Team Ninja couldn’t have picked a better time to unsheathe a samurai epic. Not only am I currently gripped by FX’s Shogun series, I’m also on the bleeding edge of (yet another) Ghost of Tsushima replay when its Director’s Cut lands on PC soon. For reasons I can’t explain, Q1 2024 is home of the nice slice if you’re jonesing for some Japanese period piece action.
Best described as “a 19th century Wo Long meets Assassin’s Creed Mirage, minus the demons, plus a Batman glide mechanic,” Rise of the Ronin is a AAA I’ve spent six very honourable hours with.
Its Sekiroesque melee combat is fast, fun, and filled with myriad builds. To add insult to ninjury, you can also gunsling Westerners with their own revolvers and gattling guns. Plus, there are online co-opportunities available (which I’m not permitted to speak about yet). All in all, I’m digging it.
We’ll get into the nitty gritty as to why that is—along with one or two minor concerns—in a moment. For now, though, we should get the “mind’s already made up” readers sorted with the cheapest Rise of the Ronin deals in town. Not into window shopping? Click to skip to my continued thoughts…
Table of Contents
Standard Edition
PS5
Deluxe Edition
Before we cut to the chase and a few hundred windpipes, let’s set the scene. It’s 1853 and Rise of the Ronin slips you into the sandals of the “Blade Twins,” two cutthroat spies who report to an M-like octogenarian who’s a dead ringer for Dame Judi. So much so, I’ve taken to calling her “Denchu: Stealth Assassin.”
In no time flat, Japanese society gets turned upside down by the arrival of Matthew Perry. Could he BE any more disruptive?! No, not really—the good Commodore demands a U.S. trade agreement and this riles the local isolationists into violent action. Where all that goes from here is up to you and how you choose to sword the problem out.
Much like the need to design two avatars in Nioh 2 (read: human and yokai forms), Team Ninja will ask you to use its powerful character creator to sculpt a buddy chop duo. Hot-swapping into a previously AI-controlled character, either with L1 + Dpad up or by getting KO’d, is a core tenant of Ronin’s combat system, but I’ll get into that later.
Basically, the developers have sought to bring the tumultuous “Bakumatsu” period to life…with death. Multiple playthroughs are in your future as your often murderous Pro-Shogunate / Anti-Shogunate decisions and multiple choice dialogue selections reshape the country. Along with numerous actual historical figures popping up, there are bonds to be established with rich, interesting ally NPCs. Some of them are presumably romanceable, and others are tied to the unlocking of two extra combat styles per weapon if you max their loyalty.
Lastly, it quickly becomes apparent that the governmental struggles of East colliding with West are a backdrop for a more personal vendetta plotline. I’ll leave you to discover that for yourself.
My preview guidelines stopped me from proceeding beyond the second “lobby joinable” mission of Ronin. These are the moments where the gameplay shifts from free-wheeling fetch-questing across the sandbox to a contained task meal, followed by a boss fight dessert. These 15-20 minute jaunts can be attempted with either two AI characters you’ve befriended and leveled up or, presumably, two other create-a-character humans.
Team Ninja self-designates that point in the game to be about two hours of playtime, but my stop-and-smell the peace lilies approach stretched it to six hours. That’s how much sideline stuff is out there to do, if you’ve a mind to outpost clear, mid-boss stalk, or collectables snoop. Not much of that time got soaked up by commutes—Ronin provides a speedy steed early on, and a generous fast-travel system linked to enemy-resetting bonfire nodes.
Hitting the map screen and zooming out reveals an intimidatingly large Yokohama playspace. On the outskirts, you get the rolling hills and striking vistas of a countryside I’d label a slightly more utilitarian / less “colour satch maxed” version of Sucker Punch’s Tsushima. Centre stage belongs to a reasonably sprawling metropolis that’s an even mix of double story Western brickwork and a low-level labyrinth of traditional wooden structures.
Interestingly, and despite your ninja resume, scrambling up buildings or cliff faces à la Ezio isn’t your main skillset. You’re mostly at the mercy of grapple hook points and whatever you can glide to, “flight stamina meter” pending. Quick notes: you can prolong flights, however, by chain-grappling through kite networks, in a manner not unlike Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s wingsuit / wind currents system. And drop-assassinating from one’s personal hang glider never, ever gets old.
When it comes to killin’, you have the three main options of CQC, stealth, or death from afar. The first technique feels very Nioh 2, thanks to a familiar array of weapons that are tailor made for (but certainly not restricted to) your starter build choice.
Basically, katanas, odachis, and greatswords are for Strength builds; paired swords and bayoneted rifles are the domain of Dexterity; cross spears and oxtail blades belong to Charm; and sabres or regular spears are Intelligence favourites. Respeccing later on is a cinch, and you can have two main weapons and just as many projectile-based sub weapons at your disposal at a time.
Hitting people with chunks of sharp metal involves zippy combos, charged heavy attacks, and lunges, all of them bound by a ‘ki’ (stamina) meter. Much like Wo Long before it, Ronin feels like a parry party rather than a dodge-fest. Absorbing enemy hits with timely Triangle presses will earn you staggers and flashy reprisal animations. It’s very much limbs and heads a-go-go here, a near 100% chance forecast of gore showers.
As somebody who’s been hanging for a reboot of the Tenchu series, I took to the shadows instantly. Liberating outposts, avoiding enemy suspicion indicators, and delivering one-hit shankings works well and is satisfying as hell. That is, until you fail to identify one of the healthier lieutenants who will take a pierced pancreas as an invitation to square dance.
In my entry-level, perks-poor state, trying to break line of sight and re-establish stealth was met with weirdly omniscient enemies at times. Mind you, deep down in the vast Dexterity skill-tree, I spotted a three-tier ‘increase percentage chance of detection loss”. I also started to cultivate linked sets of shinobi pajama clothing pieces that enhanced my inner Rikimaru.
Lastly, if you don’t give a good Gaiden about getting in close, you can always just ping things at people. Low ammo, slow-to-shoot muskets are in vast supply, and headshots will detach melons completely, like you’ve tagged them with a Barret .50 cal. (This is one historical inaccuracy I greatly approve of.) Alerted enemies are adept at juking out of the way, though, so perhaps a quieter bow alternative that requires no arrow drop adjustment is preferable. There are also hip-fired combo disruptors like shuriken and the aforementioned revolvers that are great in a pinch.
Beyond the wonkier fourth option that is doing battle from horseback—a concept I’ve not seen done well in many games—Ronin’s action feels rock solid at present. I’m quite keen to see how it evolves once I earn different weapons with better buffs and powerful perk techniques that’ll do my character’s shadow warrior heritage justice.
When it comes to concerns, my only one is with how tuned the flow of the campaign will be for stealth operators, particularly how bottlenecked sneaky builds might become with arena-based boss battles. You could argue the game is called Rise of the Ronin, which conjures visions of freelance, stab-you-in-the-front samurai. But the counterargument is always going to be: but the game’s own backstory introduces these people as live-to-shiv super ninjas.
Furthermore, I’m wondering how screwed I’ll be when I’m matchmade with aggressive rando co-op partners, given that agitated enemies can’t be insta-killed. (AI buddies seem to be afforded a certain ‘in plain sight invisibility’ at times to minimise that frustration.)
Looking beyond that, Rise of the Ronin has captured my imagination surer than a Shirahadori blade catch. I can’t wait to see how “my” story will shape the flow of this truly fascinating time period in Japanese history. I’m also enthusiastic about mix ‘n’ matching pieces of cool-as-hell samurai and geisha clobber with gunslinger chaps and dapper top hats. But most of all, I long to squadron up with some like-minded ninja for a few extreme hang gliding sessions.
Adam Mathew was raised on Lords of the Rising Sun and Eiji Yoshikawa’s Musashi. He’s a bit of a sucker for samurai things.
