Rise of the Ronin reinvents hack-and-slash in a remarkable open-world Japan

Matthew Perry is the first boss players will encounter, a colonist Commodore set on finally capturing the «white whale» of Japanese trade. He attacks fast, has a firearm at long ranges, and can quickly take down Veiled Edges with his combos. Yet, this militiaman can be defeated with well-timed Counterspark parries and use your ally well.

The final story decision players will make in involves whether to kill or to spare their custom character's Blade Twin. While there are several choices that may affect the story, like choosing to be pro- or anti-shogunate in , the choice at the end of the Blade Twin boss fight is perhaps the most impactful in the game. As a result, players may want to know what's involved in this choice, and what implications it has for the ending they'll inevitably get.

From the moment Team Ninja's was announced in 2022, the comparisons to Sucker Punch's were inevitable. Although both of these games are set in Japan, there are far more differences than similarities between them. There's plenty of fun to be had in for those that enjoyed, but going in expecting an identical experience will only lead to disappointment.

Throughout 's campaign, players will have to make several choices, which can have major repercussions for their character and the fate of Japan in the game. These can be through general dialogue options — of which more are unlocked if players acquire the correct skills — along with choosing to work with certain characters, or simply through a prompt to pick between two set actions.

Despite Dragon's Dogma 2 boasting marginally better launch sales than Rise of the Ronin (with both titles releasing on the same day), it's Team Ninja's PS5 exclusive that's managed to stand stronger in the latest Japanese charts. Indeed, Ronin has actually done quite well for itself, shifting an additional 20,000 retail copies over the last week, bringing its total to a fairly respectable 85,000 units. It was topped only by Princess Peach: Showtime!.

After a fairly positive launch for Rise of the Ronin, developer Team Ninja has been wasting no time in shipping patches and optimizing the game's overall experience, with the latest fixes coming bundled in two quickfire updates. The newest patch notes reveal changes across a spectrum of areas in Rise of the Ronin, from combat to navigation.

Three relatively big games all released on the same day last week: Dragon's Dogma 2, Rise of the Ronin, and Princess Peach: Showtime!. But as we all know, Japan absolutely adores its Nintendo Switch exclusives — and so perhaps it's no huge surprise to see the latter title top the latest charts.

One lucky PlayStation 5 owner has recently come across a 45% discount on Rise of the Ronin at Walmart. The hefty price cut was spotted less than a week after Rise of the Ronin officially hit the store shelves.

Last week, we asked you to travel to 19th-century Japan and share epic moments from Rise of the Ronin using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

Several major games released at the same time last week, and though most have made it into the latest weekly Japanese sales charts released by Famitsu, the one that’s topped the charts might not be the one many would have expected. Princess Peach: Showtime! sits on top of the charts, beating out both Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Rise of the Ronin.

and are two epic samurai RPGs, taking place in different parts of Japan, and set hundreds of years apart. As one of PlayStation's biggest exclusives of the year thus far, the anticipation for was immense, and the game has mostly lived up to high expectations. From the developer Team Ninja, the game brings familiar elements with parallels to other samurai games from the last several years.

A Rise of the Ronin player stumbled upon a character creator preset that bears an uncanny resemblance to Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson. The player shared their discovery with the Rise of the Ronin community only to find out they were not alone in noticing the likeness.