10 Best Samurai & Ninja Video Games Of All Time

1. Nioh 2

ninja gaiden
Team Ninja

Nioh began life when Koei decided to develop a game based on an unfinished script by legendary filmmaker Kurosawa Akira back in 2004. Initially planned as a JRPG - it was deemed 'unfun' by the higher ups. Development shifted to OmegaForce, the team behind Dynasty Warriors, and the game became more like the popular hack-and-slash series.

Koei's merger with Tecmo opened the chance for Team Ninja to work on the project, and by 2012 it had become a Ninja Gaiden clone. After scrapping all the work again, a cat-and-mouse game of ideas shifted through the two lead devs - Yasuda Fumihiko and Hayashi Yosuke. Ultimately the final design turned the game into a Soulsborne set during the Sekigahara campaign with the characters playing William Adams in a very Clavellian plot.

Many games stuck in development hell for over a decade wind up being absolute garbage - Duke Nukem Forever, anyone? But Nioh bucks the trend by having solid gameplay, and especially with the sequel - great cinematics and story, plus a pretty comprehensive character creator. Worth the wait in many ways.

Nioh is often regarded as one of the best Soulsborne clones not produced by FromSoftware, themselves, and with Koei-Tecmo's beautiful cinematics and love of history, it leans into the atmosphere gloriously.

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Contributor

Author of Escort (Eternal Press, 2015), co-founder of Nic3Ntertainment, and developer behind The Sickle Upon Sekigahara (2020). Currently freelancing as a game developer and history consultant. Also tends to travel the eastern U.S. doing courses on History, Writing, and Japanese Poetry. You can find his portfolio at www.richardcshaffer.com.