GamesRPGRise of the RoninMy love of Rise of the Ronin is weird, because I can’t stop playing or stop thinking about Ghost of Tsushima 2 and Assassin’s Creed RedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRPGRise of the RoninMy love of Rise of the Ronin is weird, because I can’t stop playing or stop thinking about Ghost of Tsushima 2 and Assassin’s Creed RedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: PlayStation)
I’ve just pulled off one of Rise of the Ronin’s best – and most satisfying – moves. Gliding through the air over the Japanese landscape on my hawk-like wings, I whistle for my horse and as it appears beneath me, I effortlessly somersault from the air right onto its back ready to ride into the fray. Rise of the Ronin is full of these little stylish touches, particularly in combat. Hitting R1 after an attack lands, for example, lets you flick your blade to rid it of blood and claw back some precious Ki – or the stamina you need to block or pull off the more impactful attacks.
But it’s this that, in part, makes me immediately hanker for news of Ghost of Tsushima 2 while playing Rise of the Ronin. It’s a very odd sensation to simultaneously enjoy the game that you’re playing, but also regularly think of how much I really want to play Ghost of Tsushima 2 and Assassin’s Creed Red when they eventually arrive.
Rise of the katana
(Image credit: PlayStation)
Rise of the Ronin has so much that is reminiscent of SuckerPunch’s samurai adventure, to the point that theRise of the Ronin team has admitted it used the game as a reference for its own open-world RPG. Plus,Sonyhas promoted this PS5 exclusive so much that you can start to see how consumer confusion has arrived between the two titles – even though Sony hasn’t publicly announced it’s getting a sequel,but rather a movie.
(Image credit: Koei Tecmo)
Rise of the Ronin’s slick combat, as developer Team Ninja is famed for, certainly stands for itself as a brilliant hack-and-slash samurai experience, with tons of customization options. It has the same brilliant way of making patience pay off that made me vibe so well with Ghost of Tsushima. I feared Rise of the Ronin would be too Dark Souls, too punishing, but it thankfully (for me anyway) leans more Tsushima than Elden Ring.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Rise of the Ronin just exploring. It’s got a delicious way of teasing out each region with little details to find, whether it’s side missions that help develop your bonds with companions or finding a cute cat to pet. But, there’s nothing quite like the tense, face-to-face standoffs that can so often randomly occur when you’re exploring in Ghost of Tsushima, and although it’s possible to have a random encounter in Rise of the Ronin, it doesn’t quite have the same spectacle.
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(Image credit: PlayStation)
What it does have though is gameplay that’s so evocative of those early Assassin’s Creed games, both from the way the narrative plays out to some of the traversal quirks and the way your ronin simply just moves. Even the initial dual protagonists seem like a nod to the duo of protagonists that have defined the more recent Assassin’s Creed RPGs, even if we don’t quite the nuance of choice-based narratives here. Getting that Assassin’s Creed feel against the Japanese backdrop is such a tease for what Assassin’s Creed Red will be. I’d imagine, knowing what Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla have been before it, that it’ll be a much vaster and denser experience than what Rise of the Ronin has to offer, but Team Ninja’s adventure might just be the perfect aperitif.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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1
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2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
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3
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4
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5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
5
Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”