Rise of the Ronin arrives today exclusively on PlayStation 5. Japanese studio Team Ninja presents its first open-world game, although it maintains its obsession with precise and challenging combat systems. Rise of the Ronin is like Nioh ditching the fantasy and adopting design elements from Ubisoft games.
Players embody a Ronin – this is how masterless samurai were known during Japan’s feudal period – during the turbulent times of Bakumatsu. In the mid-19th century, Japan began its opening to the West and established trade relations with several countries in Europe and other continents. It is the end of the golden era of the samurai, known as the Edo period.
This brief history lesson helps you understand what sets Rise of the Ronin apart from other samurai video games. The protagonist experiences this change of era, the opening, and this translates from the arsenal that he can use – more modern and with firearms – to the architecture and the secondary characters. In many cities in the game, such as Yokohama, it is easy to find buildings inspired by European architecture, for example.
Rise of the Ronin is Team Ninja’s first purely open-world video game. La Vanguardia has had the opportunity to speak with the game’s director, Fumihiko Yasuda, and with the producer, Yosuke Hayashi, who explain how this change in design affects the experience: “Rise of the Ronin is an open world game, whereas our previous games were more linear. This means there are many new ways for players to tackle different scenarios.”
On the other hand, Rise of the Ronin avoids mythology and focuses on recounting events directly inspired by the real history of Japan. So you won’t find magical enemies or anything like that. “If we talk about the enemies, they are all human, but you can expect a lot of variety both in enemy types and in the way in which players can confront them,” explain Yasuda and Hayashi.
The combat system is already a hallmark of the studio. Team Ninja games are not easy and require hours of practice to master the combos and counters. Rise of the Ronin is no exception. The key to combat, as in Nioh or Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is in the ki bar, a gauge that empties when hit and leaves characters exposed when it runs out. A bit like the posture bar in From Software’s game.
Although those players who have respect for difficult games should not worry. Rise of the Ronin has three difficulty levels. “We wanted to maintain the feel and satisfaction of the combat systems of our previous titles, but in Rise of the Ronin there are many things to see beyond combat and we wanted players to enjoy being a Ronin in the Bakumatsu period, for example. For this reason we have set three levels of difficulty,” say Yasuda and Hayashi.
The open world design of Rise of the Ronin is reminiscent of Ubisoft games or Ghost of Tsushima: some errand orders, enemy camps to liberate, and secondary missions with which to raise the affinity level of regions or allied characters. That said, Rise of the Ronin is the Team Ninja game that takes the story it tells most seriously and the plot has a lot of weight in the adventure.
Players can make decisions that directly affect the course of events, which characters become allies and which will become enemies. So choose wisely.
Rise of the Ronin arrives today exclusively on PlayStation 5.
