What is a ‘Ronin’? A lawless and masterless samurai. Oh, you know this is going to be good because you pave your own destiny. ‘Rise of The Ronin’ is an upcoming action/role-playing game developed by Team Ninja famous for franchises and titles such as ‘Ninja Gaiden’, ‘Nioh’, and ‘Wo Long’. Being released on Playstation, on March 22nd, MKAU has a pre-launch single-player preview into what it is like to be a Ronin.

Being only able to preview the first opening segments of the game up to a certain mission, you are thrown into the toes of a Japanese warrior who has only ever seen suffering and pain as they grow up in feudal Japan. Growing up into the ‘Bakumatsu’ period of Japan with your ‘Twin Blade’, your samurai-bonded partner, you must protect your clan from rogue shogunates and push back against the foreign intrusion in 19th century Yokamaha.

So far, my first impression of the narrative is that it pulls from everything I love about these historically influenced games with its gritty take on the realities of what that time may have been like, of course with their own creative indulgences. The characters I have met so far are very well voiced acted and ooze so much charm.

The first thing you get to experience is the customisation of your character. Boy, does it let you customise. It has a fully functional system in place here, and you can create a very unique character that will follow you through the story. Gameplay-wise, you can have specific builds with specific weapons, allowing for a flourish of different approaches. Use Katanas to Odorichi, shurikens, and pistols; there seems like something for everyone.

The combat itself feels so authentic as you slice through the air, spraying blood from open wounds, and flick your weapon clean as you sheath it after a brutal battle. The combat is intricate but accessible with enough challenging experiences to satisfy you as you defeat the many challenging swordmasters around the map. You also earn skill points to use in an extensive skill tree making for endless journeys through different play-throughs. A lot of work has been built into creating solid growth and development of your character over time.

As seen in the trailer there is the use of a grappling hook and a glider, but also a horse to traverse from place to place. The elements all work so well together. Elements such as these can be hard to master in development as executed so well to be used in the surrounding environments.

Graphically the game is superb, running in graphically priority mode or ray tracing; the environments are impressive. Each natural environment has diverse biomes from forests to beaches, cities to villages.

Some areas though are a little on the empty side, and I wish there was more buildings and huts that you could walk into and loot. The characters are also well designed and animated with a real cultural sway between countryside Japan to the Western influence in major cities.

While they are interesting to look at, at times there are some graphical glitches to the face and hair of my character, clipping through outfits or weapons. Characters’ outfits and attitudes change as you travel from area to area, really pulling you further into the narrative. The graphics are also complemented so well with the audio scape. It has calm folk pipe music and combat beats that make you ready for any fight. The whole experience at present is a serene landscape opening up for future turmoil.

Overall, Rise of The Ronin, despite a few minor glitches that I have no doubt will be picked up by a day one launch patch, is such a great look so far into some of the dark days of Japan. First impressions of the 120 or so minutes we had are looking bright for Rise of The Ronin and I can’t wait to really get my teeth into it and carve my way into creating my own legacy as a Ronin. Make sure to look out for MKAU’s full score and review at a later date.

Written by: Stacey