Rise of the Ronin review: parrying has never been more fun

21.03.2024 - 11:11 / digitaltrends.com / George Yang

Rise of the Ronin review: parrying has never been more fun MSRP $69.99 Score Details Pros

• Thoughtful sidequests and supporting characters
• Great combat and parrying mechanics
• Amazing quality of life features

• Branching story paths don't have as much impact
• Dual character structure falls a bit short of potential

At the end of Rise of the Ronin’s prologue, I was given the choice of whether to spare a villain or kill him. I chose the latter. This led to what I thought was an interesting divergence in the game’s story. It wasn’t until after I finished the game that I went back in the timeline to change my choice that I saw how little of an impact it had on the story.

It felt like wasted potential. Not only were some of the plot twists predictable, but I also failed to resonate with the game’s two central characters, as one was a blank slate while the other felt underdeveloped.

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Still, I had fun in-between the game’s story moments. Its excellent sidequests helped bring life to its dense open world, making for some fantastic moments for its side characters. Rise of the Ronin also has one of the best parrying systems I’ve experienced in a long time, making the Soulslike gameplay feel challenging, yet fair compared to its contemporaries.

Playing both sides

Rise of the Ronin is set in 1800s Japan during the end of the Edo period, when foreign nations are pressuring Japan to open up its borders to international trade. It follows two samurai who are part of the Veiled Edge clan, but become separated. You can choose between the male and female samurai, and it’s up to you to find your counterpart and navigate the tense politics of the time in Japan.

Pro-shogunate forces want to integrate with Western powers, while the anti-shogunate factions want to keep Japan secluded. The tension between them blurs the lines on who are considered the heroes and villains, creating effective storytelling. Your allegiances play a role throughout the game, changing what kinds of sidequests and gear you have access to, as well as the bosses you fight. Thankfully, after completing the story once, you can access a timeline to see the choices you’ve made and you can replay missions to select a different one. This allows you to experience the story from multiple angles and clean up side activities you may have missed the first time around.

Unfortunately, the flowchart indicates that while you can dictate certain characters’ fates, the story’s conclusion more or less stays the same. This illusion of choice dampened any sort