Rise of The Ronin Wastes a Promising Concept with its Clumsy Combat System and Insensitive Story – Greek Review
SPOILER WARNING : This review discusses minor details of the plot and gameplay elements from “Rise of the Ronin”.
“Rise of The Ronin,” the latest release from “Nioh” game developer Team Ninja, is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, promising a dramatic role-playing story that blends Eastern and Western fighting styles.
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Since its announcement, “Rise of The Ronin” has drawn inevitable comparisons to Sucker Punch’s critically acclaimed 2020 “Ghost of Tsushima.” Understandably so: although “Ronin” takes place roughly 600 years after “Ghost,” both follow samurai warriors in Japan as they wield their swords in an open-world action-adventure.
Unfortunately, “Ronin” never reaches the same level of excellence, as it suffers from a clumsy combat system and an insensitive story.
When the game begins, players take control of two characters: the designated “Blade Twins,” a dual unit of warriors for the Veiled Edge, specially trained by the Kurosu clan to confront their imperial overlords. They were together when their friendly village was destroyed by the emperor’s spies, and were separated again during the training level during an assassination mission gone wrong.
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After designing both twins in an impressively detailed character creator, users must choose only one of them to play as they progress, while the other is critically injured and kidnapped. While the desire to reconnect with a loved one is a classic, the connection between these twins is not developed enough to make the player truly care.
The main character you choose is known only as the “Protagonist,” and this anonymity is the perfect metaphor for their unsavory journey. At first, the player warrior is “silent,” and players will be genuinely surprised the first time he speaks in a cutscene (I would soon learn that this was a rarity).
A silent protagonist can certainly work, with Link from “Zelda” being a prime example. But when the protagonist of “Rise of the Ronin” is surrounded by equally forgettable allies and makes foolish decisions that will affect the future of Japan, it seems appropriate that he only speaks once in a blue moon.
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Choices are at the heart of the game, as players must decide whether to ally with the Pro-Shogunate or Anti-Shogunate faction. At the heart of the conflict, as presented to the player, is the idea of Western foreigners entering Japan. From the start, if you decide to support the anti-imperial revolutionaries – the game will have other ideas. While players can make hundreds of choices that seem to affect their journey, they are forced to undertake dozens of missions that completely contradict their decisions.
For example, players might initially follow the rebels, then find themselves on a main story mission that sees them slaughtering forces of the rebels themselves on behalf of the Emperor.
It's difficult for the player to feel like their choices have even the slightest impact when their protagonist can't choose a side.
Moving on to the combat mechanics, it seems like the developers threw everything they had into this overloaded system. Players can choose from ten different types of primary weapons and half a dozen secondary weapons. Each weapon has a set of custom combat styles, which can be adjusted during combat to target each enemy's weakness. In theory, this sounds great! However, in practice, the combat is clunky and highly repetitive.
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The key to surviving combat is the “counterspark,” a parallel that allows players to repel an enemy attack and deplete their Ki meter. Once their Ki is depleted, they can no longer perform actions, allowing them to perform a devastating critical attack. Players can also use shurikens or pistols to even the odds.
Most matches looked exactly the same as the previous ones - until the end of the game.
Enemy variety is also severely lacking, with most missions consisting of groups of two to three sword-wielding fighters attacking at once. The only variety comes from brute-type enemies.
Other games have, of course, used brute, heavy and the like as an added challenge, but the equivalents in “Rise of The Ronin” have to be at least 16 feet tall and as wide as five people. In a game that doesn’t have any sort of supernatural element, the player will wonder where these superhuman beings come from.
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The protagonist can bring a diverse set of allies into battle, each less interesting than the last. Maintaining relationships with them outside of combat boosts the player's stats, but even that falls into another boring pattern: give them a gift, wait a few hours, then give them another gift.
The player won't be able to discern many conversations that will make them empathize with any of the characters – and there are many.
Even in the third act of the game, new allies are thrown in front of the player. “Rise of The Ronin” should have thought about creating fewer, more appealing characters with much better voice acting, instead of a circle of wooden and meaningless ones.
In the open world gameplay of “Rise of The Ronin,” players can discover citizens in need of help. Completing these encounters helps strengthen the bond with a given area, but it quickly becomes boring. The same variety of three or four scenarios tends to repeat itself over and over again. For example, a man on the side of the road shouts that a dangerous rebel is nearby, only to turn on the protagonist and try to rob him when he follows him. The first time this happened was unprecedented. By the 15th, it won’t leave anyone surprised.
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The game isn't bad at all. Fun side quests like cat collecting (finding stray cats and cuddling them) and searching for temples to earn players upgrade points are bright spots in this interesting endeavor. This $70 AAA game should offer more.
Unfortunately, “Rise of The Ronin” is a much better game in theory than in practice, with outdated graphics, contrived combat, and “generic” evil characters.
“Rise of The Ronin” is available now on PlayStation 5.
Source: variety
