Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Rise of the Ronin is a brave new world for Team Ninja. The developer has been offering stylish and challenging melee combat to players for generations, up to and including the impeccable Nioh games. However, tgroughoughy it's precious games, Team Ninja has kept the action locked into levels and small-scale scenarios. Not to say those didn’t work. On the contrary, Team Ninja has earned its reputation as one of the best action-melee devs around, but Rise of the Ronin takes that expertise and applies it to something more ambitious - a vast and beautiful open world with quests to explore, secrets to discover, and plenty of challenging duels ahead - and it makes the Bakumatsu era of Japan a compelling backdrop to your mission of rescue and revenge.
The Bakumatsu Era of Japan was a time when the nation opened its doors to Western influence and ushered the end of feudal lords and the Shogunate. It was a time of cultural revolution and the changes of tradition, of which many refused with bristling defiance. And so, it was also a time of societal unrest and chaos as the way of the samurai became antiquated and many warriors found themselves without a lord to serve and battles to fight. Others turned to banditry and outright anarchy, or even plotted in secret to stop the coming revolution by any means necessary.
In the midst of this societal chaos, players take on the role of two created characters, twins, who form a bond with one another as they train as warriors, saved from death by a group known as the Veiled Edge. The clan is among those who would fight against the end of the shogunate and the twins become swords for its cause, but it isn’t long into the game before a mission sets them against an impossible foe, and one of the twins is lost (not necessarily dead mind you!). While the clan accepts the twin as dead, your remaining character doesn’t feel the same and you set out on an adventure to find them that takes you into the vast countryside in search of information.
Rise of the Ronin starts by having you craft both of the twins entirely, which I felt was a great way for to gain a connection to them. There are plenty of presets to explore, but trust me when I say that their bond makes for a good early hook. The game also has one of Team Ninja’s best character creators, letting you handle countless details to make them both truly whatever you want them to be. Then you get to pick a class which determines your starting specializations. These starting builds focused on straight-up combat, stealth and assassination, charm and social bonuses in character interactions, and healing and stat boost items, or you could be an unspecialized blank slate. Whatever you pick, it helps guide your early playstyle in the game, including recommendations of starting weapon classes, but don’t worry too much as you can change up a lot as you progress.
I went with the stealth and assassin branch which set up me for use of dual swords as my main weapon class, but it also made me able to assassinate multiple targets at once from stealth at the cost of missing out on healing boosts, heads-up combat bonuses, and social advantages. I’ll also say this game comes right out of the gate kicking your butt in true Team Ninja fashion. You have regular attacks, special techniques, and regular defense, but you also have a counter move where if you time with an enemy's strike, you can knock them off balance or even panic them. Break their stamina gauge and you can deliver a devastating finisher to these foes. They can (and will) do the same to you.
There’s also a grappling hook that can be used to reach special areas and rooftops, as well as on enemies to pull them off balance or throw grabbable things like explosive barrels at them in combat. It doesn’t feel terribly complex, but smart use of this basic foundation can lead to quick victory or crushing defeat. I suffered the latter a lot in just the tutorial missions before something clicked. All of that is simply to say that this is indeed a Team Ninja game and if you just go in mashing on every enemy without thinking about yours and their strengths and weaknesses, you’re going to become very familiar with the game over screen. Conversely, understanding your tools and using them effectively will make you a whirlwind of steel and death among your enemies.
After getting through the early tutorials that felt very much like Nioh missions, Rise of the Ronin sets you loose on the world, just south of Yokohama. From there, you can go where your heart desires as long as you don’t bite off more than you can chew and get killed. You light torch banners in Rise of the Ronin to create save spots and fast travel points, but the world is gorgeous to travel through and full of optional opportunities to explore alongside the main chase for your twin. It isn’t long before you get a horse and can travel it all the more quickly. You also get a glider in addition to the grappling hook pretty early, so exploring it is some of the most fun I’ve had wandering around an open world since the best days of the Assassin’s Creed series.
It helps that Rise of the Ronin is just plain fascinating to be in. It’s split up into a vast array of regions full of turmoil. While you can ignore it and go about your business, helping the people of any region rewards you with experience, gear, and unlocks to aid in your quest. Some are as simple as lighting a torch banner. Others include finding stray cats, but often, you’ll get to a village or outpost full of bandits and need to clear it out. Doing so will allow the villagers to take back the land and offer you refuge to rest and resupply.
The first hours of the game also just gave a breathtaking glimpse of what’s in store for us throughout Rise of the Ronin. The countryside and coast near Yokohama was filled with verdant grass and trees, rocky hills, and the often decayed remains of feudal outposts and battlefields. I often found myself observing it all in awe as I wandered through. It’s even wilder when you get to Yokohama where Western civilization has already begun to take hold, making it a patchwork amalgam of western Victorian era and Japanese feudal era construction. It’s all so incredible to travel through, and there was a lot to do in each region to keep things exciting without seeming overwhelming.
If the opening couple hours of Rise of the Ronin are what we can expect out of its open world and combat in the full game, I’m all for it. I used a lot of dual sword play, but there were a wealth of other weapon classes to explore, some of which suited my chosen beginning class and some that didn’t, and you can become proficient with weapons to gain more attacks and fighting styles even as you gain better gear, which I had a blast with. I also just loved traveling through this small glimpse of Rise of the Ronin’s Bakumatsu Era Japan and seeing what secrets could be unearthed among its chaotic cultural shift. It seems we’re in for a real treat when the full game arrives later this March.
This preview is based on a limited hands-on PlayStation 5 session supplied by the publisher. Rise of the Ronin launches exclusively on PS5 on March 22, 2024.