Ronin Reviews
The central idea is interesting, but lacks depth
RONIN is over in around seven to eight hours but the lengthy design of the levels makes it feel a lot longer than that. When you're locked in a stalemate with ten armed guards, jumping around the walls to avoid gunfire is more tiresome than engaging. RONIN is good for a few short levels in your spare time, but I can't fathom playing it for a long session.
Ronin is a fun concept for turn-based platforming, with some of the coolest moments in platforming. But it isn't worth paying about a dollar a level, especially while lacking a decent plot and featuring unnecessarily difficult levels.
RONIN strives to achieve the level of masterful design of games like Gunpoint and Mark of the Ninja, but seems to have overlooked what made them so special in the first place. It has its moments of truly feeling like a badass, but they do not make up for the frustration of everything in between.
Ronin is a remarkably average game. When it works, it's kind of fun, but there just isn't enough here to maintain interest, and it has nothing that we haven't seen before.
Ronin spends more time convincing you of what it's not than it does showing you why you should care about what it is.
It feels weird to be saying this at a time when sequels are far too prevalent, but while Ronin has its moments of brilliance during its short campaign, it ultimately feels very much like a proof of concept for a more generous and balanced game yet to come.