When Rise of the Ronin landed on PS5 last year many people criticised Team Ninja for stepping away from the steel-hard Soulslike market that they’d carved a little corner out of with Nioh and Wo Long. People seemed remarkably unhappy that the game had difficulty settings and didn’t delight in smacking you across the face every 8 seconds, which I’ve always considered a strange complaint. Yet despite this it did well enough for Sony to allow a port to PC, which adds or changes nothing but still presents a very enjoyable open world adventure.
Set during the closing years of the Japanese Edo period, Rise of the Ronin explores a time when Western culture was insidiously taking root in the East. Capitalism was on the march, and the ancient codes of honour and sacrifice were becoming rarer. Like the death of the Old West, it was a time of uncertainty, characterised by wandering Samurai or Ronin, looking for the last shreds of purpose in a world swiftly leaving them behind. Among rising tensions, you are cast as one half of a twin duo trained by the Veiled Edge, a sect of elite warriors.
Separated from your Blade Twin early in the story, you find yourself embroiled in a vipers nest of politics, tossed between two factions on the brink of war as you search for the mysterious warrior who may or may not have had a hand in destroying your former life. Of course, it’s not so urgent a mission that you can’t do a bit of side-questing in between pressing engagements.
This being a Team Ninja game it’s very much in the tradition of the aforementioned Nioh and Wo Long. In fact, difficulty notwithstanding, the combat is very similar in feel, with fluid, brutal combos and gory finishers. While you initially choose a fighting style and starter weapons, you’ll soon build towards whatever style you prefer, and will experiment with dozens of weapons including katanas, muskets, Bo staves, and even a flamethrower.
Combat is heavily reliant on timed parries, which have a generous window and reward you by reducing the enemy’s poise, allowing you to deal violent critical strikes that can finish off lesser goons in seconds. Tougher enemies come later, of course, but you’ll unlock so many items and weapons that by late game most open world encounters feel trivial.
Exploring the world feels great though. You’ll have a horse and glider in no time, which combined with fast travel means you’ll be zipping about the place at a rate of knots. Of course, that means you can miss things, such as bandit camps and occupied towns that you can liberate. Once free, these towns will populate with friendly NPCs and new traders or artisans. More NPCs means more side quests, which reward you with more loot and XP for your trouble.
At the heart of it all, though, is a decent story. You’ll meet and interact with historical characters written with a certain amount of artistic license, and take part in events that real world history will have already spoiled for you in many ways, but that doesn’t matter. Your protagonist is able to influence and befriend plenty of VIPs, even inviting them back to your tea room to build relationships and train with.
Despite a perceived lack of difficulty, Rise of the Ronin on PC is a great adventure. The open world is full of secrets and distractions, while fun combat keeps the excitement levels up for most of it. It’s perhaps a little over long and the story veers into the ridiculous more than once, but it still plays very well. It also runs pretty smoothly on my 4070 RTX even with high settings, while fighting numerous enemies – until you spend too long in the main city, at which point I did notice more frame drops and a little stuttering.
If you missed it on PS5 or are looking for a new adventure to get your teeth into, Rise of the Ronin is worth a shout on PC. Just don’t go into it expecting a Soulslike, and you won’t be disappointed.
