Ninjala 2 ditches PvP for open-world co-op on Switch 2

Ninjala 2: The Uncharted Planet is a Switch 2 exclusive that takes a hard left turn from its predecessor — swapping competitive PvP for an open-world PvE experience playable in co-op. Kotaku went hands-on at Anime Expo 2025 and spoke with director Motoki Kaneda about why GungHo made such a dramatic pivot.

Kaneda frames the sequel as a natural next step for a franchise that quietly became a multimedia juggernaut. The original Ninjala launched on Switch in 2020 as a free-to-play PvP brawler and racked up over 12 million downloads across its lifespan. It also spawned a manga and an anime series that now runs over 200 episodes. With Switch 2 on the table, GungHo saw an opening to do something bigger. "The Switch 2, in our minds, was the perfect chance to take things to the next step," Kaneda said. The shift to PvE is partly driven by that expanded universe — the team wanted players to explore the Ninjala world and its cast of characters at their own pace, rather than just compete against each other. Kaneda also pointed out that story content was never entirely absent from the original game; GungHo released four separate DLC Story Packs for the first Ninjala over several years, suggesting there was real appetite for narrative content.

Ninjala 2 is positioned as a continuation of a specific story arc from the anime, though Kaneda was candid that the team hasn't fully locked in whether the game will follow the anime's plot faithfully or diverge from it. The hands-on session didn't include co-op play, so how that mode actually feels in practice remains an open question — and the preview left more questions than answers about the full scope of the open world.

The game is currently a Switch 2 exclusive with no announced release date. Given how far the franchise has traveled since 2020 — from a niche PvP brawler to a 200-episode anime — it's a series worth watching more closely this time around.