Finished game review (story, gameplay, performance)

[Entarion]

I just finished the game and wanted to briefly share my thoughts with you. In short, Rise of the Ronin is a historical Nioh in an open-world setting.

Story/Setting
Set in the final years of the Edo period (1853-1868), it's a perfect setting that hasn't been fully explored in games at this scale. There are lots of historical figures, big battles, and character drama. The story features two major factions, and while you can make some choices, they don’t ultimately matter much — you'll end up working and fighting alongside most characters regardless.

Gameplay
The game has three large open areas where you can take part in various side activities like random events, clearing out bandit hideouts, collecting cats, finding shrines, and more.
Main missions are similar to Nioh or Wo Long, set in more closed-off areas where you can bring up to two allies. There’s a ton of side content that helps build bonds with different characters, unlocking new combat styles, weapons, cosmetics, etc.
On top of that, there are extra mechanics like collecting items with your dog or cats, gardening, a dojo system, and more. There’s really a lot to do.

Combat
The combat is deep and very satisfying, especially thanks to the counterspark mechanic. There are many weapon types with distinct combat styles to master. I especially enjoyed using sub-weapons like the bow and musket — super useful in boss fights. You can also approach many encounters with stealth, which is highly recommended.

Performance
Performance is overall pretty bad. My rig is a 7800X3D, 4080 Super, 32GB RAM, running at 1440p. I played on high settings, and the game usually fluctuated between 110–120 fps, occasionally dipping to around 100 fps. Cities like Edo and Kyoto ran fine, but the more open areas caused drops. For an open-world game like this, 120 fps feels like the bare minimum.

Graphical settings are a mess. There are major issues with flickering textures and shadows, and none of the graphical tweaks made a noticeable difference — the game is just poorly optimized. That said, textures look quite good, especially on character armor, and there are some beautiful effects like sunsets and snowstorms.

Overall, the game was very enjoyable, and if your hardware can handle it, I’d highly recommend it. It definitely brings its own unique flair to the table alongside Ghost of Tsushima and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

[causality]

Why buy a 4080 and play at 1440p? My 2070 can run this at 1440p. Otherwise cool review.

[0wnz0r]

Originally posted by causality:

Why buy a 4080 and play at 1440p? My 2070 can run this at 1440p. Otherwise cool review.

cuz maybe u wanna max every setting n run rt stuff n not hav to worry about ♥♥♥♥ for a few years?


nice review tc, altho i didnt experience any graphical issues outside some frame drops mostly in cutscenes.

[Entarion]

Originally posted by causality:

Why buy a 4080 and play at 1440p? My 2070 can run this at 1440p. Otherwise cool review.

I upgraded from 1070 last year and 4080S seemed like reasonable choice. I must say that playing such games at +120FPS is joy. I couldn't go back to 60fps, even 90 is laggy.

Originally posted by 0wnz0r:

Originally posted by causality:

Why buy a 4080 and play at 1440p? My 2070 can run this at 1440p. Otherwise cool review.

cuz maybe u wanna max every setting n run rt stuff n not hav to worry about ♥♥♥♥ for a few years?

nice review tc, altho i didnt experience any graphical issues outside some frame drops mostly in cutscenes.

I read through lots of posts and people experience many issues or not at all. Fortunatelly, it wasn't gamebreaking for me.

[Eut]

My review can be easily summarized. It has great combat and so so exploration, but is pretty bad at every other aspect (graphics, optimization, story).

[gungadin22000]

An apt review, although I would add that the combat is in fact SO GREAT that it still manages to be my personal GOTY 2025 so far.

[Entarion]

Originally posted by gungadin22000:

An apt review, although I would add that the combat is in fact SO GREAT that it still manages to be my personal GOTY 2025 so far.

I feel you. I prefer combat in Team Ninja games compared to souls games. I played whole time with katana only, so looking forward to try new weapons on midnight difficulty and do it all again.

[Lahoo Eckbert]

"Combat is deep and satifying."
Bro hasn't played midnight difficulty yet.