Rise of the Ronin has looked increasingly promising each time it has been shown off, and though Team Ninja’s pedigree for delivering crunching combat with its action games has contributed significantly to the excitement surrounding the upcoming game, just as exciting – if not more so – are the things that it is doing that are entirely new for the developer. Most prominent among them is, of course, the open world.
Being Team Ninja’s first open world game, Rise of the Ronin has turned more than a few heads with its promise of a large, authentic, and grounded depiction of late 19th century Japan, and though whether or not it can make good on that promise is a question we’ll only get the answer to once we’ve played the game ourselves, based on everything that’s been shown of it so far, it’s looking quite promising. As such, with the game not far away from release, here, we’re going to talk about its open world setting- more specifically, about all of the key locations that it will comprise.
For starters, the question many are going to ask first and foremost is how large the map is going to be. Team Ninja hasn’t shared any specifics on that front yet, and there isn’t exactly a previous open world title by the developer to compare the size of its world to. It has, however, been very explicitly stated that Rise of the Ronin is by far the biggest and most ambitious title ever made by Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo. How exactly that will compare to other enormous open world games out there remains to be seen, but either way, we’re clearly in for a sizeable experience.
What exactly are we going to find in Rise of the Ronin’s map though? On that front, quite a few details have been revealed in the lead-up to the game’s launch. Its open world map is going to have three major cities that will serve as its central hubs, and the first that players will visit is Yokohama. A bustling metropolitan, this is where players will get their first good look at one of the game’s central themes- the influence of Western culture on Japan, with forces from the West beginning to come into the city and changing everything from its architecture to the aesthetic that goes with it. From consulate buildings and guest houses to lighthouses and more, players will see a number of Yokohama’s landmarks as they explore the city.
A number of other areas in Yokohama’s Kannai district have been detailed as well. There’s Yamashita a town split into upper and lower halves, with the former being visibly more affluent than the latter, and all of it overlooking the ocean. Yamashita is also where you’ll see a number of foreign soldiers going about their day. Then there’s Motomachi, a densely populated area where Chinese culture is hugely prominent, especially in the Chinatown area, where you’ll see plenty of unique architectural landmarks.
After Yokohama, the next city that Rise of the Ronin will take players to will be Edo, which is modern-day Tokyo. A megacity that has, at this point in Japan’s history, become a major hub for the nation, Edo is home to the Edo Shogunate, and it’s where you’ll find its castle, as well as the most concentrated dose of its military might, especially in the form of samurai presence. Within Edo as well, you’ll be exploring a number of different districts- like Asakusa, characterized by its unique shitamachi culture and landmarks like Azuma Bridge and Sensoji Temple; or Nihonbashi, named after the bridge that serves as its centerpiece, which in turn is the starting point of five major roads.
The third major city in Rise of the Ronin will be Kyoto, another megacity, though one that, like Yokohama and Edo, will have its own unique flavour and aesthetic. Having served as Japan’s political and cultural capital for over a thousand years, during the late 19th century Bakumatsu era, parts of the city had started succumbing to the turmoil of the time, which is something you’ll see in the game as well, from areas that have fallen into decay due to prolonged neglect to some that have been abandoned entirely.
Even so, Kyoto is going to be a dense and bustling location in Rise of the Ronin’s world, and will house plenty of major landmarks and explorable areas. Take, for instance, Gosho, a massive, rich tract of land where you’ll find the palace of the emperor and the manors of his most trusted and powerful supporters and aristocrats and their families, not to mention other impressive non-residential structures, and plenty of gardens to further enliven the place.
Outside of the three major cities, Rise of the Ronin’s open world is going to have plenty else on offer as well. Though specific details in this particular area aren’t as plentiful prior to the game’s release, Team Ninja has said that outside of these densely populated hubs, players will be exploring more natural and organic environments, which will bring their own unique flavour to its 19th century Japan setting. Hopefully, the open world will boast plenty of variety from both a visual and design perspective outside of the its three main city locations as well.
Of course, just as important as the size of the world and how it’s been designed is going to be the content that it houses, if not even more so, and based on the details that Team Ninja has revealed here so far, it does seem like there will be a fair bit of variety to the types of activities you’ll be engaging with in Rise of the Ronin’s open world. There will be plenty of side quests to take on with a wide variety of NPCs that players will be able to build deeper bonds with, while other missions will also task you with fighting against criminals and rogues to maintain the social order in areas, and in turn, form a deeper connection with their denizens. On top of that, you can expect dynamic random encounters against enemies in the open world; training activities focused on things such as archery, horseback riding, artillery, and even collecting cats; and obstacle courses that will test your skills with different traversal methods.
Speaking of which, those traversal methods are looking like they’re going to be another major highlight of the game’s open world setting. Players will be able to clamber across rooftops, use a grappling hook, gallop around on horseback, and soar through the air using a winged device known as the Avicula, and you’ll also be able to seamlessly chain all of this together- which, based on the gameplay that we’ve seen so far, is looking slick, in a word. Will it feel as good as it looks? That remains to be seen. But it looks great.
As Team Ninja’s first ever open world game, Rise of the Ronin is going to be an interesting game to examine, because as we’ve seen more than a few times over the years, studios don’t always make the jump to open world design with the smoothest or most confident transitions. Then again, there are those that do manage to do that, and given Team Ninja’s pedigree as a developer, there’s ever chance that it falls in that latter category (or so we hope, at least). Either way, from everything that we’ve seen of Rise of the Ronin and its open world setting so far, there’s every reason to be optimistic.
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