Ryse: Son of Rome Reviews
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.
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
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.
Ryse: Son of Rome was one of the games I was looking forward to for the launch of the Xbox One, and I was a bit disappointed. While the visuals and soundtrack helped in getting me through the game, the repetitive combat and a "been there done that" story made it hard for me to get into it.
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.
At the end of the day, even with its faults, Ryse is a game that one should experience as it does offer a glimpse of what next-gen can be on the Xbox One.
Yes it screams "I used to be a Kinect game," yes it's limited in story as well as combat and yes, you've played many, many games like this previously, better games with more systems and gameplay but...but...crucially, Ryse: Son of Rome looks breathtaking. The perfect launch game, doing nothing new, arguably less so than current gen games but adequately showing off the new hardware - think of it as a tech demo with quick time event executions and you will not be disappointed.
Play your part in protecting the Roman Empire as legionnaire Marius Titus, a man with a thirst for revenge and a penchant for particularly gory execution moves. Ryse Son of Rome could have been a great game but its repetitive gameplay holds it back from greatness.
The almighty power of 'what could have been' is difficult to ignore when the Ryse formula works, but in its current form it's difficult to recommend as a must-own Xbox One title, despite the clear potential that regularly bubbles above the surface.
The Roman Empire provides the setting fo Xbox One's Ryse, a visually stunning but distressingly shallow hackathon.
Well-designed gameplay and a consistent bare-bones narrative could have saved this. As it stands, it's a rental title, maybe.
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.
Ryse is an absolutely beautiful game, but all the beauty in the world can't make up for repetitive gameplay that will most likely bore the average gamer, even those who like hack-and-slash.
Ryse: Son of Rome is not only a magnificent shell with an inconsistent soul but most of all a colossal wasted opportunity: at the dawn of a new generation, it's sad to see a game so incredibly beautiful to look at, yet at the same time so shallow to play.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
Ryse is a rather short, repetitive, beautiful game that is going to be a tough sell for many while others will adore it.
We must say that Ryse offers no long-lasting value, it is definitely a renter at best, but it is a beautiful one. Once you complete Marius' story mode in about five to six hours and try out the co-op multiplayer once or twice, there isn't much else to it. Ryse does an excellent job at showcasing the capabilities of the Xbox One itself, but it lacks any real substance.
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.
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.
While Ryse may not be the train wreck that some feared, it just doesn't live up to the potential that many others hoped for.