Rise of the Ronin

Having played through the whole game and completed about 95% of it, here is the deal: Rise of the Ronin is an open-world, parry-based combat, semi-historical videogame where you play one of a pair of ninja twins, and involve yourself in the events of Japanese history in the decade of the 1850s, towards the tail-end of Japan transitioning from a medieval-style government system to something more similar to its European and American contemporaries. You could consider this a Japanese Assassin´s Creed but with a combat system closer to Dark Souls, if you will. PLOT: Ambivalent On one hand, it is genuinely fun to involve yourself in the history of the Japan of the time. There are dozens of historical people represented in the game, and about half of them are competent fighters you will fight with/against. Some of the main characters are lovely, and it is easy to immerse yourself in the world. However, leaving aside that the game is not perfectly realistic (not a point against it, mind you), it does feel at times like some characters are under-utilized, and the plot sometimes just stops abruptly. The plot is serviceable, and if you are a fan of seeing someone´s name, going "maybe that was a real person" and looking them up on Wikipedia, you will love this game. However... This is not a "you truly do matter" sort of plot. As a character, you do a lot to shape the future of Japan. But as a player, you are mostly a witness. History WILL take place mostly the way it did. You matter in certain circumstances, but there is a very "your choices matter" Telltale Games irony here. You are not killing the Emperor or anything. OPEN WORLD: Solid There are plenty of things to do in the world. You can walk/ride/glide through the Japanese cities of the time, although I cannot attest as to the realism in them (I assume that there was some distance compression). There is a fast-travel system in case you are not interested in using the transportation systems in the game, all of which are unlocked within the first six hours of playing the game or so, I´d say. This game is not exactly taking you by the hand, but it´s not locking you out of cool stuff for most of the time, either. The cities feel fairly alive, but not too much: don´t expect to be following NPCs just living their lives. If you explore the world, you will find some extra missions or content, and there are only a few areas I felt were "empty". The game contains three maps: Yokohama, Edo and Kyoto. You will move between them as the story advances, but you can also go back to unlock stuff you left behind. COMBAT: Very solid The combat system is heavily parry-based. You have options to mitigate this if you are not big on that, but it´s not going to be painless, so better drink that coffee you were thinking of before starting. That said, the system does work: your enemies get easier with practice, and since a) the telegraphing is very passable most of the time and b) the vast majority of your enemies are human, you should be able to grasp the timing as you dedicate yourself to learning the system and memorizing patterns. There are only a few enemies that perform "anime physics", where their moves are basically anime-inspired magic and the like, and they are appropriately... well... the sort of people who would use those moves (in the whole game, there may be five or six bosses like this, and they are renowned swordsmen). Other than that, you have plenty of options: there are around ten different weapons (katana, big katana, spear, halberd, rifle with bayonet, etc...), and each weapon has different techniques. You can equip yourself with two different weapons and three techniques for each weapon, and your opponents will possess a combination of these that you must counter by choosing at least the right technique (this will give you bonuses: if you don´t, you will have penalties, but you can still win). Fighting techniques have historical names, and contain different moves (slashes, leaps, charges, tossing bombs, etc...). In order to learn them, you must face opponents that use them. So, for example, there are plenty of techniques for using your katanas. As you learn them from defeating some foes, these fall into three main stances, and you will choose between these stances to respond to your opponent´s. Therefore, this system has weapons for every taste, and the techniques you need to use them with proficiency in combat. Add consumables like rifle or pistol bullets, arrows, throwing daggers, bombs, temporary weapon enchancements and potions to give you a leg up... and the game is just a joy to play, although somewhat frustrating if you run into an enemy in the early stages of figuring things out. There is one more issue to talk about, though, and that´s equipment upgrading: prepare to grind. Upgrading works through finding items, mass-dismantling them, getting money, and putting everything together at the blacksmiths you will find throughout the world. It is honestly quite tedious, but you will live through it if you enjoy the combat itself. Equipment level and stats do matter, though, so... it doesn´t have to be torture, but it certainly could have been done more smoothly than this. If I had to pick the biggest letdown, though? Only three techniques for unarmed combat. COME ON, MAN. What do you MEAN there are only three unarmed combat styles? I want to throw people and punch them in the face in a dozen different ways! Oh well... CUSTOMIZATION: Absurd So when the game starts, you create two characters. TWO. You create your twins. Then you will play the whole game as one of them. The character creation system is fairly in-depth, with hairstyles of all sorts, make-up, tattoos, scars, fairly varied body shape and so on. It´s no Elden Ring in terms of body shape, but everything else is pretty damn amazing: lots of hairstyle (you can shorten and lengthen your bangs) and color (colored hair tips and roots are a thing here). For clothing, there is a TON of it, and most of it can be combined to create your own sweet abominations. Most of it is Japanese clothing, but there are also East-West fusions and finally, straight up Western style clothes and accessories. You get kimonos, belts and obis, geta and boots, armor and helmets, and so on and so forth. You cannot color each piece differently, but there are a LOT of cool combinations you can make, and the game lets you save up to ten different outfits. You have a lot of weapon skins, too. Defeat an opponent with a particular skin, and you will earn it and be able to put it on your weapon. That includes everything you can hold in your hands: katanas, spears, Chinese sabres, rifles with bayonets, pistols and rifles, the whole lot. Lots of interesting designs. Also, you can re-customize your character and your twin post-start if you want to. REPLAYABILITY: Limited Look, it´s kind of a long game, and I went completionist, so I didn´t have much of a reason to replay it. There is no New Game+ option, which I find very weird, but there is a mod on Nexus Mods if you really want it. Otherwise, the replayability in the game comes from replaying areas and missions at higher difficulty, which... is a system that really needed to be explained better, honestly. CONCLUSION: Did you enjoy Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin? Are you fascinated by the Shinsengumi? Do you like the idea of rubbing elbows with some charismatic Japanese dudes? Are you open-minded enough to forgive some flaws in a game that gives you options on how to play it, and lets you customize your character to an above-average degree? Do you enjoy parry-based combat systems? If your answer is yes, you buy this game. Some people have complained about technical issues. If you run into this problem, refund. Otherwise? I loved it. Maybe at its current price of 50 eurodollars is a little steep, so if you wait for a sale that´s understandable. I think it´s worth more like 40. Sayonara, user-dono.