Team Ninja, renowned for their works such as Ninja Gaiden, Nioh, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, has added another title to their impressive lineup with Rise of the Ronin. While it shares similar DNA, this new action RPG offers something significantly different.
Initially, Rise of the Ronin took some time to win me over. The opening sequence felt somewhat lackluster, and the mechanics seemed outdated and clunky. However, as I persevered, delving into the first city and overcoming the challenging learning curve, my appreciation for the game grew substantially.
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Rise of the Ronin offers a rewarding experience for those willing to invest the time. The deeper you dive into its gameplay systems, intricate world, and wonderful story, the more it gives you back in return.
Rise of the Ronin
Set in the mid-19th century, during the final years of Japan’s Edo period. This era was defined by conflict between the ruling Shogunate and opposing factions dissatisfied with its rule.
During this time, the influence of the Western world became increasingly significant after Japan was forced to open its borders to foreign trade.
In 1853, foreign vessels known as the “Black Ships” breached Japan’s isolation, leading to widespread chaos. The nation was thrown into turmoil, grappling with war, disease, and political instability.
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In Rise of the Ronin, you assume the role of a custom character, orphaned in childhood alongside your twin, and you’re both raised to become formidable samurai warriors. Throughout your journey, you encounter prominent historical figures, commanders, and real samurai of the time.
Historical Figures
One such figure is Commodore Matthew Perry, whose arrival in Edo Harbor symbolised the start of trade deals between Japan and the world, marking the beginning of the end for the Shogunate.
Other early encounters include Ryoma Sakamoto, a character inspired by the real samurai. In history, Ryoma was pivotal in dismantling the era of samurai dominance and shogunate rule.
Additionally, characters in the game who may not initially seem significant have had a historical impact, such as inventor and architect Igashichi Iizuka, who is responsible for the creation of your glider.
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Edo and Beyond
War-torn villages, unpaved roads and streets, and perfectly manicured Japanese gardens; it was wondrous traveling across the map.
Drawing parallels with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a personal favorite of mine, Rise of the Ronin’s expansive open-world beckons exploration across three distinct regions: Yokohama, Edo, and eventually Kyoto, a city close to my heart.
In the later game, I saw a typical marker on the map used as a fast travel point. An unsuspecting house stood on a hill and looked relatively normal inside… That was until I discovered the large hole in the floor that led down into a secret Ninja base — a whole new facility allowing me to train and fight against previous foes (dead or alive).
The game is filled with these sorts of surprises, despite not being able to enter the majority of buildings.
Is Rise of the Ronin a Soulslike game?
While it doesn’t fully embrace the Soulslike experience, it does incorporate elements reminiscent of the genre. The game’s combat system emphasises precision, timing, and patience, mirroring the deliberate and punishing nature of Soulslike combat.
One departure from the Soulslike formula is the inclusion of adjustable difficulty settings — a feature I found myself deeply grateful for, especially during moments of relentless carnage. On the medium difficulty setting I was getting my arse kicked. I shamelessly dropped it down to easy and pushed on.
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The game uses banners as checkpoints, where you can heal and restock supplies. But be careful – activating a banner can also respawn enemies nearby, adding to the challenge.
There’s also a karma system. By completing tasks and defeating enemies, you earn karma points that you can exchange for skill points at banners. However, if you die before cashing in your karma, you’ll lose some of it, adding a risk-reward element.
So, while it’s not a strict Soulslike game, Rise of the Ronin incorporates enough elements from the genre to appeal to fans of challenging action RPGs.
Fight like a Ronin
Combat revolves around precise timing and strategic use of your Ki gauge, which functions similarly to a stamina meter. Blocking too many hits will deplete your Ki, but successfully parrying or attacking your opponent will drain theirs.
Matching your opponent’s fighting style is key to success. Small, colour-coded indicators next to their health bar signal the effectiveness of your current stance against them. For example, blue indicates superiority, while red signals vulnerability.
Enemy variety demands adaptability, as different foes are immune to certain stances. Hence, switching up your approach during larger battles becomes essential for maximizing damage output. I loved this system in the end game – many big battles allowed for maximum strategy.
Shield-wielding enemies pose a unique challenge, often requiring you to either break their defenses or exploit vulnerabilities from behind.
Then there are the big boys, essentially giant enemies that you’ll struggle to get within an inch of before being picked up and thrown.
Depleting an enemy’s Ki gauge leaves them vulnerable to devastating attacks and, quite frequently, decapitation. Yes, there’s a lot of decapitation in this game, along with the occasional dismemberment.
Once these mechanics are grasped, no fight is a problem. Mastery of combat techniques ensures that even the most formidable adversaries can be overcome with finesse and skill (and easy mode).
Blades, Guns and Gear
There’s a diverse array of weapons to wield, with the game allowing you to equip two at a time (at least in the beginning) and seamlessly switch between them during combat.
Among the arsenal are classic choices like the Katana, favored by Ronin warriors. Additionally, players can wield the formidable Odachi, versatile Spears, swift Sabres, imposing Pole Arms, hefty Greatswords, and the agile Oxtail Blade, which excels in aerial combat.
In addition to melee weapons, players have access to bows and firearms, including revolvers, rifles, and bayonetted weapons. These firearms, the revolver especially, introduce devastating critical hit moves, leaving enemies for dead.
You’ll come across a plethora of weapons and loot during your journey, but don’t worry about carrying too much — items automatically go to your storage, preventing inventory overload. With so much loot available, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of collecting without thinking twice about what you’re picking up.
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Luckily each weapon and piece of armor comes with its own set of stats and qualities: grey, blue, green, and orange, with orange being the best. So you know what to sell or scrap for parts.
Additionally, the game also offers some fantastic unlockable gadgets, such as an enemy detector and a fire pipe (which is essentially a flame thrower), adding even more depth to your arsenal.
Traversal
You’re equipped with a grapple hook, allowing you to reach high places, but its use is restricted. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough grapple points to grant full freedom of movement across rooftops, and you can’t grapple into trees.
However, the standout traversal mechanic is the glider, which becomes available early in the game. The glider can be deployed from almost any height, enabling you to soar through the air and traverse vast distances with ease. It’s very Breath of the Wild.
Using the glider, there’s some great and rewarding traversal challenges. You’re also able to upgrade your glider to fly for longer and drop bombs! Not bad.
Additionally, while riding on horseback, you can utilise the auto-run feature from the map submenu. This allows you to set a destination and let the horse navigate automatically, which is particularly useful for long-distance travel. While this method may bypass some exploration opportunities, it offers a convenient and efficient way to reach distant locations – much like The Witcher 3’s autorun, but more targeted.
Cats & Dogs
As you traverse the world of Rise of the Ronin, you’ll encounter Pilgrim dogs adorned with large money pouches around their necks. Engaging with these furry companions rewards you with valuable silver. Notably, these dogs are player-activated, and you even have your own Pilgrim dog companion that you can send on journeys, eventually returning with useful items.
Additionally, you’ll come across little cat icons that signify hidden kitties to find. While initially serving as a collector quest, these feline friends become more than just a side activity as the game progresses. In later stages, you can dispatch them on missions with fellow cat enthusiasts to retrieve rewards. It’s bordering the Yakuza series with this one.
Characters & Bonds
Rise of the Ronin places significant emphasis on building relationships between characters and towns. Each major character you encounter in the story initiates a bond that you can develop and strengthen over time.
You can nurture these relationships by completing missions alongside characters or by offering them gifts. Many characters you meet throughout the story offer opportunities to deepen your bond, and some even allow for the possibility of romantic relationships. Additionally, numerous side quests are intricately tied to historical figures, enriching world-building and offering further avenues for bond development.
The bonds you form with various characters and locations have tangible effects on the overall narrative. For instance, Ryoma Sakamoto, a character you form an early bond with, remains a constant presence throughout your journey. Your choices and allegiances influence the direction of the story, determining your allies and enemies.
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This bonding system adds depth and complexity to the gameplay experience, with your interactions shaping the narrative trajectory and ultimately influencing the game’s ending.
Bonds greatly enhance the game’s replayability, allowing players to explore alternate paths and outcomes without starting a new save file.
Testament of the Soul
After the first main story sequence, Rise of the Ronin introduces the Testament of the Soul, which significantly enhances the game’s replay value. Players will now have the ability to revisit previous missions from the timeline and explore areas no longer accessible.
This feature enables you to play around with alternative outcomes that could have unfolded had different choices been made during gameplay. It also allows players to experience the consequences of their decisions and see how the narrative might have changed under different circumstances.
While I was initially concerned that this game would force me to sink countless hours into side quests, I was pleasantly surprised. Rise of the Ronin never made me feel rushed.
Testament of the Soul provides a seamless way to progress through the story while revisiting past locations at will, ensuring a flexible and engaging gameplay experience.
Online Multiplayer
In Rise of the Ronin, you can team up with friends to play story missions online. You can have up to three players join you, just keep in mind you’ll need a PlayStation Plus membership to play — there’s no fighting against other players.
When you start a mission, you’ll enter a menu where you can check your gear, change weapons, and set up your team. It’s here you can invite friends, or strangers, to join you in co-op mode.
While I did play a couple of co-op games with random players, I look forward to experiencing more moments with friends.
Graphics & Performance
The visuals in Rise of the Ronin have their ups and downs. While some villages and cities may appear a bit rigid, the overall landscapes are picturesque.
On the bright side, cutscenes are consistently well-done, and character models are detailed.
The game’s photo mode stands out, offering vintage filters that complement the historical setting.
I did experience some instances of “pop-in” with piles of fallen leaves and other small environmental details, which sometimes detracted from the immersion, but it was mostly smooth sailing.
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The game offers three graphical modes: performance, graphics, and ray tracing. The performance mode ensures a smooth experience, maintaining a consistent 60 frames per second.
I stuck mostly with Ray Tracing, as I wanted this game to look its best. You can only change this setting from the main menu.
Game Settings & Accessibility
Rise of the Ronin has a host of settings, enabling you to essentially play however you like. For starters, you can remap almost every button on the controller to suit your needs. You COULD swap your left and right analogue sticks if you wanted to… I don’t know WHY you would want to, but you COULD!
The HUD is also customisable, allowing players to pick and choose which information to display — or simply hide it all away for a more immersive experience.
You’re able to choose whether or not you see your weapon when it’s sheathed, and the squeamish can even turn off blood and dismemberment.
There are three difficulty modes available. The easiest, Dawn, features additional settings to make your journey even kinder: increasing the potency of health recovery items and reducing the amount of Ki you lose after being hit by an attack.
There’s also a slew of settings that make the game accessible to many more people. Options like stick sensitivity, button hold times, automatically collecting items on the ground, and even the ability to turn your single attack into a four-hit combo!
The ability to automatically skip the cutscenes you’ve already seen is particularly handy, especially when you’re rolling up to attempt a boss fight for the tenth time… And being able to toggle a setting to automatically sell low-level equipment is such a time saver.
Voice Acting and Soundtrack
Initially, the English voice acting in Rise of the Ronin felt out of place, making it hard to connect with the characters. Switching to the Japanese audio with subtitles made a huge difference, essentially transforming the game.
I recommend playing with Japanese audio and subtitles for a better experience, though some English-speaking characters may sound a bit odd speaking Japanese.
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The soundtrack, composed by Inon Zur, known for his work on games like Starfield, Fallout, and Dragon Age, is outstanding. It seamlessly blends exploration and combat music, making the gameplay even more immersive.
In a behind-the-scenes video posted on YouTube, Zur explains the effort his orchestra put into creating the soundtrack, which really pays off in the game.
Conclusion
The level of gameplay detail in Rise of the Ronin is truly remarkable, with a plethora of mechanics waiting for players to discover. Despite investing multiple full days into the game, I still have so much more to uncover.
There’s so much depth and complexity to this game.
From forging deep connections with characters to mastering a diverse array of weapons, Rise of the Ronin invites players on an unforgettable journey through a world brimming with history and adventure.
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This game has made me want to journey back to Japan and revisit locations I’d previously taken for granted. It stands as a testament to the power of storytelling and exploration in the realm of action RPGs, offering an experience that is both compelling and unforgettable.
Rise of the Ronin is releasing exclusively to PlayStation 5 on March 22nd. It retails for $109 in-store, or $129 digitally.
Quest Daily scores Rise of the Ronin:
9/10
A review copy of Rise of the Ronin was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
