Players interested in Feudal Japan have no reason to complain, as there are a lot of decent titles representing different genres that let us experience adventures during this exciting period. There’s Ghost of Tsushima, Trek to Yomi, Sekiro, Nioh, and Shadow Tactics, to name only a few. The list will soon be longer thanks to Rise of the Ronin, the latest action RPG from Team Ninja.
LAST UPDATE: February 25, 2025
Release date
We first learned about Team Ninja’s upcoming game during PlayStation’s State of Play stream in September 2022. The release date was revealed over a year later. At The Game Award 2023, we could see a new trailer revealing that Rise of the Ronin would come out on March 22, 2024. It’s a PlayStation 5 exclusive. As a result, there are no PC, Xbox, or Nintendo ports. It’s also unavailable on PS4. Given the history of the previous Sony exclusive games (e.g., Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, The Last of Us), we had assumed that the PC port would be released sometime after the original premiere. And we were right. In January 2025, Team Ninja announced that Rise of the Ronin would be released on PC on March 11, 2025.
Story and characters
Rise of the Ronin is set in the 1860s, during the Bakumatsu period, the last years of the Edo era, and the Tokugawa shogunate. Players will assume the role of a ronin, a masterless samurai. On the one hand, not having a feudal lord was a disgrace, but on the other hand, ronin could shape their own fate, becoming mercenaries, bodyguards, or, not too seldom, thugs. And such freedom will be a vital part of the game from the very start, as the protagonist is fully customizable. Consequently, you can create your unique ronin.
On your adventure, you’ll meet crucial political figures representing three factions involved in the conflict:
- Anti-shogunate (Kogoro Katsura, Ryoma Sakamoto, Genzui Kusaka),
- Pro-shogunate (Naosuke II, Kaishu Katsu, Taka Murayama),
- Western (Jules Brunet, Matthew Perry, Rutherford Alcock).
Undoubtedly, those figures will be fictionalized to some extent in the story. Nonetheless, I enjoy video games that allow for meeting historical characters and participating in historical events, particularly those less known. Apparently, Rise of the Ronin will also let us revert to the past by making decisions and killing or saving historical characters.
Gameplay
Rise of the Ronin looks like something between Dark Souls and Assassin’s Creed. Team Ninja states that combat is a very important part of the game. Beating opponents requires perfectly timed attacks, blocks, parries, and evades. However, it is not as challenging as FromSoftware’s releases. Moreover, at any time, players can switch between three difficulty levels:
- Dawn,
- Dusk,
- Twilight.
Hence, Rise of the Ronin should be accessible to players who enjoy more casual gameplay and don’t want to die hundreds of times against the same enemy. Your ronin’s arsenal includes melee weapons, such as a katana and a spear, as well as XIX-century firearms.
Rise of the Ronin will let us explore an open world. Its trailers reveal that there are different ways of traveling. For instance, our brave protagonist can ride a horse, but passing over the rooftops using a grappling hook and a glider (called avicula) looks pretty cool and reminds us of the Batman Arkham series.
Multiplayer
Rise of the Ronin is a pure PvE experience; hence, there are no game modes letting players fight or compete with each other. However, it doesn’t mean that you have to play it solo. The game offers an online co-op for up to 4 players. That means that you can play the campaign with three of your friends.
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