A well built game with accessible combat in a soulslike for most players. You don’t have to master everything or get every dodge right. But has punishing modes for those who like. The open world is good empty calories gaming but does not seem necessary if you prefer not to check all the icons. The story is not great which hampers my rating from going higher.

Rise of the Ronin is an amazing culmination of Team Ninja action in an open world, with accessibility for new players not used to this combat system (it might take a little practice) and challenge for people who want it. The open world is immersive, and yes it is a more traditional open world where you can improve your bond with areas to see things on the map if you want to, but the open world is so much better than some reviews suggest as long as you don’t expect anything revolutionary. The game goes for a grittier, muted yet tasteful colour scheme in many places compared to Ghost, but the art style, variety of places and amount of detail in the environments is all there, with especially beautiful representations of historical Japanese landmarks. The game does look its best in certain time of day and weather, and depending on this you can take some amazing photos. Parrying does take getting used to, but as you spend more time as a Ronin can master it and this becomes incredibly satisfying. There is so much content, so many features and they’re not all perfect which is why I think some reviews have been too harsh depending what they expect the game to be. But the core action gameplay, open world freedom, customisation options and immersion is all there to have a 10/10 adventure and live your life as a warrior in historic Japan! I have been loving it.

I'm normally forgiving for mediocre graphics if the gameplay is fun, but for a 2024 game to look like an early PS4 game and still drop framerate, even in performance mode, is outrageous. I can't say the gameplay is awful, but it's not good either. It feels like the game doesn't know whether it wants to be a Ghost of Tsushima clone, or a Samurai Elden Ring, so it tries being both and fails. Open fight is quite fun once you get used to the combat system, but stealth playstyle reveals that our enemies are deaf, blind and have a single brain cell that has already given up the fight. I can only recommend trying it out when it lands in PS Plus library, or on a 75% sale, because it's definitely not worth the price.

just wanted to see if I could review something before it came out

7/10 is pretty far fetch. I say 8/10 is more precise. With the graphics being Mid! i feel if it had more capture of the eyes would rise to 8.5/9. With the combat, The A.i Fight system, the sword play, the RPG system! the dialogue. the story, the action all scores inside for me giving it a 8. With the combat system alone of the limbs damage, and Precise sword play, With the A.i changing fighting styles mid-fight no matter if minion, mini-boss or bosses , makes the game more challenging. Not knowing the next move the Ki even makes it more difficult to point you have to time your blocks, parry and dashes. What I like most is the design controller yes you can change it to your liking but I feel default settings gives you the realistic of sward playing. With the environment as well involved in the game of sword fight and fist-fighting gives a more dramatic effect. Game wise it not like Ghost such as the slow and patience pace but definitely adding Ghost, ninja gaidan and if you remember "for honor" game play! I feel its all in one. As we all know nothing in the world is perfect and 10/10 have to be a master piece but with open mind, taking your times to learn combat system, the fighting, the dialogue.

Combat is great but the open world really pulls the whole experience down. Way too much for to point b from a then go back to b. The time period it’s set in is great but the story is let down by terrible dialogue and stilted voice acting.

Okay....I don't even know where to start with this besides okay. I only have a couple complaints about it but they are really silly, everything else about the game is pretty good so I'll start with the positive, this game is absolutely a beautiful and very well designed world that if you love Japan then you'll fall in love with this world and the combat is very smooth for the most part and the it has a serviceable story but what's going to carry the story like it did for me is the characters, their is about two characters that are well written and have an actual arch and everyone else is also really good in the voice acting department but they were written more as a parcel for the underwhelming story...which is where the negatives comes in, this game STRUGGLES with such a beautiful world that they decided to fill it to the brim with you all already know what...what every RPG has these days, go fetch me this, take control of base...etc...etc. adding absolutely nothing to the story or lore and that's what side quests should be is something that adds to gameplay or story, not the main story necessarily but a story of it's own that gets you to care about the world and have an affect on the environment, that's what makes world building great but they went the generic route instead. The combat is smooth but frustrating because it's all based on ki but even watching your ki you will absolutely get stun locked and won't be able to heal, a lot. The main story is horrible and has so many holes and moments where you wonder what just happened like the amount of times you switch to pro shogunate and anti shogunate is impressive and confusing...however it really picks up in chapter 2 and the finale chapter is worth getting to but not very satisfying....especially because the ending could've prevented half the game if you'd just done what the ending did from the 5 other times it was possible to do throughout the game. Worth 50 dollars but not 70. Beautiful and bland.

This game has great combat and an interesting story to tell. I just wish it was better at telling that story. It does get better throughout the game but it lacks in some places. The traversal has some really cool mechanics but doesn’t give you the resources to use them properly. And there are so many button combinations for me to accurately remember all of the things I can do.