FromSoftware was developing a variety of titles before it struck gold withDemon’s Soulson the PlayStation 3 in 2009. This includes itslong-runningArmored Corefranchise, toEnchanted ArmsandKing’s Field, which saw niche success outside of Japan. One of these other titles that was released before the breakout success of the Soulsborne formula was 2009’sNinja Blade, an action hack-and-slash game released as an Xbox 360 console exclusive and PC via the Steam storefront.
Ninja Bladeput players in the shoes of a modern-day ninja, who uses a katana, twin swords, and broad swords to fight off various enemies. Much like other hack-and-slash games at the time, it was very heavily influenced by other seminalaction games likeDevil May CryandNinja Gaiden. Reviews at the time of its release were mixed, with much of the praise was given to the incredibly cinematic action set pieces and cutscenes with criticism for its bland action gameplay. Despite this, some fans considerNinja Bladea neat overlooked title by FromSoftware before its massive success withDemon’s Souls.
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WithFromSoftwarenow more focused on its monumental successes with games likeElden Ring, there were bound to be some older games from the developer that would fall to the wayside. This includesNinja Blade, where it was quietly but very suddenly removed from the Steam storefront and is no longer available for purchase. According to the game’s page on Steam, this title has been removed at the request of the publisher, which means either ND Games or bitComposer Games were the one who asked for this to be removed.
There is no formal reason as to why this game wasremoved from Steamfrom either publisher, though it may be due to the age of the game itself. Many of the recent reviews for this port have claimed thatNinja Bladeisn’t compatible with most modern machines. Listed problems include a broken frame rate, graphics, and controls also seeing issues. This port was published back in 2009, so there were likely to be incompatibility issues with an older PC release like this as time went on.
As of this writing, there isn’t a window for when fans can expect to jump back into thisolder FromSoftware titlein a state that is playable through Steam, though GreenManGaming currently still has the game for purchase. For Xbox 360 owners, they can only playNinja Bladeif they own the disc, as the game isn’t backwards compatible on modern Xbox consoles.
Ninja Bladeis available on PC and Xbox 360.
