Rise of the Ronin Reviews
Rise of the Ronin does a great job at combining combat and stealth, improved by a vast array of weapons to wield. The characters are memorable, as are the locations, showing off bakumatsu Japan. Regrettably, performance issues sour the experience.
Team Ninja has successfully transplanted the gameplay of Nioh into an open-world adventure. The combat is deep and exhilarating, with dozens of combinations of weaponry and fighting styles to try out. It's different enough from its predecessor to stand on its own, while still being familiar and comfortable to fans of their previous titles.
A year after its PS5 debut, Rise of the Ronin arrives on PC with Team Ninja's combat prowess at its core-fast, fluid, and deeply satisfying.
So, is it worth playing Rise of the Ronin? I think so. Especially if you enjoy clearing a map filled with scattered markers. There’s a good chance the game might wear you out before you finish it, but you can always come back to it after a break to check off a few more collectibles. Personally, I’m looking forward to a sequel because it’s a pretty solid foundation that Team Ninja could expand on.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Rise of the Ronin's transition to Steam broadens its audience, delivering a compelling samurai narrative intertwined with fluid combat and rich historical context.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Team Ninja created a huge open world of historical Japan in Rise of Ronin, and the result is an excellent samurai GTA.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Rise of the Ronin was the best breath of fresh air I needed when it comes to feudal Japan and sword fighting. Playing a game where it’s a mix of Dark Souls, For Honor and a splash of Shadow of Mordor. I would be recommending this game to those who love Japan’s history and sword fighting, but just on the PS5. The reason is that this game killed my 3070, and I’ve had to regress to continue playing the game. I would have tested it on the Steam Deck, but I’m not willing to lose that too. So, play this game on the PS5, but if you don’t have one, you can play it on PC. Just make sure it’s a Super edition or a 4080 just to be safe. I give Rise of the Ronin the Thumb Culture Gold Award
Ultimately, Rise of the Ronin is a good game, but it falls short of its potential. For fans of samurai and feudal Japan, there's a lot to enjoy, but those expecting a revolutionary action RPG in the Souls-like vein may end up disappointed. Its combat is satisfying, and combined with an interesting story and a good setting, it may be enough to keep players hooked, but don't expect any major innovations, and be prepared to face terrible technical issues.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
No matter how fun the gameplay is, that doesn’t matter if the game doesn’t consistently work, and I don’t think anyone could realistically say that Rise of the Ronin works as it should on PC.
PC players looking for an awe-inspiring graphical showcase might run into performance issues. Overall, Rise of the Ronin’s flashy combat and action sell the experience and make it worth playing, but not as convincingly as one might wish
Another fumbled PC port blighted by poor optimisation and unpredictable performance issues.
Rise of the Ronin is, from many perspectives, Koei Tecmo's most ambitious adventure and its arrival on PC should be celebrated for providing even more enthusiasts of the theme and fans of the studio with access to it.However, between mistakes and successes in the adaptation, here we have yet another proof that PC ports require a lot of attention during their creation. Therefore, it is difficult to recommend this version more widely until its most serious problems are solved and the performance is within expectations for different hardware configurations, both above and below average. Until then, we hope that, one day, the adventure of the nameless warrior can in fact be experienced in all its glory on computers as well.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Long-time fans of Team Ninja’s titles should certainly enjoy all that Rise of the Ronin has to offer, but others may want to wait for a few more patches before diving in.
The open world and RPG aspects are not perfect by any means, but those are minor issues on an otherwise very engaging and competent experience that is acted out masterfully. If you are interested in Japanese history or simply want more of Team Ninja’s brutally satisfying combats, go grab Rise of the Ronin.
Rise of the Ronin delivers a visually striking and mechanically solid action-adventure experience, but its repetitive side content and unremarkable story hold it back. While the PC port offers technical improvements, performance issues and underwhelming visual upgrades dampen its potential.
Rise of the Ronin's PC release is marred by performance issues which should hopefully be fixed through some patches focused on optimization. Underneath, however, there's still a game with excellent combat, albeit with a bland story and quest design.
Rise of the Ronin on PC reconfirms the strengths pointed out when it arrived on PlayStation 5: a perhaps too clichéd open world structure is revived by a satisfying combat and progression system against the backdrop of a convincing and exciting narrative set during one of the most peculiar periods in Japanese history. The technical limitations encountered on the SONY console are thankfully a bad memory, and this unremarkable element makes this new incarnation the ideal choice for venturing into the Bakumatsu era.
Review in Italian | Read full review
All things considered, some post-launch patches will be necessary to enjoy an even more solid experience: the publisher has already confirmed to us that several updates are on the way, but at the moment know that the launch version needs more than a few technical refinements.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Rise of the Ronin may feature a formulaic open-world structure, but it's still an amazing action RPG despite that. Unfortunately, your mileage with the PC port may vary, so proceed with caution.
Rise of the Ronin brings Team Ninja's killer combat to an open world, making for a samurai playground with much to love and even more to see. While the open world design fails to live up to the higher points set by the robust combat mechanics and the loot system is ridiculously over-the-top, there are gems among the clutter, such as building Bonds with memorable allies, seeing how player decisions affect the ending and taking out enemies with a friend.