Yeah…idk about this one, chief.

Team Ninja combat is a drug to me. I loved Wo Long and like Nioh, even though I’ll never beat it (that game is hard af). On that end, Rise of the Ronin does scratch that combat itch for me. At a basic level, the game is alright enough to play because of that. However, I do think that going for an open-world game was a mistake and doesn’t play to Team Ninja’s strengths as developers and its clear that they just weren’t able to execute on the task.

Some of the common Team Ninja issues are amplified when put into this kinda open-world game. Their dialogue is typically….rough. That doesn’t help for a nonlinear game where the world and characters are supposed to carry me through the amount of travel and investment an open-world game demands. My favorite moments in the game were the linear missions, not the open-world bloat. The game screams a tired open-world design philosophy that is slowly being phased out by the industry.

Wo Long and Nioh 2 aren’t necessarily on the cutting edge of graphical fidelity, but they look fine enough, run well, and the linear design helps keep the core parts of the game looking good. That is NOT the case for Rise of the Ronin. Sorry, but the game is just ugly. This isn’t some $20 indie game (Even tho those look great too, I mean No Rest for The Wicked just dropped). They are PlayStation first-party devs. The horse, character models outside of cutscenes, environment, weather effects, and textures are just all really bad. I’m not a weirdo graphics snob, but if you’re expecting me to explore the world and get invested in the towns and rolling hills I’m exploring, maybe don’t have significant pop-in and janky effects. There's not a single other big first-party game that looks this bad.

The often-hated loot spaghetti in Team Ninja games is slightly lessened compared to Wo Long or Nioh 2, but it’s still there. Yet again, in an open world game this just feels worse because going out of my way to explore to get a samey looking sword with just higher numbers isn’t very exciting.

The story concept is really cool. I love both your character’s personal story and the overarching political intrigue that is directly pulled from real historic events. This is an aspect where the game shines. It actually prompted me to read about the time period and it’s a unique setting we don’t really see much in games. Sure, we get plenty of games in a vaguely “feudal japan” but not many that explore the societal tensions spawned by Western expansion into Asia.

Idk. This game isn’t that good. I love Team Ninja and I'm glad this sold well but this felt like a miss. I respect them trying something new, but maybe go back to linear experiences.