Rise of the Ronin

Rise of the Ronin marries a cool setting, Team Ninja’s mastery of tough-but-fair combat, and smart RPG design, even when map clutter and junk loot can get in its way.

Though it has a somewhat steep combat learning curve and some dated open-world ideas, Rise of the Ronin does a great job of rewarding your time in its world.

Team Ninja borrows the open-world familiarity and historical tourism of Assassin's Creed while adapting its own breed of hardcore action for the mainstream.

Another fumbled PC port blighted by poor optimisation and unpredictable performance issues.

Almost nothing in Rise of the Rōnin is outright bad, but it is Exhibit A in any argument about why action games are not dozens of hours long or why open-world designs do not fit every mold. For all the inspirations the game wears on its sleeve, it never rises above them, and thus feels like a title in search of an identity and desperate for a specific kind of player. It’s sometimes a good time, just not for a long time.

Rise of the Ronin is a fine open world adventure that never elevates itself to greatness. Fun Team Ninja combat will drag you through, but pointless open world fluff and questionable visuals sadly result in just another open world game.

It's a disappointing change of stance from Team Ninja, and one that could leave them open to an unfortunately mortal blow.

Solid and definitely has an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.

For better and worse, Rise of the Ronin is Team Ninja’s “Greatest Hits” RPG. There might be a dud or two in the tracklist, but on the whole, this record—I mean, game—bangs.

Rise of the Ronin isn't a bad game; it's something debatably worse: completely forgettable. With dated open world design and a monotonous narrative, the cracking combat of a Team Ninja title is left to try and pick up the pieces. It manages to get the title in acceptable shape, and with its Bonds system and culture clash, just about forms an experience one could enjoy. Where it falls apart is the fact the open world is so intrinsically linked to all these features and mechanics that it's impossible to find pleasure in them for any respectable length of time. Rise of the Ronin is designed to attract a wider audience than Team Ninja titles past; what they find might put them off for good.