Introduction
Rise of the Rōnin is a 2024 action-role playing video game developed by Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game was released for PlayStation 5 on March 22, 2024.
Review
Japan, 1863. After three centuries of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s reign, the Black Ships of the West descend upon the nation’s borders and the country falls into a state of turmoil. Amidst the chaos of war, disease and political unrest, a nameless warrior forges their own path, holding the very fate of Japan in their hands.
Rise of the Ronin, like all games, has it’s pros and cons. There are mixed reviews about the game being too bloated, or the amount of collectibles too many – however, as with reviews, they are a matter of perspective. If you’re enjoying a game after completing the main story and feel like you’re not ready to say goodbye just yet, then collecting 100 cats might not seem all that overwhelming.
There is a slight weirdness in the graphics at times, they can appear a little soft and blurry in places, however this didn’t ruin the experience for me as the combat and story made up for it.
Yes, there are a lot of collectibles: consisting of cats, shrines, treasure chests, photo captures and more. Nothing will ever be as many as the Assassins Creed: Valhalla collectibles, which I gave up with by the way. That was a very bloated game in the collectible sense.
Combat was fun for me – you can choose your playstyle, whether you want to shoot guns, feel like you’re in Final Fantasy with a greatsword, or use the old reliable katanas, there will be something to fit your style of play.
Weapons are either collected by killing enemies, looting chests or purchased. There’s a variety of levels of the same weapon and outfits, which makes it meaningless to upgrade these. It’s not long before you find something better.
The map is split into three chapters – Yokohama, Edo, Kyoto. You visit all three during story missions and return to Edo in the final missions. Each map is filled with separate sub-areas, and you can check collectible status by pressing the triangle button on the controller.
Gameplay itself was smooth and with the three difficulty options, the amount of challenge is up to you. A harder difficulty – Midnight unlocks once you complete the main story. Once main story is finished, you can use the Testament of the Soul to replay missions and try your hand at the new hard difficulty, which bumps the mission level up somewhat, even on the first missions.
Rating
Pros:
- Story
- Combat
- Weapon/playstyle variety
Cons:
- Graphics can be fuzzy
- Can be considered a lot of collectibles
- The stat system is a little complex
Summary
I had a lot of fun with this game and ended up spending 80 hours collecting 100 cats to achieve the platinum trophy. The platinum journey is a pretty simple one, even the difficulty based trophy is pretty easy if you level up to at least 60 first.
Aside from it’s minor faults, I recommend checking this game out. I really enjoyed this samurai adventure and think it deserves to have a more positive review.
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Game & Developer Information
Developer Website: Team Ninja
Developer Socials: Twitter
Publisher Website: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Images – https://www.igdb.com/
Rise of the Ronin – 2022 Reveal Trailer
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