Team Ninja is stepping out of its comfort zone with Rise of the Ronin in several key ways, which on top of being billed as a much more approachable experience than the likes of Nioh and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, is also the studio’s first crack ever at an open world setting- but how exactly is it faring with those significant changes? After having played the game’s opening sequences, we’re starting to get a clearer idea of how it’s shaping up, so to that end, here, we’re going to talk about our seven biggest takeaways after three hours with Rise of the Ronin.
STRONG SETTING
One of several areas where Rise of the Ronin is looking to do things a little differently than Team Ninja games have done in the past, its setting is a much more grounded and authentic one, with fantastical elements not having been part of the equation so far at all- and so far, I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen. Virtual historical tourism done right can elevate a game’s setting in several ways, and the first few hours of Rise of the Ronin suggest that that’s the road it’s headed down. It takes a while to get going – the first hour or so is a fairly guided section that begins with a tutorial and then puts you in a linear section set inside a ship – but it doesn’t take long for things to click once you enter the open world.
How the game executes the open world itself is, of course, a different question (more on that in a bit), but in these early hours, the aesthetic of Rise of the Ronin’s setting has been one of its stronger elements. Once I entered the open world, I spent some time in the countryside and its rural, less-developed environments, and but what really caught my eye was the city of Yokohama, which you enter pretty early on in the game. Its blend of feudal Japanese and Western industrial aesthetics is giving the city a very strong and distinct identity so far, and I’m excited to see how the rest of the map fares in this aspect.
INCONSISTENT OPEN WORLD
As mentioned earlier, Rise of the Ronin is Team Ninja’s first open world game, and based on what I’ve seen in the three hours I’ve spent with it so far, you can definitely tell that in more ways than one. Structurally, from what I’ve gathered so far, it doesn’t place too many restrictions on you and largely leaves you free to explore- which is great! But the actual activities in the world so far haven’t done much to stand out in any real way, while several areas of the world also don’t feel nearly as alive as they should. The city of Yokohama, for instance, has plenty of gorgeous environments, but in the time I’ve spent with the game so far, it hasn’t felt as bustling, busy, or loud as I had hoped it would.
The couple of side quests I’ve seen have had very little narrative weight to them, and their structure and core conceits have felt rote at best. Meanwhile, side activities outside of side quests have ranged from clearing out enemies from small settlements that they’ve occupied to finding and petting cats to visiting landmarks scattered throughout the city of Yokohama. Thanks to the strong visual aesthetic of the game and the fun traversal mechanics, I’ve still enjoyed exploring the world, but I’m hoping that side activities will become more varied and unique as the game continues to open up. So far, they’ve felt very by-the-numbers.
FUN TRAVERSAL
Rise of the Ronin’s traversal mechanics have looked like one of its biggest highlights in all that we’ve seen of it pre-launch, so it’s not surprising that that’s also been one of my bigger takeaways after three hours with the game. The star of the show is, of course, the flying device known as the Avicula, but I didn’t actually unlock that until the very final mission of the section I’ve played up to this point.
The bulk of my time has been spent running around, galloping on my horse (which is unlocked pretty soon after you first enter the open world), and using my grapple hook, and even that loop in and of itself has made for a lot of fun traversal moments. Movement feels very quick and responsive, and grappling to a rooftop and jumping from one building to the next has a great feel to it. Meanwhile, the Avicula, from what little I’ve used so far, controls very well, and given how easy it is to transition from gliding to jumping onto horseback, I imagine I’m going to be using a lot of fun (and having fun while doing so).
FUN COMBAT
This shouldn’t come as a surprise either. Combat has been Team Ninja’s bread and butter for as long as anyone can remember, and Rise of the Ronin puts its best foot forward in this area right off the bat. Again, I’m still very early in the game, which means many of the combat mechanics haven’t fully opened up yet, but it’s already been a blast. In true Team Ninja fashion, every hit feels crunchy and impactful (thanks in no small part to the considerable gore), the enemies move and attack in ways that constantly keep you on your toes, and the many, many different weapons feel great to use.
Though not nearly as challenging as something like Nioh (especially with the addition of multiple difficulty options), Rise of the Ronin can still be a challenging game if you’re not paying attention. Combat has been very parry-focused to this point, which means keeping a close eye on enemy movements, watching out for incoming attacks, and correctly timing your parries to stagger enemies and strike them when you’re weak is going to be key to success in combat. Stealth has been much less impressive – the mechanics have been rudimentary so far, and enemy AI isn’t the best in this area – but when the combat is in full flow, even in these early hours, it’s hard not to be captivated. During certain missions, you’ll also be accompanied by an AI companion that you can even swap to and play as, which has also added an interesting dynamic to encounters.
NUANCED PROGRESSION
Again, this should come as no surprised, given how in-depth and multilayered the progression mechanics have been in Team Ninja’s games in recent years. Rise of the Ronin is putting a great deal of emphasis on role-playing mechanics and build variety, and it’s doing so in a number of ways. For starters, you’ll be selecting a class at the outset for your character that will determine whether you want to start off with bonuses in combat, charisma, and the like, and which weapons you will be more proficient with.
Karma and XP gains count toward unlocking skill points, as well as variants of skill points that are used exclusively on unlocking and upgrading on intelligence, strength, or charisma skills, like being able to intimidate enemies, or gaining the ability to stealthily assassinate two enemies in quick succession. Beyond that, there’s also plenty of loot to keep an eye on, which means optimizing your build with the best possible equipment is crucial, while you’re also choosing which combat styles to equip with different weapons. All of this is just from the three hours that I’ve played, so I’m definitely excited to see how the game builds on these already-deep foundations.
WEAK STORYTELLING
It’s clear right off the bat that Rise of the Ronin is going for a more story-driven approach than past Team Ninja games, but so far, I’m not convinced it’s doing a particularly good job in this area. The writing has often been clunky, and the voice acting can feel a bit flat. The protagonist, in fact, is barely voiced at all, and though they do have their own backstory and motivations, they don’t really feel like they’re a meaningful part of the story in any real way, thanks to the almost complete lack of actual interactions with anyone else in the world.
I am, to be fair, intrigued by the larger, zoomed out plot of the game. Elements like the Westernization of Japan and the internal political and cultural strife the nation is facing in this period have shown some promise in my time with the game up to this point. But Rise of the Ronin is also trying to tell a more personal story of its protagonist trying to look for their blade twin, and that just isn’t grabbing me. I hope the game can change my mind. It has shown some promise with its choice and consequence mechanics- they’ve been pretty light so far, but I’ve been able to build stronger bonds with not only the characters that you meet, but with entire regions of the map through completion of side activities, and I think there’s some potential for solid storytelling there.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
The extreme polish that AAA games so often obsess over and spend ridiculous amounts of money trying to chase is beginning to look increasingly excessive by the day, so personally, my expectations for games have lowered in this area of late. Even so, Rise of the Ronin is often falling below those expectations. I do still think that this is a good looking game, but that’s largely down to its strong art design and aesthetic.
Purely in technical terms, I’ve noticed a few rough edges. I’ve seen a number of character models and faces that were lacking in detail (especially for the less important NPCs), textures are often muddy and can take a couple of seconds to load in, draw distances can look quite hazy. I’ve played exclusively on Performance Mode so far though, and the 60 FPS gameplay has been buttery smooth, so there’s that.
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