Rise of the Ronin Reviews
If you have the time and the inclination Rise of the Ronin is a deep game with a rich, character-driven, story. However, you'll have to do battle with the controls, the multitude of systems, and endless reserves of useless loot, as well as your enemies, to get there.
Rise of the Ronin shows exactly what that money buys. From the awkward horse animation to the silent protagonist, in every cutscene fading out to a loading screen instead of dynamically swinging back behind the protagonist, in the constant tooltip tutorials and the entirely unmotivated progression systems with no contextualisation in the world.
Rise of the Ronin brings the typical game structure of Nioh into a barren open world full of boring fetch quests and repetitive missions. The combat system is once again top notch, but the overall quality of the game certifies a step backward for Team Ninja.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The companion system adds meaningful decisions and choices and attempts to add depth to every character in the game. The diverse set of weapons and tools at your disposal always keep combat fresh and engaging. And the game's evocative setting and its colourful cast of characters always push you forward into the story. Rise of the Ronin is clearly lifting above and beyond its weight-class, and you can see it wobbling at the knees. But to its credit, it never crumbles under that load.
Rise of the Ronin provided the best encounters and combat system Team Ninja ever provided in a recent memory, but it's open world is devoid of life or points of interest
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Rise of the Ronin is a case where more isn't always better. It's got varied and challenging combat, a wealth of content, and a wide variety of mechanics in a story that spans over a decade. But while most of the individual components work, many feel unrefined, and their sheer volume doesn't elevate the experience.
Rise of the Ronin is one of those games that is filled with many strengths and weaknesses. Combat is extremely engaging and fun, but on the other hand, its world is too shallow, story is disappointing and visuals are outdated. You can enjoy it, but keep your expectations low.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Providing Team Ninja iron out some of the creases in a post-launch patch, this could still be seen as a retainer—possibly a worthy companion piece to anybody hooked on the Shogun miniseries.
"Rise of the Ronin treads too closely with games we have already experienced."
Rise of the Ronin has an excellent combat system and a somewhat dark narrative but the game's dull world and mediocre quest design take away from the best mechanics on offer here. It all starts to blend together into a mindless sandbox game that offers little excitement.
The latest from Team Ninja is an ambitious period adventure in which the rigorous approach to combat is once again the highlight, and the most enjoyable.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Rise of the Ronin presents a deep and complex combat system set against the backdrop of Japan's Bakumatsu period, offering a unique blend of historical immersion and challenging gameplay. However, its ambitious mechanics are somewhat overshadowed by an overwhelming tutorial system, lifeless urban environments, and inconsistent voice acting. Despite these drawbacks, the game rewards players who persevere with a richly rewarding combat experience, especially through its intricate parry system.
Rise of the Ronin tells an interesting story in a realistic historical setting with some outstanding combat mechanics but lets its dated open-world design and poor performance drag it down.
Ultimately, Rise of the Ronin will be a mixed bag for people. The combat will carry it for many, but the lack of variety in the open world, messy story, and performance issues will take away from others.
Rise Of The Ronin is not a missed opportunity but certainly not one of those exclusives that will be remembered for years to come, either. The excellent combat system crafted by Team Ninja, along with an engaging story that is respectful of the historical period used as a setting, make it an enjoyable game and, certainly, capable of beguiling fans of Ronin, Samurai and stories set in ancient Japan. At the same time, however, an obvious inexperience with the reference genre, coupled with an insufficient technical compartment.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Rise of The Rónin offers everything you can expect from a Team Ninja game. Although they are impressive as usual, in presenting an excellent combat style and of the utmost fun, and it reaches its climax with boss fights, but also, as usual, the game fails in presenting a good story. Or a distinctive stage design, in addition to their creation of a mediocre open world, and a stealth system devoid of innovation spoiled by artificial intelligence, with the end result being that it is only a good game.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Rise of the Ronin is an unfortunate example of what happens when the chase for mainstream appeal goes in the way of creative identity. While it's still a fairly enjoyable action game when it allows itself to be, it's ultimately bogged down by half-baked mechanics that make the world feel emptier than it looks.
Rise of the Ronin dilutes the gameplay of Nioh and Wo Long to accomodate for an open world that offers little of worth. Combat is still great despite this, but it could have been so much more
Rise of the Ronin takes you to an exciting time in Japanese history. However, that says it all. Rise of the Ronin borrows many elements from well-known games such as Assassin's Creed and Nioh. The combat can be relatively frustrating due to the different styles you have to learn. There is also a lot to experience in the open world, but it is not always beautiful or challenging. Rise of the Ronin is therefore primarily a game where you can enjoy yourself for a short time.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Rise of the Ronin shows that once again Team Ninja knows how to do fun combat systems with a ton of depth, unfortunately the rest of the package isn't quite up to par, with a disappointing story and structure that make the game drag on.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
