I got my hopes up for “Rise of the Ronin.” With no sequel to the acclaimed “Ghost of Tsushima” in sight, I was looking forward to another in-house samurai game from PlayStation. But unfortunately, my hopes were dashed almost immediately. Your character and their “blade twin” are introduced as the last members of a dying clan of samurai (which is irrelevant to most of the story) looking to overthrow the shogunate in the mid-19th century. 

Right off the bat, you’re forced to learn an overwhelming amount of gameplay mechanics that seem vital—a recent phenomenon in games that I’m calling “input overload.” There’s no problem with a game having a wide variety of options suited to different builds and playstyles. The issue is when games are frontloaded with all that information, it forces players to make decisions that they don’t understand while they’re still figuring out how to jump and attack. The result, in this case, is a messy game. I’m embarrassed to say it, but my character died so many times in the tutorial because of the inscrutable parry mechanic (which I never completely figured out) that I had to lower the difficulty to move on. I wouldn’t say I’m not the most skilled gamer, but that’s ridiculous. 

The story is supposed to be some type of historical fiction, dealing with real people who clashed with imperial forces in this era of Japan’s history. It’s a cool idea and seems like it should be a serious story, but the game is filled with goofy moments that come out of nowhere creating severe tonal whiplash. It also takes heavy turns into science fiction, with tools and devices that have no place in 1850s Japan (like a grappling hook prosthetic arm?!). About halfway through the story, I realized that these odd character moments and even physical proportions of some characters reminded me of anime. If they’d gone all in on an anime-style game with the same story, it could have been something cool, but it just doesn’t work here.

There were moments of the game I enjoyed, but I don’t play games for basic quality of life features and a nice aesthetic. The game is well intentioned but uninspired and uneven. The best I can say for it is that there’s a lot to do.