The Ninja Gaiden name is quite legendary among old-school NES gamers, remembered for protagonist Ryu Hayabusa,  action-platforming gameplay, cinematic driven storyline, and most notably, its hair pulling difficulty. The first trilogy of the games (which used came to a close in 1995; the series was rebooted in 2004, and the modern Ninja Gaiden 3 is actually more like Ninja Gaiden 6. The game falls into the genres of third-person action-adventure and hack n’s slash.

During Gamescom 2011 Team Ninja developer Yosuke Hayashi took us through a demo of the game. Ryu is back of course, and he is still carrying that pesky cursed arm from 2008’s Ninja Gaiden II. Ryu also has the ability to scale walls using his steel-toed ninja shoes and kunai knives. Stealthy instant kill sections have also been introduced.

Not much is known of the plot thus far, except that Ryu has been summoned by the Japanese Self-Defense Force, the Ministry of External Affairs, and sent to London to combat some terrorists.

Hayashi explained that Team Ninja is attempting to expand on the concept of the ‘Japanese Dark Hero’. Ninja Ryu Hayabusa and the player will have to deal with the ‘karma of murder’. They are driven to kill many humans, and really have no choice but to do so for a greater good. As the plot unwinds perhaps we will discover that some of our victims had noble intentions.

The act of ninja slicing enemies in half has been presented in a highly visceral and visually compelling way. Sharply angled camera positions highlight Ryu’s sword strike and the action slows for a brief second or two as the killing blow is made. The controller rumbles as sword meets bone. Downed enemies won’t simply die silently; they will crawl around screaming and clutching their wounds as Ryu continues to cut down ever more of their comrades. In a somewhat contentious decision, Team Ninja has done away with the ability to sever limbs, which they believe people are tired of seeing.

Ryu’s cursed arm allows him to wield an ultimate technique super-move. The more kills he racks up, the more charged this move becomes. In out demo he was shown to teleport-dash between a large number of enemies, dealing each a swift deadly sword strike. Again, the presentation of this move was highly stylised and rather fun to watch Ryu leave a fancy trail of bloody destruction in his wake. Ryu was also seen to be performing kill moves tied to quicktime events.

Hayashi explained that Ninja Gaiden 3 still retains its famous difficulty, but the option also exists for players to take an easier mode that allows them to enjoy the story driven elements. This is not to say the ‘easier’ mode will be a cakewalk, but it should give the less obsessive compulsive types chance to enjoy the entirety of the game before deciding to challenge themselves with greater difficulty settings.  Players are first given the choice of ‘normal’ and ‘hard’ and can unlock more challenging modes upon completion. The more difficult the mode, the more waves of enemies and the more damage Ryu will have to contend with.

Ninja Gaiden 3 will also feature online modes – co-op, and versus (up to 8 players). Hayashi explained that the multiplayer modes will use the same action engine as the single-player game, but since this portion of the game is still under heavy development, did not want to reveal much more.

Ninja Gaiden 3 can be expected sometime in early 2012 for WiiU, Xbox 360 and PS3. The PS3 version was confirmed to have move support, so best start practicing your Obliteration Technique.

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