Review Thread of Rise of the Ronin - An enjoyable open-world adventure across 19th-century Japan
Game Information
Game Title: Rise of the Rōnin
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Rise of the Ronin is an open-world action RPG set in 19th-century Japan, developed by Team NINJA and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It promises an epic journey across a war-torn landscape with a focus on combat-driven gameplay
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Rise of the Ronin is a great open world game but it has many flawss in things like its mission design and graphic presentation. Although is another good reason to have a PS5.
Rise of the Ronin is another action-heavy success story for samurai heavy-hitters, Team Ninja. The world and setting are perfectly suited to enhance the roleplaying depth of the game's design as your unnamed hero makes important choices in a divided world. Fun is always at the forefront, even if certain open-world tropes lead to rinse-and-repeat content. This is because the moment-to-moment gameplay, including both traversal and combat, remains delightfully engaging throughout. The dialogue can be hit or miss, but Rise of the Ronin still finds a way to satisfy, in both its big action setpieces as well as those tiny little details.
Rise of the Ronin isn't necessarily an awful game, it's just one that's quite unremarkable. When this project was first unveiled back in 2022, I was ecstatic to see Team Ninja tackle the open-world genre and was curious to see how the studio would bring its own unique ideas to this format. Instead, virtually nothing that Team Ninja has done with Rise of the Ronin is enough to set itself apart from a growing deluge of games in the genre. With so many other titles to choose from in this space, there are far better options that warrant your time and attention.
While Rise of the Ronin looks a little out-of-date as a PS5 exclusive, its robust choose-your-own-adventure system and Team Ninja's best and fairest combat system to date make it a worthy addition to the PS5's exclusives catalogue.
Rise of the Ronin doesn’t offer the photo-realistic visuals of those seen in Ghost of Tsushima, nor does it provide the nail-biting difficulty of Sekiro. Instead, Team Ninja’s samurai epic successfully forges a new path – blending adrenaline-fueled combat, fun traversal mechanics, and a loveable cast of characters, wrapping them all together in a world ripe for exploration. Just like the ronin themselves, Team Ninja’s open-world game is not bound by the old masters of the past – instead, it rises to the challenge set by Sucker Punch and FromSoftware, forging its own path to stand firmly amongst them.
Rise of the Rōnin is a fascinating game. It makes up for its lack of polish with a considerable amount of charm. And this charm makes me like the game more than many other polished but soulless AAA games.Yes, the graphics are dated, the mission design is repetitive and the enemies are dumb as dirt. But the combat system and traveling through the open world are so much fun that these criticisms pale into insignificance. When I switch off my brain and enjoy the excellent action, time flies by with the game. Rise of the Rōnin may not be flawless, but it offers a damn fun and captivating gaming experience that no fan of samurai and Japan should miss out on.
While it does have an interesting and dynamic narrative premise, Rise of the Ronin fails to deliver a story worthy of awards or great praise. However, its combat stands out for its depth and for being fun, once again showcasing where Team Ninja truly excels.
Rise of the Ronin is an experience worth living, not only for the rich action, but also for the story itself which is interesting and offers a perspective on the Japan of that time.
Rise of the Ronin is therefore a very strong first game in a new IP. It's the Assassin's Creed in Japan that we've been looking for for years. It manages to create an epic story where choices really matter. The gameplay is deep and manages to find a nice balance in terms of difficulty and challenge. The game is extremely ambitious with sixty hours for the story and packed with various options, but this does come with a few downsides. Graphically, the game is less strong and exploring the many extra assignments and missions feels very repetitive. The many bosses and characters are similar and lack creativity. The three regions are not different enough, but the game still manages to keep you interested for sixty hours. It manages to tempt you into another mission every time. I can't wait to dive back into the game and see what I missed because of my many choices.
While Rise of the Ronin suffers from outdated and unattractive graphics, the story and gameplay more than make up for it with a wealth of varied and interesting content available paired with good storytelling that keeps players engaged and wanting to know more. Fans of Team Ninja may be disappointed from the step down in combat quality, but nonetheless it is an enjoyable title that we can recommend at full price.
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Accessible, fun, and full of ambition, Rise of the Ronin will have you hooked on its combat no matter what type of player you are - with an exciting story of engaging characters being bloodied icing on the cake. Sure, some of its RPG systems won’t be for everyone, but Team Ninja’s first open-world effort is almost everything you could want from an action-packed samurai game set in Japan.
Rise of the Ronin is the most ambitious game of Team Ninja and by far. Much more narrative than its predecessors, it unfortunately takes quite a long time to become really interesting. That's the risk when you want to create fiction when it doesn't need to. But it is also the fault of an open world far behind a certain Ghost of Tsushima. In the end Rise of the Ronin is an open world game among many others, but with an ultra-dynamic, demanding and very deep gameplay.
Rise of Ronin is a mindblowing action-adventure open-world RPG set at the end of the Shogun Era. While the game may have soul-like elements, not the difficulty, allowing more people to enjoy the game. Inspired by many mechanics from Nioh titles, the game boasts to have a compelling story with the freedom of shaping your future under your control. Rise of Ronin also excels with fluid combat and amazing sights but slightly lacks in matching the current generation graphics.
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