I enjoy Team Ninja games and completed Nioh and played most of Nioh 2. Rise of the Ronin is a more grounded, less difficult and more open world than the previous Souls-like titles. I did try Wo Long, but it did not grab me. RotR has an interesting story build on history that kept me involved and pushing forward. The story takes place in Feudal Japan circa 1850-1867 or the Bakumatsu period. A time when Japan opened up to the west, which caused much strife.
The gameplay is satisfying and not too difficult or oppressive. There are many weapons to find and purchase including guns, armor and skills. You have a paraglider and horse to use to get around, as well as fast travel once you open areas up. Pretty standard fair open world mechanics, but the fighting makes it fun. Decapitate foes, burn them, poison them with arrows, sneak up and slit their throats, it’s all here.
You can rescue fellow Ronan and have help in battles and missions often have 1 or 2 other members to join you. There is also co-op if you rather play with friends through the story.
Graphics are a mix bag, as some character models are very well done, but the environments can be just serviceable. It fades once you get into the game and I found it fine, although at first I thought it looked a little dated.
The world is fairly large, but not as big as most Ubisoft worlds. Plenty of things to collect, explore and battle, and I really enjoyed the game. I would say it takes about 30 hours to beat the main story and 70 or so to see everything. It has a pc port now as well, but I played it on PS5. The game has 48 different styles across multiple weapons to experiment with. The more I played, the more I liked the game and think it is underrated for a quality action adventure style adventure.
All in all, a very good game, just not a showstopper in its exposition. I ended up playing this for 47 hours and might return to it to mess in this world again later.
Barzenak 6-15-2025
Gamer for 40 plus years starting with Pong, consoles and pc gaming. It has been a hobby I have enjoyed over the years for my stress relief and continues to be fun even at my older age. This site is for a lite impression of games I enjoy.
Barzenak's Gaming Impressions 
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