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Rise of the Ronin – Hands-On Gameplay Preview

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Open world continue to become the biggest focus for single player driven games, even Miyasaki-san drifted into that direction with the dominating 2022s Elden Ring. Team Ninja have now followed suite and leap frogged that game with a full open map, RPG-like action adventure in Rise of the Ronin. After playing the first few hours of the game, this early hands-on preview delivers a small slice of this Samurai inspired historic saga.

  A Vertical Slice

A vital piece within all RPG’s is to create and individualize your own avatar and here Team Ninja have really raised the game. You can tailor a huge amount of the character from the basics in hair, eyes, body type and then far more in-depth Orthognathic fetishes in cheek bones, mandibles and how much acid perm is applied to your locks. It may seem a small piece to discuss but, the ability to tailor this really helps you invest in the characters, their plight and ultimately their fate. I suspect, like me, many of you will spend a good 30 minutes or more here ensuring you have the correct replica of yourself, maybe from a few years ago now for me, and Japanese, and a Samurai…. ok nothing like myself, but still fun and helps set the stage for the game.

Beyond this you have multiple modes of play to choose from, much like Nioh and Nioh 2 on PS5, which this shares the same but updated engine. You can prioritise Graphics, Frame rate or a Ray Tracing mode. In addition, for the Ray Tracing and Graphics mode you can also choose to unlock the framerate, the performance mode is fixed at a 60fps output, hence the name. I will cover these in the full review, but the b-roll here provided by PlayStation shows of the frame rate mode which is the mode I have been playing most. Each mode has it benefits and weaknesses, but the choice is again a welcome addition that Team Ninja consistently offer.

After a short and heavy handed tutorial, you are set loose on your first clandestine mission as a dual assassin squad. This will instantly feel at home to Nioh players with its dark, historic focus and visceral combat and fluid controls. The story is at the forefront and the choices the game offers right from the off allow big paths and hard decisions immediately for the player, which I really liked. It continues further with a Tenchu, dark tone before thrusting you into the open land of Japan and pointing you in the direction of Edo, the original city now known as Tokyo. Here the wealth of NPCs, side content, more nuanced battles and above all dialogue start to feel more Ghost of Tsushima-like than the earlier Nioh meets, Sekiro style red herring of the opening. This shift into a brighter, richer but still dangerous world really pulled me in, helped greatly by its grounded historic footings. Although not historicity accurate it does track the real Japanese Boshin civil war where the country fought and secured back control from the Shogun war lords in the later half of the 19th century. Our heroes are thrust into this plight and right from the off we are giving a huge amount of autonomy to progress the story.

Rich & Rugged world

 You find villages subjugated under thugs’ control to expunge from existence, similar to Assassins creed or Tsushima on that score. Travel is expanded with a horse, helping locales can boost your health, armour, skills and weapons. You can trade with them, learn from then and help them as you go. An early mission here had a street vendor unable to sell his wares due to a gang in the nearby village. He gives you a free item to use as a distraction tool, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. Later you get a horse, learn to fly, use western hand cannons, and even go pilot wings in the name of adventure. Like I say, not historically accurate but within the realms of reality and history, such as the American Naval commander, Matthew C Perry, appearing early on being a real person in this period of history. Needless to say you spend s good deal of time learning the locals troubles, expanding your skills, gear and knowledge with a branching storyline which offers up a good variety both on and off the main story track.

 The game is looker at times and Dense with trees, Flora, water which uses Screen Spaced Reflections excellent shadow maps, snow deformation, physics on cloth, hair, destruction & effects all look good. The visual style is similar to Nioh 2 but is brighter, richer and more grounded that those games. The rendering load is much higher with a vast and organic world you explore, it must be noted this is still pre-release WiP Code. That said, the game can have a high level of pop-in when traveling on horse back with obvious LoD swaps, NPCs fading in and some imposter swaps. Never bad and the sheer amount of swaying grass, building, people and more this is always a balance and some modes are better than others. Animation is a high point, but the horse animation was also an aspect I noticed could be better, specifically because you spend a great deal of your time looking at it, the high points far exceed these early preview niggles mind. And I will be diving more into these areas in my full review and it does have better aspects.

 Such as the superior character rendering quality and animation over Nioh, the real-time cutscenes show these off beautifully and again, due to the character design aspect and personal choices in the game make these more unique and individual based on the path trodden. Hair sways realistically, cloth billows and folds, enemies are dismembered, objects explode, flames, sparks and far more are front and center in the games high point in the combat.

The art of war

 A core aspect with rich, varied and skill and timing based combat, defensive then offensive attacks, stances, weapons, deception and speed all play into the action. Using all method at your disposal are vital and like a real samurai cunning and guile are better than head on conflict all the time.

Animation, & effects work are excellent and really sell the battles with fast put powerful slices, telegraphed moves of enemies, dramatic counters, blocks, parries and gory finishers seamlessly blend to create some stunning impressive moments in just the opening few hours. Mixing up ranged weapons, the katana, spear, staff and even bow and arrow or guns creates a similar but complex battle system offering multiple ways to progress. This does not even include the grapple hook which is both used for fast traversal over the world but also to disorientate your enemies and open them up for a fatal blow or just to give a chance against the hulking guards that pose more of a threat than the foot clan.

 All in the breadth of choice, wide design, tactical combat and variety of story progression and autonomy the game offers, even in these opening few hours, drew me in. But we will have much more to show & tell in our full and exhaustive review coming up later this month. Be sure to check back for the full dissection of the PS5 title.