3.5/5 ★ – geddycahoon's review of Rise of the Ronin.

I’m a team ninja diehard - they’ve created some of my favorite games of all time, and I think they just have an unmatched ability to create extremely high quality and complex video game game combat systems Rise of the Ronin is their ambitious attempt to create an open world game, somewhat uncharacteristically following a big modern trend It took me a really long time to finish this one because frankly, despite being an objectively great (or at least very good) game on many levels, Rise of the Ronin is just… extremely boring The combat is typical team ninja fare - complex, featuring multiple movesets per weapon and emphasizing 1 on 1 combat. However, there’s just a sense of it feeling somewhat lacking, especially by the lofty standards team ninja set with something like Nioh. The combat ultimately boils down to just mashing square after pressing triangle. it just doesn’t feel like there’s as much variety with the weapon movesets here compared to something like Nioh or even wo long. The stance changing system is basically a rock paper scissors game where RotR literally tells you which enemies are weak to which stances, and you basically switch whenever the game tells you to. The stances don’t really *feel* unique because the actual combat just boils down to parry/punish. Each weapon has multiple special moves tied to the movesets, but again, many of them just don’t feel very applicable in the throes of combat. Enemies will block through most of your normal attacks - you generally only damage them by first blocking THEIR attacks and getting a punish. So offensive super moves don’t feel like they have as much of a place in the flow of the game’s combat. The biggest issue with that seeming lack of variety is really present in the boss and mission structure, and ties into the game taking a more grounded approach with its world. There are no monsters or supernatural elements to RotR. The game is like… sort of alternate history fiction with a very light steampunk element. Thus, every combat encounter ultimately boils down to fighting a guy with a sword. Or a spear. Or a bigger sword. Etc etc. I appreciate Team ninja taking a unique approach with the aesthetic, but servicing the grounded world leads to a lacking feel to many of the combat encounters. You have quite literlaly seen every type of battle the game has to offer within the first few hours. The game has a stamina system but it’s very clunky and honestly feels overly punishing. There’s a way to recover it much like Nioh, but it never quite felt “right” to me. The timing is odd and it just doesn’t seem rewarding enough even when pulled off properly. I spent basically the entire game feeling I was at a stamina deficit. Also, the cooldown and punishment after pressing the parry button and mistiming is AGONIZING. The game basically locks you like a stone statue and will not give you another chance to press parry for at least a second or two. It ultimately just feels *annoying* because mistiming one press usually just leaves you as mincemeat for your opponents entire combo When the combat is clicking and flowing, it feels great and I ultimately had more fun with it than not. But there’s an odd clunkiness to it that stayed annoying to the literal last battle. Traversal of the open world honestly *feels* better than expected - I was somewhat dubious of team ninja’s ability to create a smooth flowing map as opposed to the more condensed linear stages common in their games. The horseback riding is fine enough, the glider and grappling hooks your character wields feel mostly satisfying to use. At the core tho, the actual content of the world just gets far too repetitive. There are 4 segments of the game comprising 3 unique giant maps, and each of those maps is segmented into smaller chunks that repeat the same few finite open world exploration boxes to tick off. Again: you pretty much see all the surprises within the first few hours. Then the game goes on for dozens more. The most unique feature of RotR is the dating sim-esque “character bond” system. This mechanic is somewhat undersold in the marketing and such for the game despite literally being its most defining aspect. The protagonist has the ability to befriend LITERALLY every character they come across - boss and ally alike. Each character has an individual bond score tied to your interactions with them. You raise the bond and become closer with each character to earn weapon upgrades, new armor, new movesets, and access to more sub missions It’s essentially a disguised way to give the player access to another form of progression. The bond system is super interesting, and I’ll admit that it did lead to me getting pretty invested in some of RotR’s characters and as an extension, it’s story (which is rare for me with a video game). It feels SLIGHTLY illogical at times as you will be fighting someone in a life or death battle, defeat them, then simply become their friend the next time you encounter them in the world. A unique and interesting feature that feels somewhat clunkily implemented at times, but ultimately defines the game’s identity and does legitimately feel extremely rewarding to engage with. However, the big caveat to all of this - the massive maps, the fact that every npc gives you access to a quest line of several missions… rise of the ronin simply goes on for waaay too long. I completed all of the content the game had to offer, and my playthrough was around 70+ hours. That’s a great value for a $70 console exclusive, but much of that time just sadly feels extremely extremely repetitive. Team ninja takes a repetive approach to their game design, generally. It can be extremely satisfying in their other games, but here, it just causes things to feel as tho they overstay their welcome. I wish this had been shorter. By the end, I was simply burnt out on the game. It literally went on for DOZENS of hours longer than I expected. Lastly - the difficulty. This game actually includes a difficulty slider which is adjustable at any time. For me, it made things feel way too easy and imbalanced, even on the highest setting. There’s a learning curve for sure, but you can tell team ninja designed this to potentially appeal more to people who don’t necessarily always play this type of game. You reach a point where you’ll just start crushing everything, and then the end game stuff feels tuned up juuust enough to be annoying. As a whole RotR is easy by genre standards, even on “Very Hard” but definitely has moments that will *frustrate* even veterans. Rise of the Ronin has a lot of good aspects - the combat generally feels great, the bond system and story are engrossing, and the open world is full of content. However, it simply cannot escape the shadow of repetitiveness. I just feel that most casual players will get bored with this game before completing it. Masocore genre diehards will probably take more from it, but it’s too toothless to even really satiate those types of players. Honestly, somewhat hard to recommend. Still mechanically probably far and away the best ps5 exclusive, but that’s honestly not saying much. A good game, but hopefully team ninja goes smaller scale and back to appealing to their core audience for the next one.