’s some of the best ninja action money can buy.
Dishonored
Bethesda
It might not be the first game you think of when someone says the word “ninja”, but that’s basically what you are – a whalepunk ninja. It even started out as a ninja game set in London, but Arkane made it weirder and weirder as development went on, and this is the end result. You can finish the entire game without any NPCs even knowing you were there, or you can whirlwind your way through everyone you see, using a range of supernatural abilities, parkour, and ninja-style gadgets.
Ghost of Tsushima
Sucker Punch Productions
Speaking of honorable samurai. At the start of this game, you play as one of those. He calls opponents out and cuts them down, even if the odds are against him. By the end, he's creeping through pampas grass, choking enemies with smoke bombs, and even committing war crimes to get the upper hand. Dead men have no honor.
Ghostrunner
505 Games
What’s cooler than a ninja? A cyberninja, of course! Everything sounds much cooler when you put “cyber” in front of it, add some neon lights, shiny metal body parts, and a menacing face mask. Ghostrunner does exactly that, putting you into the perspective of an acrobatic cyborg with parkours and slicing skills. Hack and slash your way over the rooftops of a dystopian city and enjoy the challenge this first-person game is offering.
Mark of the Ninja
Klei Entertainment
Mark of the Ninja stands out on this list because it’s the only indie game and the only title in 2D. It’s still one of the best ninja games here. Hide in the shadows, hang from ceilings, and spring traps on the sentries guarding each level. You have to earn every kill, but that’s what makes them feel so good.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Konami
Stealth is an option in this character action game, but it’s more of a way to thin the enemy ranks before you go slicing and dicing with your sword. The most ninja thing about this one is how you can slow time and slash in any direction, cutting your enemies into whatever shape you like. Oh, and you also get to fight the President on top of a destroyed mech, so that's pretty nifty.
Ninja Gaiden Black
Team Ninja
Ninja Gaiden isn’t really interested in the stealthy approach. Instead, you get right in there and pull off ridiculous combos and powered-up piledrivers, blocking and parrying incoming strikes without missing a beat. One of the best character action games ever made. If you're licking blood after this one, the entire series offers a similarly tough challenge.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FrontSoftware
There’s a bit of stealth in FromSoftware’s ninja game, but the best moments here are when steel clangs against steel. Where Dark Souls asks you to dodge and block, Sekiro has you timing a succession of blocks to drain an opponent’s stamina before finishing them off with a killing blow. Perfectly timing a parry on an incoming flurry of 30 strikes is more satisfying than finally getting that piece of food out from between your molars.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Mimimi Games
This tactical stealth game is challenging and offers a lot of creative freedom on how to achieve your objective as you command your squad of highly skilled ninjas during Japan's Edo period. Each member of the team has different abilities, which you need to use to their greatest effect to survive. Outnumbered ten to one on some missions, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun does not hold back in making things difficult for you. There's nothing more satisfying than eroding the enemy numbers from the shadows in the face of such odds.
Shadow Warrior 2
Devolver Digital
Your character is indeed called Lo Wang and there are more penis jokes here than there are on the walls of that public toilet by your local bus stop, but Shadow Warrior 2 is still a good ninja game, and one of the rare ones that show the action from a first-person perspective. Slice, dice, and shoot your way through hordes of monsters. It's okay for ninjas to have guns, you know?
Warframe
Digital Extremes
The pitch for Warframe probably went a bit like this: “You see Destiny, yeah? What if we did that, made it free, and let you play as a space ninja?” Sold. These days Warframe is bursting at the seams with content, and you can even grab your own spaceship to fly around. But you’ll feel at your most ninja-ish when you’re wall-running and slicing fools up.
It can get a bit lonely when you sneak through the shadows by yourself, so it’s best to balance things out by joining some great multiplayer games once you've completed your mission.
