Rise of the Ronin

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Bushido: the code of the samurai! It’s a strict system of behavior and etiquette that these noble warriors followed to preserve their honor. Tenets of Bushido included things like keeping samurai out of sunlight, avoiding water and never, ever feeding them after midnight. Never break the three rules when dealing with unruly samurai.

If that sounds tough, just wait until you see Rise of the Ronin, an open-world hack-and-slasher from Team Ninja that makes sticking to the Bushido code seem like a cakewalk.

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In the late 19th century, Japan was shaken by historic turbulence, including a push by foreigners to gain entrance to the notoriously secluded nation. The Veiled Edge, a clan of assassins, works around this turmoil to get the job done however necessary. Veiled Edge assassins work in pairs called Blade Twins, and you’ll design both members of a duo as Rise of the Ronin begins. It’s not much of a spoiler to say that you’re going to end up controlling one of the pair for much of the game; the other Blade Twin disappears after a mission goes wrong, and it’s your job to find out where they are and what happened to them.

The journey to learn about your partner’s fate features elements from both open-world and Soulslike games. Japan’s got plenty that needs doing, and it turns out you’ve got a lot of time on your hands these days. By helping out the populace and getting things done, typically in a stabby sort of fashion, you can dig up leads toward your own goal. You stab someone else’s back, people scratch yours, to put it another way. Naturally, all your favorite open-world elements are present, including tons of collectibles and sidequests to keep you bashing your face into this game for hours on end if you so choose.

You’ll be bashing your face into this game, of course, because the combat in Rise of the Ronin is absolutely no joke. Team Ninja really made one for the fans here, particularly fans of the Nioh series with which Rise of the Ronin has a lot in common when we’re talking about battle.  Often, scenarios will play out a bit like the modern Assassin’s Creed games – you’ll scope out a location, sneak around and assassinate lesser mooks before mixing it up with the site’s heavy hitters. At that point, you’ll engage in Souls-style stamina management, parrying and dodging to whittle down foes of overwhelming force and numbers before they take you out first.

Your primary means of both attack and defense is the Counterspark, a quick parry that deflects enemy hits and gradually opens them up to reprisal by draining their Nioh-style Ki meter. Learning enemy attack patterns and how to properly parry them is central to victory in Rise of the Ronin, and you can expect to eat dirt time and time again early on as you come to figure out how each baddie functions. You can also spend your own Ki on special attacks that can create bigger openings or allow you to strike while dodging incoming harm, but you’ll have to keep your eye on your own Ki reserves or risk leaving yourself open. Make no mistake: Rise of the Ronin isn’t playing around, and other open world games might not have prepared you for quite how mean this game’s going to be until you get your bearings.

At least there are plenty of rewards for struggling through the pain. Rise of the Ronin features fully-fledged loot and skill systems, allowing you to customize your Veiled Edge assassin to your liking. Special mention should be made of the absolutely fabulous outfits; if you ever wanted to hack enemies to ribbons while dressed as a dapper gentleman, you better believe that’s possible here. Gear comes with a variety of randomized modifiers and is available in numerous set options, allowing you to focus on elements of combat that best suit your needs and giving you a reason to grind up more goodies.

Skills, meanwhile, focus on several stat categories, such as Strength and Intelligence, and you’re able to invest as you’d like to develop in a fashion suitable for your needs. This includes dialogue-based skills that can prove surprisingly handy, which is a nice touch.

You won’t always fight alone, either. You’re often teamed up with other characters, including some historic samurai, who can offer their own combat expertise where needed. You’re even able to switch over and play as them while they’re around if you’d like, allowing you to access sets of moves and skills that could be wholly different from what you’ve selected for your own character. Later, you’re able to sidequest with your pals as well for additional buddy-bonding intrigue. Things take a little bit to get going, but there’s a lot of depth you might not expect at first.

Rise of the Ronin looks and sounds about as great as you’d expect given it’s a PlayStation 5 console exclusive that isn’t a first-party release. It’s not quite on the same level as something like Ghost of Tsushima, so don’t come in expecting an eye-melting tour-de-force, but rather a game that makes the most out of its exquisite setting and character design. More importantly, it also runs consistently, which is vital to ensure that the timing-based gameplay works well. An eventual PC port would be much appreciated, but for now there’s little to complain about with how Rise of the Ronin looks and performs on PS5.

This is a game that’s bound to draw comparisons to the aforementioned Ghost of Tsushima, which is a little bit inaccurate and maybe a little unfair on top of that. What we’ve got here is essentially open-world Nioh, a hardcore action combat experience that happens to give you a wide open playfield to enjoy (and hack your enemies apart) in. This is a game where you’ll have to earn those moments of cinematic glory, but they’re here all the same, and patient players are bound to love coaxing the best experience from their time in feudal Japan.