First off, I wanna just get this out of my system before I start the review. The thing I hate the most is the character's idle pose. It's about a 40-degree T-pose. I was thinking it was a glitch, but nope. You just happen to start the game wearing very baggy clothes. It's basically to do with wearing yukata-type clothing, since the sleeves are baggy. But put on tighter clothing and yeeeeeah... It's horrendous, and if you do buy the game, be warned; you won't wanna keep your character idle. With that being said, on with my two cents.
I would say this game is pretty mid. Not bad, not great. It's no Ghost of Tsushima, so don't expect that.
HOWEVER!
As a fan of the cult-classic Way of the Samurai games, I'd definitely call this a spiritual successor to them (specifically 4, since they share the same backdrop.) They're comparable in almost every way, but Ronin bloats it into a dime-a-dozen open-map soulslike (there's difficulty setting) modern RPG. So while many call it just that, the WotS charm shines. And so for me, it's like this otherwise generic game has an identity of its own.
Something that's a godsend improvement over WotS is character creation and clothing. You see, In the WotS games; unique clothing, hairstyles, British ethnicity, and even a female skin (yes, a skin) had to be acquired through multiple playthroughs; dozens if you're not using a guide. Like... wtf?
Well, Ronin flips that on its head with a great character suite, and you can change your appearance/ethnicity and gender...sorry, TYPE any time (you actually have two characters to customize!) There's plenty of diverse clothing spanning Japanese and colonial apparel. But not only that, weapons and clothing have a glam system! You can equip the gear you need, but make it appear as the clothing and weapons you wish (that you've obtained and equipped once.) For a character-creation buff like me, it's a major plus.
So yeah, It's good. Grab it on sale. Enjoy a generic modern-RPG with a 19th century Colonial Yokohama backdrop. It's got a beautiful mid-size map, it's got horses, it's got a glider, it's got a grappling hook, it's got guns and bows, it's got stealth kills, it's got those 100 collectibles to find, it's got......skill trees. You got nothin to lose.
