Highlights

  • Rise of the Ronin deviates from Team Ninja's usual Soulslike formula, offering a more open-world experience in a less demanding setting.
  • The game implements a variety of difficulty settings, accommodating players of different skill levels, and offers robust accessibility options on top of that.
  • Rise of the Ronin sets a new standard in the genre with its inclusive features, which couple nicely with extensive customization and a choice-driven narrative to make for an enjoyable game.

Rise of the Ronin marks a bit of a departure for developer Team Ninja in a few key areas. Previously, the studio established itself by focusing on titles geared towards intense Soulslike experiences, often in tighter linear level design, and with spiritual/supernatural aspects baked into its gauntlet of increasingly elaborate and deadly enemies. Compared to some of its earlier entries like the Nioh series and last year's highly-received Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Rise of the Ronin is fully open-world in a more grounded setting, and is relatively less demanding in many of its gameplay components while containing a scope of difficulty settings.

With the grandfather and codifier of the genre, Dark Souls, and its kin usually held up as the model to emulate, Soulslikes have seen a spike in popularity since inception. However, as more games were produced, a crucial distinction between Soulslikes and Soulslites emerged; with the latter, as implied, having a much lower general barrier to entry and related learning/difficulty curves in terms of grasping an array of sometimes complicated mechanics and interlinked (or vaguely explained) design features. Rise of the Ronin goes above and beyond having just difficulty sliders for its samurai action gameplay, though, offering gamers a variety of settings and accessibility features that allow for a range of skillsets and other helpful options for those who may need to adjust certain aspects to their positions and preferences.

Rise of the Ronin also offers an increasingly standard toggle between performance or graphical fidelity, as well as a co-op mode.

featured Rise of the Ronin How To Respec
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Rise of the Ronin: How To Respec

Rise of Ronin players can reset their Blade Sharpening Origin and reassign their skill points.

Rise of the Ronin’s Accessibility Suite Should Set the Bar for Other Games in the Genre

Rise of the Ronin Extends an Olive Branch to Newcomers to the Genre

While the topic of intentionally designed difficulty in Soulslikes has drawn heated debates and sometimes negative exchanges over the validity and "vision" of how they affect the game experience, it nevertheless remains a large part of the genre's identity. One immediately noticeable inclusion in this area is the difficulty options in Rise of the Ronin. Breaking from traditional Soulslike standards, it allows players to adjust this parameter via three levels-- Dawn, Dusk, and Twilight, translating to Easy, Normal, Hard respectively. Not particularly unusual in the grand scheme, but for a game that wears its influences on its sleeve, it is a bigger step toward welcoming players who may be less familiar or interested in the gameplay of Soulslikes and adjacent titles, but intrigued by the narrative on offer.

In terms of its core gameplay, Rise of the Ronin's various combat stances, while extensive, are also streamlined, requiring less intense precision and nuanced understanding, but still being robust and complex enough to provide a substantial challenge. Some of the settings work both ways, with players able to make battling enemies and other elements more daunting if they wish. The choices are broad, and fans of varied mindsets will likely find the balance that works best for them within RotR's options.

Rise of the Ronin's Additional Settings and Options are Robust and Inclusive

There is also a host of other items, like auto-looting, companion behavior, audio/visual output, and more that can be adjusted. As accessibility options are becoming more widespread in gaming in general, Rise of the Ronin continuing this trend is a positive move, and an encouraging sign that Team Ninja has decided to be heavily inclusive in this regard as well. Rise of the Ronin is a more choice-driven story too, with RPG elements and a collection of companion characters as some of its highlights, and letting fans experience the engrossing tale while being able to mitigate any possible frustrations is an excellent decision.

With the wealth of accessibility options providing a buffer to potentially aggravating aspects, the studio has laid out a solid line between producing a title adhering to what many fans would expect given its history, but also catering to those players who might have been hesitant about jumping into what is normally an intimidating genre. Rise of the Ronin's encompassing array of options and convenience sliders give players the ability to tailor it for the smoothest experience relevant to them, allowing each to enjoy it on their own terms, and should become more of the norm for the industry.