Dotemu and The Game Kitchen’s throwback Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has received its first major post-launch update, adding a host of improvements on top of an easier way to jump into its daunting hard mode.
In a post on the Steam Store, the developer detailed what it’s calling the “D1” update, which is available to download now. There are two major changes before all the nitty-gritty.
The first of those is a new Restart from Checkpoint option, which gives you a menu option to instantly restart from the last checkpoint you reached, instead of having to get killed to do so. That’s a tremendously helpful feature that can help cut down on frustration.
On the other side is a new way to unlock Hard Mode, if you’re itching for a challenge. Now, by beating the initial duel against Ryu on level 1-1, you’ll be able to unlock the mode and jump right in.
On top of these changes here’s some of the other more notable updates.
- New dialogues have been added at the beginning of levels S-4, S-5 and S-6.
- A new alternative dialogue portrait for the Masked Agent on level 4-4 has been added.
- Hit stop and Screen shake can be now disabled through Accessibility settings.
- Golden Skins are now available immediately upon achieving S rank on all levels, without the need to complete the final level afterwards.
- Added many sound effects on enemies, projectiles and menus.
Of course there’s also a wide array of over 20 different bug fixes, which you can see on the official post if you want to.
Ragebound is the first 2D Ninja Gaiden game in over three decades, developed by the studio behind the Blasphemous games. In our review we gave the game an 8/10, saying, “Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a fantastic spiritual successor to the NES trilogy of games, one that merges the Nintendo and Xbox era together in a must-play action adventure game for fans of the franchise.”
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
