Rise of the Ronin gets new trailer and release date at The Game Awards

The first quarter of 2024 kicks off in style, with titles like Koei Tecmo’s Rise of the Ronin for PS5. Developed by Team Ninja of Nioh fame, it’s the studio’s most ambitious project to date, and thanks to a new preview by Game Informer, we get a better idea of its scale.

Rise of the Ronin is easily Team Ninja’s biggest game, with a massive open world to explore. Set in Japan during the Bakumatsu, players encounter historical figures like Sakamoto Ryoma and Yoshida Shoin, but your decisions influence the narrative direction.

Pre-orders for Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin are now available digitally on the PlayStation Store and physically on PlayStation Direct and various retailers. The Standard Edition retails for $69.99, while the Digital Deluxe Edition costs $79.99.

Trapped Limbo, the second DLC for Atomic Heart, is out on February 6, 2024, publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Mundfish announced today.

Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Team NINJA have opened physical and digital pre-orders for Rise of the Ronin, which will launch for PlayStation 5 on March 22, 2024. It will cost $69.99 for the standard physical or digital edition, and $79.99 for the Digital Deluxe Edition. Physical edition pre-orders are available at retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Play-Asia, PlayStation Direct, Walmart.

After years of working, we released Alan Wake 2 a bit over a month ago. We wanted to create an ambitious, unique game, and with something like that there’s always nervousness about how it will be received. The reception has been beyond anything we could have hoped for, with Alan Wake 2 taking home The Game Awards trophies for Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, and Best Game Direction. We are deeply grateful for that. 

A year or two ago I interviewed an actual, practising witch, the wonderful Damien Crawford of Purgatory Dungeoneer fame, about how videogames represent magic. I badly need Crawford's thoughts on Emberstorm Entertainment's Reka, published by Fireshine Games, which has just been slapped with a Steam early access release window of Q2 2024.

Another weekend means another batch of streaming recommendations, and there's plenty of variety to choose from this week. Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali star in new Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind, while Todd Haynes' May December, which is already generating Oscar buzz for actor Charles Melton, has made its way to the UK via Sky Cinema. If you're in the mood for something a little more festive and lighthearted, try animated movie Merry Little Batman or Christmas rom-com Your Christmas or Mine 2, both on Prime Video.

Rise of the Ronin is slated to launch next year on March 22, and is billed as Team Ninja's "biggest game to date."

Larian Studios and Remedy led The Game Awards last night, with Baldur's Gate 3 winning six awards including Game of the Year, and Alan Wake 2 taking home three of the eight it was nominated for.

The Finals, the new destruction-heavy multiplayer shooter from the Battlefield-veterans at Embark Studios has been inching closer to release throughout this year with a series of betas, but today during The Game Awards the game officially went live. The game is now free-to-play, just pop onto your platform of choice and get downloading. You can check out a new launch trailer for The Finals, below.

Team Ninja’sRise of the Ronin launches on March 22nd, 2024, with pre-orders going live on December 14th at 7 AM PDT. Some new details are available via the PlayStation Blog, including pre-order bonuses. Those who pre-order any edition can unlock four Combat Styles – Hayabusa-ryu for Katana and Naginata, Nioh-ryu for Katana and Aisu Kage-ryu for Katana – and the Iga Ninja’s Katana and Armor set early.