Ryse: Son of Rome Reviews

Ryse: Son of Rome is ranked in the 25th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
VGChartz
Top Critic
6.2 / 10.0
Nov 28, 2013

Ryse is a rather short, repetitive, beautiful game that is going to be a tough sell for many while others will adore it.

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70 / 100
Oct 17, 2014

Unfortunately, Ryse: Son of Rome is not a production that can exceed the average level, with its excellent graphics, moderate sounds, weakness of the combat system and the story. With a slightly longer gameplay time, more detailed story processing and a few adjustments to the combat system, Ryse, which can actually be quite successful, cannot go any further than resembling a true technology demo in this state.

Review in Turkish | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Feb 12, 2021

Ryse is exactly what a launch title in 2013 should have been. It is gorgeous, it does not overstay its welcome, and as it is now on Game Pass it is easy to recommend to anyone who has Game Pass on console. It is also available on PC, but you need to buy it outright there. On the whole? If you have not played this game and you liked the HBO series Rome and seeing the same execution play out 1500 times? This is the game for you!

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7 / 10.0
Dec 17, 2013

Ryse: Son of Rome is a game you need to have for your Xbox One for the great pictures and detailed, realistic environments in the ancient Roman Empire. Furthermore, this game offers little original. It's a very solid game in which you can make your move, as long as you have good timing. Keep your cool, because those enemies who attack all at once are working the nerves when you try to go off your beautiful little bit of buttons. Ryse does, however, give you a nice challenging game that has virtually no weird glitches.

Review in Dutch | Read full review

GameSkinny
DreNav
Top Critic
Jan 23, 2014

Wait for a price drop if you're in no rush to get either this game or an Xbox One entirely. The story, acting, and visuals hold it up, but the gameplay weighs it down hard.

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71 / 100
Dec 11, 2013

Ryse: Son of Rome is a decent action trip and a good addition for the Xbox One launch lineup, but on its own there's nothing particularly memorable to help stand the test of time.

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Oct 20, 2014

Looking back on this review, I'm actually a bit depressed that the highlight of the game (for me, at least) was simply how good Ryse looked. It's obvious that Crytek is capable of so much more, but Ryse simply borrows the best that a few franchises has to offer, and instead chooses to cobble them together quite lazily with a few superfluous mechanics thrown in for good measure, rather than refining and building upon the core game. Granted, Ryse could have been doomed from the start, having started out as a Kinect-only title with a fairly limited control scheme, but I can't help but feel that a brand new IP deserved a little bit more than what we ultimately got. But hey, at least it looks good, right?

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Dec 17, 2013

For every dollar that goes into technical and visual design, that's one that doesn't go towards amplifying a combat system, and I'm okay with that tradeoff so long as the gameplay is fun, if not incredibly deep. In a world of limited budgets constraining unlimited potential, Crytek's priorities were not misplaced. 'Ryse: Son of Rome' is an absolutely gorgeous game with a combat system designed to look flawless. For the most part it absolutely does. I'd never make the argument that Crytek is going for something too far away from shallow thrills, but if the potential of the new generation is in the execution of progressive, game-enhancing visuals, then that potential has been fulfilled.

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6.5 / 10.0
Dec 16, 2013

Ryse: Son of Rome is a bloody, gorgeous adventure. It's a shame then that there's so much squandered potential. Its short length and the lack of variety bury what good the game has to offer. I wouldn't be averse to a sequel if they can flesh out the experience and tell a purely human story, but as Ryse stands it's hard to recommend at full price.

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3.5 / 10.0
Jan 10, 2014

Ryse falls short in almost every area in which a game can. Pretty and polished though it may be, it is not an essential title.

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Nov 29, 2013

Ryse is stupid, beautiful, stupid, visceral, stupid and much more fun than we ever gave it credit for. A surprisingly solid launch title let down by a limited stock of enemies to fight, not its controversial yet ultimately entertaining swordplay.

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8.3 / 10.0
Dec 2, 2013

Ryse: Son of Rome is a solid game and arguably has the best graphics of any console game to date. The combat is engaging, and the multiplayer extension feels like the Shadows of Rome multiplayer that never was. Although the title does come across as a one-trick pony, a fair amount of care was put into that element. Ultimately, I found the game to be the most enjoyable of all Xbox One launch titles, and putting this much emphasis on a new IP is always commendable. If you want the best-looking game on the new Xbox One console, Ryse is the easy choice to make, and the combat is enough to keep your interest until the end.

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7 / 10
Nov 26, 2013

Rome wasn't built in a day but you'll easily complete Ryse inside of one - but you'll also enjoy the adventure whilst it lasts.

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SECTOR.sk
Sector.sk Staff
Top Critic
7.5 / 10.0
Jan 2, 2014

Overall, Ryse is processed at a very high level, looks impressive, diverse and has depth, but the whole thing pulls one significant element and this problem with the fighting.

Review in Slovak | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Sep 5, 2014

Great graphics are not everything ... Ryse will offer you an intriguing (though trivial) story in a great climate! Damage to untapped potential...

Review in Polish | Read full review

Impulsegamer
Unknown
Top Critic
3 / 5.0
Nov 27, 2013

Ryse Son of Rome is a beautiful looking game on the Xbox One that regrettably suffers from monotonous gameplay which is a "crying" shame. I wanted so much for this game and at the end of the day, it's more a tech demo than a fully fledged game.

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games(TM)
games™ Team
Top Critic
Unscored
Nov 21, 2013

It's easy to see a new franchise in Ryse; one that could potentially rival God Of War if it maintains the momentum of the latter half of the campaign. However, the gameplay is so rote and uninspired that it merely hints at a more robust and rewarding experience that it fails to deliver. Ultimately, it makes for a few hours of passing entertainment, but it's certainly not one for the history books.

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NZGamer
Top Critic
6.5 / 10.0
Nov 21, 2013

Still, beautiful visuals can only do so much to redeem a game, and as beautiful as Ryse is to look at, it's still more than a bit underwhelming to play. Which is sad, because, with a bit more thought put into the game design side of things, this could have been the Xbox One's standout launch title.

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7 / 10.0
Nov 25, 2013

Sure, Ryse: Son of Rome is a gorgeous game, possibly the best looking Xbox One launch game despite its sub-1080p resolution. But really, it's more than that. It's slower paced, tactical combat is fun, even though it never evolves throughout the game.

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6.5 / 10.0
Oct 16, 2014

Ryse: Son of Rome is a great tale set in the Roman period, with its visceral limb chopping and an authentic weight to its centurion credentials, but as a third-person action adventure it's something of a one shot deal with little to pull you back in once you've seen Marius' journey through. Its gorgeous visuals and in-your-face combat may wow, but their shine dulls with unfortunately little to be offered in their place to reignite that initial excitement.

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