There’s only a couple of weeks left until Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo’s action RPG Rise of the Ronin launches. Set in 1800s Japan (but everyone still uses swords and melee weapons, primarily because Japanese history is so weird), we get a huge world, story and combat system to explore in this spiritual successor to the Nioh games.
But before we can even open the can of worms that is this new open-world action role-playing game, we’re faced with one big challenge. Creating a character. Personally, I love to make all the characters I create as monstrous as possible, as I feel it’s the best way to push the character creator to the limit, while also making for ridiculous scenes when my macabre Frankenstein’s monster enters. The Rise of the Ronin Character Creator is full of detail and really lets you create whatever you want. I chose a strange old man with very pointed features and red streaks in his hair.
Once you’re happy with your creation, you’ll enter a battle tutorial. Rise of the Ronin has many weapons, from the heavy and slow Odachi to the faster dual swords. Certain classes point you towards specific weapons, but so far I’ve only picked up the weapon that has the best stats. The game doesn’t penalize you for picking something that isn’t recommended for you, which is nice, as the randomness of loot can otherwise leave you without a suitable weapon for a while.
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Each weapon has its own unique combo and you also get special attacks. On easier difficulties, you can probably just spam offensive abilities over and over to win, but even on normal difficulty, you can pretty easily get beaten by a group of weaker enemies or a single stronger enemy if you’re not mindful of your defensive skills. You can dodge and block, but what will probably draw the most comparisons to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (aside from the setting) is the Counterspark mechanic.
Using a triangle, you can parry enemy attacks. The timing takes some time to get right, and like in Sekiro, you don’t stop the enemy’s attack with one successful parry. If an enemy goes for a combo, you have to time your parries perfectly to surprise them, causing your attacks to do more damage to the enemy’s health and Ki, the latter acting as stamina. This Ki is also used by you when you attack and parry. It regenerates fairly quickly, but if you’re caught off guard without Ki, you’ll be penalized.
I haven’t gotten this far into the game yet, so I can’t say for sure how important the Counterspark mechanic is. It seems to be able to parry most attacks, but since you also have the ability to dodge and block, there are plenty of ways to avoid damage while you work on getting your parry times right. Rise of the Ronin also has a big focus on stealth. Like the more recent Assassin’s Creed games, stealth strikes don’t kill all enemies, but they do a fair amount of damage and prevent you from being surrounded, which can easily lead to defeat.
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Another thing that draws comparisons to the more recent Assassin’s Creed games is the way the open world is structured. The map is divided into different areas, and each of them has its own list of objectives to be achieved. Everything from clearing settlements that have been taken over by bandits to petting cats can help tie you to an area. This of course gives you a lot to do as soon as you step into the open world, but it can also be seen as a rather weak way of forcing the player to explore, by putting question marks to make the player explore rather than giving them a world worth diving into. It feels like a recent trend, one that many had hoped to break away from with titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Elden Ring.
Graphically, Rise of the Ronin is very beautiful. At dusk, at dawn and throughout the day it really shines, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to say the graphics are absolutely stunning, they do create a lovely backdrop for your adventures. Of course, you’re not just wandering aimlessly around 19th century Japan in Rise of the Ronin. Without giving anything away, the story so far is decent. Nothing so special that I don’t dare to think about putting the controller down, but it keeps me interested enough, especially when I have the world’s ugliest man as the main character.
In the short time I’ve spent with Rise of the Ronin so far, I’ve been generally impressed, but not exactly blown away. It’s an action role-playing game that draws inspiration from all the greats in the genre, but it’s far too early to say how it stacks up against them right now. There are many bosses, quests and more waiting, and I want to take them with the monster I made.
2024-03-11 23:00:00
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