Rise of the Ronin Release, Reviews & Gameplay

FSD will not be providing maximum coverage for Rise of the Ronin until it comes out to PC, but news will continue to be posted for the PS5 timed-exclusive throughout its release period and also throughout the year if it sees additional content. While several critiques were posted early the official release date was set for March 22nd and that's when reviews really started flowing into Sony's "marketing machine" Metacritic also known as the pick and choose review mixer that provides Sony the best acclaim narrative possible. ALRIGHT, so I'm being cheeky there, but I'm also not the first to point out the flaws of this consensus website in contrast to the old and superior Game Rankings.

Rise of the Ronin just might be considered the red herring video game dirt sheets needed to claim they don't bow down to Sony for every overdone 250-million-dollar blockbuster third person reskin of Uncharted they make. Sadly, based on the information gathered; this is one of the better-timed exclusives to come to the PlayStation 5 and of course it ends up with a 76/100 on Metacritic.

Consider this release post for Rise of the Ronin as an everything you need to know guide to go along with the reviews for the people that don't want to factor their purchasing decision over critiques alone. Either way you slice it; a lot of people are interested to see where this game goes and where the relationship with Koei Tecmo & Sony will go if it underperforms or exceeds expectations. To be fair to Team NINJA and Koei Tecmo regardless of the scores; Rise of the Ronin alongside Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth are the two games over the past three years that have impressed or interested me with PS5.

REVIEWS FOR RISE OF THE RONIN

The first review (to also break release date of the 22nd) is FAMITSU and this is actually a typical review tactic that's done to steer critics and players in a direction that is either average or strong. They've really become a lot more lenient over the past few years compared to what they used to be like, but they've given Rise of the Ronin a very positive score praising the mechanics above all else with a 37/40.

PlayStation Universe has so far given the highest score to Rise of the Ronin at a 95/100 calling it Team NINJA's most ambitious effort yet. They praise it by calling it grounded and hail the character creation tool as robust. PSU is also stimulated by the amount of replay value the game seems to offer and even states that most open world titles do not come close to being as generous with reward variety.

Rise of the Ronin received an 8/10 from Eurogamer with the critic bouncing up and down about its brutal blood gushing effects combined with the "beauty" seen in the overall visual design. The reviewer did feel that not everything was perfect, and the game was hampered down greatly by not having boss fights that were memorable as Wo Long's Lu Bu.

Game Informer, Game Spot & IGN awarded the game a 7/10 claiming that it was great fun and super long (50-80 hours) compared to most timed exclusive blockbusters these days. Even with the score being considered average these critics weighted out far more positives than negatives.

Variety has submitted the most vocal review yet rating the title a 5/10 stating that the characters were forgettable, and that Team NINJA has "fallen short graphically" with outdated visuals. I'm not sure how great the review system is with Variety, but I've heard multiple times that they're a casual take and when visuals are all that you can talk about coherently, it seems like a valid claim to argue.

The current Metacritic consensus rating is a 76/100 based off 109 submitted reviews. Oddly enough the consensus rating from the players is 86/100 based off of almost 1,300 ratings. There is clearly a happy audience here and you must be careful when considering the word of the big critics that only highly attribute heavy cinematics and cutting-edge graphics to the crisp and brilliant gameplay mechanics that Team NINJA are known for.

GAMEPLAY CONTENT FOR RISE OF THE RONIN

We've had plenty of long-term contributors here at FSD state that Rise of the Ronin is potential GOTY material, and it shows in their gameplay. If you're looking to watch the best gameplay possible from a streamer that plays ultra consistently; please look no further than the Team NINJA Italian reference point - MasterNINJARyu. We'll chronicle his masterful gameplay here at FSD so that you can observe and peruse his entire playthrough at your leisure.

Do not hesitate to follow Team NINJA's Master on Twitch for even more exciting Rise of the Ronin gameplay! While he may not play as consistently as Ryu when he does play its going to be around two hours and you're getting top-notch gameplay from a guy that's working for Team NINJA Studios. While giving you this great gameplay he's also interacting with the players, so this is really the closest you are going to get to the Team NINJA experience.

Zakkurye is also releasing some popular videos discoverable at his Team NINJA specific YouTube channel. Subscribe immediately to the controversial player for his infamous and popular takes within the Team NINJA universe and find out what it takes to be the ultimate Hokage. With his most popular video pertaining to Rise of the Ronin you can learn how to unlock every combat style in the game. You can also review some of the Hokage's most insane battles.


Feel free to also follow Oga VP on Twitter/X as he is the photographer of this Rise of the Ronin news post banner!
 
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Reviews have hit early for Rise of the Ronin and as of now it stands at a 75 rating on Metacritic with 53 critiques in counting making this (currently) the lowest rated Team NINJA game since Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

Score will likely change a bit until it hits around 80-100 reviews.
 
This is a PS5 game?

lmao. Dark Souls on PS3 looks better than this garbage.

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Have been developed for 7 years and the graphics still outdated at some point. Everything flops era KT
What's crazy is Sony is publishing it. Like there should be more budget behind this but game looks like it got the typical KT budget. Still probably more than the crumbs DOA6 got.
 
To be fair there are some elements to the game like being able romance characters that Team NINJA has never done before. The game seems like it has a strong narrative, but most critics are saying that the characters are forgettable.
 
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the game just too huge to handle, pity TN. At least sony paid for the publisihing cost and marketing
 
It's possible to be similar to what Stranger of Paradise went through where it's a bit of a rough presentation but the game eventually turns out pretty good in the end. 76 is still considered good. Despite the rough animations and bugs, i've been enjoying it more than Wo Long.


Sure it's not a good look for TN currently as a release presentation, but it wasn't a good look for DOA either recently. At the same time, people sometimes think if a game isn't cracking 90+ in score then it's always mid. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom for the Switch crack 90s in score and yet I think those games are mid as heck lol

Like look DOA6 didn't do so well either, so if people think TN not having 9.0 scores action games is what's going to make them go back to DOA like: "finally! maybe this is a wake up call for TN to only work on DOA from now on!!" then your expectation is too high. If DOA7 came out today it probably would of had the same exact treatment as Rise of the Ronin and DOA6 except without the Sony budget.
 
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It's possible to be similar to what Stranger of Paradise went through where it's a bit of a rough presentation but the game eventually turns out pretty good in the end. 76 is still considered good. Despite the rough animations and bugs, i've been enjoying it more than Wo Long.


It's not a good look for TN currently for a release presentation, but it wasn't a good look for DOA either recently.

Like look DOA6 didn't do so well either, so if people think TN not having 9.0 scores action games is what's going to make them go back to DOA like: "finally! maybe this is a wake up call for TN to only work on DOA from now on!!" then your expectation is too high. If DOA7 came out today it probably would of had the same exact treatment as Rise of the Ronin and DOA6 except without the Sony budget.
Of course we won't see DOA right now after Rise of Ronin. Firstly it will be Ninja Gaiden and then DOA after it
 
Reviews have hit early for Rise of the Ronin and as of now it stands at a 75 rating on Metacritic with 53 critiques in counting making this (currently) the lowest rated Team NINJA game since Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

Score will likely change a bit until it hits around 80-100 reviews.
We should take Yasuda and throw him in a jail cell.
 
It doesn’t matter what the critics say about Rise of the Ronin whether it’d relate to the graphics, but the gameplay on that is still pretty solid to my point of view! I’ve spent most of my hours maximizing the bonds on one of those characters who act like buddies to me, and I especially think Sakamoto Ryoma is the kind of fellow you would definitely want to hang out with like a brother! But of course I would always enjoy the parkour around those cities of Yokohama, Edo, and Kyoto like you in the role of a ninja! Hell I think this game deserves Best Action of the Year for something creative they’ve done! I still enjoyed my experience with Rise of the Ronin, and now a screenshot to share you all.

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ALL DOA6 DOA5 DOA4 DOA3 DOA2U DOAD
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