Ninja Gaiden 4 - PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards and Processors
We conducted a review and benchmarks Ninja Gaiden 4 on video cards of different generations, starting from RTX 3060 to RTX 5090 и RX 6700 to RX 9070 XT and various processors AMD и Intel. Revealed the real system requirements, real SPF, and also during the tests we conducted we assessed graphic display quality the game itself.
| THE GRAFICAL PART |
This subsection of our review highlights the main graphical aspects of this game. Particular attention is paid to the version of the graphics engine used, the version of the API used, graphic settings and the quality of development of the main visual aspects.
| Supported OS and Graphics API |
Ninja Gaiden 4 is being developed using DirectX 12 and modern upscaling technologies, including FSR, which allows for high performance even with visually intensive content. The game is designed to run at a stable 60 frames per second at 1080p with recommended settings and requires a solid-state drive to minimize lag when loading arenas and animations.
Ninja Gaiden 4 system requirements
Minimal:
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OS: Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
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Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3400G
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Memory: 16 GB
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Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB VRAM) / AMD Radeon RX 590 (8 GB VRAM)
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DirectX: 12
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Storage: 100GB (SSD required)
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Sound: 16-bit 48 kHz Stereo
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Extra charges: 1080p / 30 FPS, FSR Quality "Low", Object Quality "Low"
Recommended:
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OS: Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
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Processor: Intel Core i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
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Memory: 16 GB
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Video card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB VRAM) / AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB VRAM)
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DirectX: 12
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Storage: 100GB (SSD required)
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Sound: 16-bit 48 kHz Stereo
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Extra charges: 1080p / 60 FPS, FSR Quality "Middle", Object Quality "Middle"
| DEVELOPMENT HISTORY |
Creation Ninja Gaiden 4 was fraught with numerous internal contradictions and external expectations. The project was launched as an attempt to return the iconic series to its roots, but in the face of new technical realities and a changing gaming audience. Development began after several years of silence from the franchise's owners, when interest in hardcore slashers began to revive following the success of the Souls-like genre. The team faced the need to rethink the balance between the arcade dynamics for which the original trilogy was renowned and modern game design trends demanding depth and tactical variability.
Much has changed, from the overall tone and visual approach to the core mechanics. Development was carried out under intense internal pressure, with the obligation to release the game simultaneously on multiple platforms, including PC. Much attention was paid to feedback from franchise veterans, but in practice, many elements had to be reworked due to generational change and a new audience.
The game was reworked several times during the alpha stage, with even basic animations, enemy behavior, and level logic being revisited. The final testing cycle lasted for months, as the team struggled to settle on the final difficulty level and the save system, which had to be adapted for less patient players.
Throughout the production process, there was a constant struggle between fan-favorite design and market reality. The original concept envisioned a strictly linear gameplay and a limited combat set, but in the final version, a decision was made to introduce a weapon progression system and combo modifications to add depth to combat and encourage replayability. Despite deadline pressure, the release was not delayed. As a result, the final version may prove both acclaimed and controversial—among both veterans and newcomers.
| GRAPHICS |
Ninja Gaiden 4's visuals demonstrates the contradiction between the technological foundation and the artistic approach. On the one hand, the game delivers stable and high performance on all platforms, including PC, where it is supported. up to 240 frames per second with minimal input lag. However, the graphics clearly don't strive for photorealism and don't utilize cutting-edge visual technologies. There's no realistic global illumination, and the shadow systems are limited to pre-baked maps with minimal dynamics.
The art style is consistent with the series' style, but lacks freshness—the architecture, enemy, and environmental designs reek of decades-old repetition. The color palette is limited to contrasting black and blood red, with occasional variations. Character detail is acceptable, but the animations of many secondary enemies feel simplified and mechanical. Even the finishing moves, which served as visual highlights in previous games, have become more restrained and stylized for calculated efficiency, removing the element of spectacle.
Blood, explosion, and special effects are rendered as particles and flashes, but visually they look dated. This isn't about visual bugs or performance drops—the game runs smoothly, but it simply doesn't emphasize cutting-edge visual technologies. The lack of modern technologies like ray tracing, volumetric lighting, or procedural destruction is noticeable upon closer inspection. This doesn't make the game technically weak, but it does emphasize its focus on gameplay rather than graphical wow.
The underwhelming lighting in enclosed spaces deserves special mention. Dungeons, interiors, and nighttime locations are statically illuminated, without smooth transitions or reactions to player actions. This deprives scenes of atmosphere and makes the environment monotonous. Even at high graphics settings, the overall image resembles the previous generation, despite the high-definition textures.
| GAME ENGINE |
Ninja Gaiden 4 runs on Team Ninja's in-house engine., a modified version of the same technical framework used in Nioh and Wo Long. This technology was adapted for the brutal mechanics of hack-and-slash games, but its capabilities were reworked for the new project. The engine demonstrates high stability and excellent optimization on PC—support for 240 FPS, low latency, the absence of micro-freezes, and fast loading times are key advantages. However, the engine itself is limited in its visual ambitions—it was not originally designed for large-scale or detailed scenes.
The game's physics are strictly scripted. Set objects barely interact with the character, and environmental destruction is either primitive or nonexistent. The animation system remains true to the formula familiar from the studio's previous games: choppy, responsive movements based on immediate feedback, but without procedural adaptation to the environment. This emphasizes the old-school foundation while simultaneously betraying the age of the technology.
Enemy intelligence operates according to preset patterns. They attack in a patterned fashion and don't adapt to the player's actions, making combat predictable despite its speed. At the same time, the engine handles the high density of enemies on screen with ease—massive battles don't cause any performance degradation. However, the system doesn't scale to modern requirements: there's no fluid simulation, realistic shadows, or advanced lighting processing.
The PC version features support for widescreen monitors, control customization, FSR, and a native scaling system. However, full HDR support is missing, and the visual difference between low and high settings is minimal. The internal engine has been refined, but not rebuilt—it delivers high responsiveness and stability, sacrificing modern visual effects.
| QUALITY |
On the minimum settings Ninja Gaiden 4 focuses on stable performance at the expense of visual depth. Character and enemy models lose fine detail, textures become noticeably less crisp, and environments appear simpler, with low object density and static lighting. Blood, smoke, and magic effects are simplified, and metal highlights and surface reflections are almost nonexistent.
On the maximum settings The game showcases its full potential—dynamic lighting and shadows create a rich atmosphere, and textures showcase the highly detailed fabrics, skin, and weapons. Reflections and volumetric smoke add depth to scenes, and visual effects for Ryu Hayabusa's attacks and movements enhance the sense of speed and power. Visually, the combat system becomes cinematic, while maintaining clear animations.
| TEST PART |
Below you will find a table of equipment that was kindly provided by our sponsors: GIGABYTE, ASUS, Kingston и Deep Cool. It reflects the list of motherboards, video cards, memory modules and cooling systems used in the tests, and also indicates the current configuration of the operating system and drivers.
| Test configuration | |
| GIGABYTE | |
| motherboards | |
| ASUS | |
| motherboards | |
| Video Cards |
Asus GeForce RTX 5070 TUF Gaming OC ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC |
| KINGSTON | |
| RAM |
16 GB DDR4 4600 CL19 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 3600 CL16 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR4 4000 CL18 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 5600 CL40 Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB DDR5 6000 CL30 Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade 48GB DDR5 7200 CL36 Kingston FURY Renegade |
| Storage devices |
Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Deep Cool | |
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Cases and cooling |
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| Software configuration |
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| Operating system | Windows 11 24H2 |
| Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 581.57 WHQL AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.10.1 |
| Monitoring programs | MSI Afterburner 4.6.6 Beta 5 Build 16555 |
All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. Below is a video of a test segment from the game:
Our video cards were tested at different screen sizes of 1920×1080, 2560×1440 and 3840×2160 With maximum graphics settings in native mode. The game has a 240 FPS lock.
In the video card test, the default resolution is 1920x1080, other resolutions are added and removed manually. You can also remove and add any video card positions. You can also select any of our test processors from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given video card tests (the most productive solution is selected by default). The test is carried out on the most productive in this game CPU and scales to other processors, taking into account their testing on NVIDIA and AMD video cards.
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When resolved 1920x1080:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
When resolved 2560x1440:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 3060 level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with video cards of the Radeon RX 6800 or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti level.
When resolved 3840x2160:
- Average FPS (25 frames): Reached on video cards of the level of Radeon RX 67000 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.
- Minimum FPS (25 frames): Provided by video cards of the Radeon RX 6700 XT or GeForce RTX 2080 Ti level.
- Comfortable average FPS (60 frames): Possible with graphics cards like Radeon RX 7900 XT or GeForce RTX 4070 Ti S.
| VIDEO MEMORY CONSUMPTION |
Testing of the video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the MSI Afterburner program. The results on video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at separate screen resolutions of 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 with different anti-aliasing settings were taken as an indicator. By default, the most current solutions are displayed in the graph. Other video cards are added and removed from the graph at the reader's request.
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GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 8 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 9 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 10 GB
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB
| TEST CPU |
Testing was carried out at a resolution of 1920x1080. In the processor test, you can remove or add any processor positions. You can also select any tested video card from the list in the drop-down menu, comparing its performance with the given processor test results (by default, the most productive solution from NVIDIA is selected). Testing takes place on the most powerful NVIDIA and AMD video cards and scales to low-end models.
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When using NVIDIA video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
When using AMD video cards:
- Processors for acceptable FPS (not lower than 25 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Processors for comfortable FPS (at least 60 frames per second):
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100
- Intel Core i3-10100
- Max
Loading and using streams:
- Maximum load: The game can load up to 16 streams.
- Optimal loading: Uses up to 12 threads as efficiently as possible.
| RAM TEST |
The indicator was taken as all used RAM. The RAM test on the all system was conducted on various video cards without launching third-party applications (browsers, etc.). In the graphics, you can add and remove any resolutions and video cards as desired.
- Max
GameGPU
Resolution 1920x1080:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 13 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 13 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
Resolution 2560x1440:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 13 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 14 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
Resolution 3840x2160:
- Video cards with 12 GB of video memory: consume 13 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 16 GB of video memory: consume 12 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 24 GB of video memory: consume 16 GB of RAM
- Video cards with 32 GB of video memory: consume 11 GB of RAM
| SPONSORS TESTS |
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