Download Ninja Blade (Windows)

Be careful, the game was protected with infamous StarForce DRM that can break your system, so make sure to use NoDVD before the first launch of the game! DO NOT run the game right after the installation or you may accidentally install StarForce drivers!

The game with NoDVD has been tested on Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8 and Windows 10, it works fine. The game supports widescreen and high resolutions up to 4K. You may experience some small troubles when you play the game on modern systems, check our Guide and Notes for details

Install & play guide:

• Mount the disc image. You will need the utility for mounting disc image files, like WinCDEmu, UltraISO, Alcohol 52%/Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools Lite
• Install the game. It is recommended to install the game not in default path, but in some other, non-system folder, like C:/Games/Ninja Blade, so you won't have troubles with NoDVD
• After you installed the game - use NoDVD, simply copy the files from the archive and put them in game folder, agree to replace the original files
• Open the game folder and find NinjaBlade.exe. Right-click on NinjaBlade.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Set "Run this app inCompatibility mode with Windows XP SP2" and "Run as Administrator"
• Launch the game and play. If the game doesn't work in compatibility mode with Windows XP - try to launch it in Compatibility mode with other version of Windows (Windows Vista, Windows 7, etc.)

Notes:

• If the installation doesn't start - try to launch Setup.exe as Administrator and in Compatibility mode with old version of Windows (98, 2000 or XP)
• It is recommended to install all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable and NET Framework for the correct work of the game. Also it is recommended to install K-Lite Codec Pack for the correct work of in-game videos
• The game works on DirectX 9, so if you're using Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or 11 - you need to enable DirectPlay: Go to Control Panel, and select 'Programs'. Select 'Turn Windows features on and off', click on 'Legacy Components' and check the box 'DirectPlay'. Select OK, once the installation is done, restart your computer
• The game was protected with infamous StarForce DRM that can break your system, especially if you use 32-bit variant of Windows OS! DO NOT run the game right after the installation, use NoDVD before the first launch! To use NoDVD simply copy the files from the archive and put in game folder, agree to replace the original files. If you get the error that there's not enough space on the hard drive when you copy NoDVD files - re-install the game in non-system folder, like D:/Games/Ninja Blade, Windows Protection may block copying of files to system folders (like C:/Program Files or C:/Windows)
• The game has support of high and wide screen resolutions up to Ultra HD 4K. However, the game natively supports only 16:9 screen ratio, if you run the game in any other screen ratio, you will see "letterboxing" (black bars on the sides). If you want to play without black bars, use Flawless Widescreen utility. That utility is also required if you want to play on ultrawide screen or multi-monitor setup, to have a correct FOV and HUD; pre-rendered movies will be stretched but everything else will have the correct aspect ratio. Visit WSGF page for more details and example screenshots
• If you want to play the game in Windowed mode, you can toggle to it by pressing Alt+Enter combination
• If the game shows poor perfomance: select the forced Vsync (Vertical sync) for the game in control panel of your video card and cap the framerate to 60 FPS in same control panel or with one of framerate limiter utilities (it is recommended to cap the framerate to 30 or 60 FPS max, check the note below). And then, when you run the game, go to the game settings, disable Vsync and switch Frame Rate Setting from "30 FPS MAX" to "Variable"; you need to change that settings on every run. PC port of the game was very "lazy", so the game has very poor performance for some users even though GPU usage may be low
• The in-game Vsync (Vertical sync) setting is broken and may cause the performance problems. So if you have any performance issues, it is recommended to disable in-game Vsync (you need to disable in on every launch) and instead enable Vsync in control panel of your video card
• If you have frame pacing issues when the game works in Fullscreen - right-click on NinjaBlade.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Select "Disable fullscreen optimizations", it should help. Do that only if you have frame pacing issues, if you don't have such issues - leave it as it is
• If you still have frame pacing issues - some HID device drivers can be the cause. The possible solution is to disable that drivers in Device Manager: press Win+R, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to run Device Manager, in Device Manager find the "Human Interface Devices" section, click on it and you will see the list of all HID decive drivers; right-click on every "HID-compliant consumer control device" entry and select "Disable Device" (DO NOT touch any other HID drivers, only "HID-compliant consumer control device"). Do that ONLY before playing Ninja Blade, once you've done playing the game - enable all HID device drivers back. Here's also the guide with pictures that shows where to click in Device Manager
• If you get into the game and the HUD looks off: right-click on NinjaBlade.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> click on "Change high DPI settings" and check the box "Use this setting to fix scaling problems for this program instead of the one in Settings", then check "Override high DPI scaling behavior" and select "Scaling performed by: Application"
• By default, the game automatically caps the framerate at 30 FPS, it must be disabled on every launch if you want to play with higher framerates. The game supports 60+ FPS framerates, the maximum framerate is capped at ~112 FPS. However, the higher framerates can introduce problems with executing finishing moves on regular enemies, or other troubles. So if you have any gameplay bugs or cannot pass some hard QTE - cap the framerate at 30 or 60 FPS maximum, better to do it in control panel of your video card or with one of framerate limiter utilities
• Fullscreen mode defaults to 60 Hz refresh rate, if you want to run the game in higher refresh rate, you need to use Special K utility, check this guide for instructions. You can also try to use DXVK utility but looks like it has some performance issues, check this thread for details
• If the game is freezing when you skip the cutscenes - enable Vsync in the game or force Vsync through the control panel of your video card (don't forget to disable in-game Vsync in that case)
• It is highly recommended to play PC version with the gamepad, because PC port was very "lazy" - all button prompts are shown for gamepads, including QTE sections, plus if you remap the keyboard controls, the settings will roll back to defaults on the next launch. The game has full controller support and should work with any model of gamepad; better to use XInput-type controllers (Xbox gamepad or similar) because PC port was based on Xbox 360 version. If the game doesn't recognize your controller - try to use one of the additional tools from PCGamingWiki guide for controllers. If you cannot remap the gamepad controls, use the tools from PCGamingWiki guide; also, one of users recommend to run the game through Steam (with "Add non-Steam game" feature) in "Big Picture Mode" and use Steam settings to remap the gamepad controls
• There's a critical bug in PC version of the game - in that parts of the level where the main hero must run on the walls, he can suddenly jump at the end of the wall and fall (when you need to jump left or right, the hero doesn't react, but falls and dies). When running on the wall, the jump button may not work when it is required, so you may need to try several times to pass through that parts. Unfortunately, there's no fix for that problem, so if you cannot finish some level, you can use the complete savegame
• Don't forget to check PCGamingWiki if you have troubles with the game, it is very useful! We also recommend to check this guide, and Steam forums