Rise of the Ronin review: An excellent, challenging PS5 open-world Samurai game

This game surprised me with how good it is.

Playstation already has a cracking samurai title in its PS5 playbook with Ghost of Tsushima.

So Team Ninja’s effort to do a similar retro swords and samurais take on the same console initially felt a little too close for comfort.

But how wrong I was.

Because this is an excellent game in its own right.

One that mixes Assassin’s Creed style open-world exploration with difficult Soulslike boss battles.

You play a Ronin – a masterless samurai – who’s on a revenge mission as another invader hits the shores of war-torn 19th-century Japan.

This time it is the Black Ships of the West that have breached local waters in a bid to reestablish bygone trade routes.

And you’ll find your hero not only wielding swords and staffs in battle but modern weapons like guns too.

It brings together a wild mix of fighting styles with an in-depth action RPG combat system that allows you, over time, to develop a unique way of brawling that suits your gameplay.

With a country in a state of turmoil, you’re tasked with taking on all kind of evildoers to “shape the course of history” with different decisions changing the narrative.

So you could spare a key figure’s life, and it may lead to another encounter down the road with them that benefits you.

Or you could kill them, ending that storyline branch and ultimately altering your journey through the game.

Ronin does a wonderful job in realising a dangerous world that’s full of life and increasing clashing between the old and new.

The Bakumatsu period heralds the end of the Shogunate, the hereditary military dictatorship of Japan, as a new era begins and East and West collide.

The visuals are colourful, often quite dark, but very in-keeping with serious, atmospheric Soulslike games like Elden Ring and Dark Souls.

Ronin is tough to play when taking on foes in battle and you have the option of reducing the difficulty level if you find it all too tricky to beat.

That’s great for more casual gamers as it allows the excellent Creed-esque storytelling and mission design to come to the fore for those seeking such an experience.

This is a game of timing more than anything else.

And you’ll find yourself very much in a rhythm battle as well as a physical swords one, tapping your joypad at just the right times to smash through an enemy’s attack with a deadly counter that turns the tide of a fight.

There’s also multiplayer involved, and you can team up with two pals online to experience the game’s story missions together in co-op mode.

Team Ninja has done a great job here at pulling together all the best elements of it’s past fighting games and delivering them in a busy open-world that feels alive and packed with danger.

The combat is great, always tough but always fun.

And the story unfolds at a nice pace that allows you to dip out and into side quests throughout the map to become a part of a wider nation-shaping arc.

Rise of the Ronin is another cracking PS5 exclusive.

VERDICT 4.5/5