One of the most notoriously difficult classic JRPGs starring a ninja who fights hordes demons and monsters by Team Ninja will be making a cameo in the newest title by the same developer, Nioh 2. This cameo comes in the form of Ninja Gaiden protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, who should fit in quite well with the Dark Souls-inspired JRPG in which a ninja fights hordes of demons and monsters.
The announcement of the new cameo comes alongside the recent reveal that Team Ninja will be releasing a Ninja Gaiden Master Collection, bringing three of the biggest games in the series to modern consoles. However, celebration or not, Ryu isn't exactly an unknown entity for the Nioh series, as the legendary ninja's ancestor has made an appearance in the past.
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This new cameo comes in the form of a skin that players will be able to obtain in an recent patch known within Nioh 2 as the "Dragon Ninja" outfit. So in this latest appearance, Ryu will be arriving as a costume for players to put on while they play through the majority of the game, as opposed to showing up as a boss fight or NPC. The new skin can be accessed through the Boons tab in the Shrine menu, which is used to retrieve the majority of the game's downloadable content that was introduced after launch.
As mentioned before, this isn't the first time that a Hayabusa has been pulled from the Ninja Gaiden series into the Team Ninja's latest franchise, though the last encounter was a bit more confrontational. The character Jin Hayabusa had previously become a boss in Nioh as the final encounter available in the 3rd DLC pack, Bloodshed's End. This fight quickly became notorious as the most difficult encounter in the game, due to Jin's incredible speed and damage output, even for high-level characters.
For some players, it might be disappointing not to see Ryu arrive in the same way that Jin did with an impossibly difficult fight, but others will likely be thankful not to have to relive the punishing encounter. However, many of the free skins and armor Team Ninja has released for Nioh 2 have certainly hit the mark to improve the experience for new and returning players. So, even without a new fight coming with the recent patch, there is still plenty for players to be excited for between bug fixes, the Dragon Ninja skin, and some new graphical features coming to RTX powered PCs.
Nioh 2 is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.