Why we’re excited about the PS5 highlight “Rise of the Ronin.”

The similarities between action hits like ‘Ghost of Tsushima’ and ‘Sekiro – Shadows Die Twice’ and the new work of Team Ninja are unmistakable. However, “Rise of the Ronin” largely avoids fantasy elements and instead relies on an exciting historical setting and a gripping, spectacular combat system. Here you can read why we are enthusiastic after the first hours and whether all signs really point to a hit.

Like a twin sword seeking revenge

Even character creation in “Rise of the Ronin” starts differently. Here you are not creating a hero, but rather a twin. As children, the two were rescued during the chaos of war by their new mistress, who turned them into samurai and now used them in the fight against the Tokugawa shogunate. Your first assignment takes you on one of the so-called Black Ships, with which British Commodore Matthew Perry wants to force Japan to open up to the West. The confrontation with the historical personality, which is woven into the plot a bit like in “Assassin’s Creed”, ends in the most dramatic way you can imagine, which also gives the story a very personal component.

The associated decision in the prologue, not detailed here, is just one of many that will significantly influence the course and possibly the outcome of the story. But even smaller decisions make a difference. Only those who choose the lying skill as their starting skill can later mislead a geisha about their real purpose in Yokohama. Will the “Lady of the Arts” use her knowledge against you later if we have to tell her the truth? The question is as exciting as the consequences of sparing or killing the first known opponents.

Exciting duels and cool gadgets

In short, the highly dynamic combat system with its duel-like encounters is comparable to that of Team Ninja’s previous “Soulslikes”. Particularly important is the counter-spark mechanism, a timing-based defense system vaguely reminiscent of “Sekiro”. This means you can parry even particularly powerful, regularly unblockable special attacks from your opponents without taking any damage, deal massive AI damage, and sometimes even panic your enemy, making them easier to attack. If you completely deplete the enemy AI bar, which basically corresponds to stamina, you can use a powerful finisher.

Sometimes in stealth mode you can secretly solve many situations and perform stealth kills on normal opponents. Aerial attacks from a roof or directly from the paraglider, which is available quite early in the game, are also possible. Another gadget is the versatile throwing anchor, which also opens up alternative paths in the levels, for example when you swing over an abyss from a tree. In open battles you can quickly close the distance to opponents if desired and sometimes knock them off balance. You use the hook particularly spectacularly to pepper nearby fire barrels and other things on your opponents. Using pistols and other firearms, the result is a combat system that seems familiar yet unique. ‘Rise of the Ronin’ avoids the possible frustration of typical Soulslikes with various elements. There are three difficulty levels to choose from and by defeating certain opponents you can exclude some opponents from respawning.

Rich open world

After the short prologue, “Rise of the Ronin” opens quickly and places you in a fairly expansive area in and around the city of Yokohama. The smaller settlements in the area in particular are terrorized by bandits and Tokugawa supporters. You can liberate these villages and improve your reputation. As a thank you, you get access to an extra rest and fast travel point, but especially to traders and extra investigators. How motivating or relevant to the game balance these liberation actions are in the long term remains to be seen.

But just exploring the world on foot or on the back of one of our finely animated horses is fun, even if from an artistic point of view the world is not as beautiful as in “Ghost of Tsushima”. Technically it’s still quite impressive, although we haven’t yet taken a closer look at the three performance modes, which focus on image quality, framerate or ray tracing features.

Potential action taken

The first hours of playing in ‘Rise of the Ronin’ leave a first-class impression. The story immediately draws us in, the audiovisual background creates a powerful atmosphere. But what we like most is the combat system, which offers a smooth transition between stealth and open exchanges of blows, brutal close-quarters combat and tactically relevant long-range combat. Thanks to the difficulty level, ‘Rise of the Ronin’ is interesting for a much broader target group than ordinary soulslikes. There are still a few questions left unanswered, but after the first few hours everything seems to be hitting the mark!