Rise of the Ronin: AC Brotherhood meets Ghost of Tsushima in Team Ninja's newest game

  • 3

The smashing successes of FromSoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019) and Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima (2020) have set off a wave of East Asia-set titles for 2023 and 2024. (The Western release and remastering of) Like a Dragon: Ishin!, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Where Winds Meet, and Assassin's Creed Projects Jade and Red are just some upcoming titles highlighting historical periods in Japan and China. Team Ninja's game, Rise of the Ronin, joins their ranks and will explore the end of the Edo Period and the beginning of Japan's Meiji Period in the late 19th century.

Known for their samurai and ninja games (and most notably their Soulslike series, Nioh), Team Ninja's latest RPG announcement shows an exciting shift in the studio's direction. Players will embody a Ronin whose actions and choices will ripple throughout the story and affect the characters they encounter. How players choose to explore this open world will have consequences. Conflicts await the Ronin at all corners: civil war and political turmoil are the backdrops for this formative time in history, with Westerners and diseases filtering the country. When conflicts lead to fights, historically accurate firearms have been added to the game, adding a new and exciting aspect to Team Ninja's fast-paced, demanding combat. Rise of the Ronin's story will focus on a critical time in Japan's history; according to Fumihiko Yasuda (Director and President, Team Ninja), the team wanted to "include the darkest and ugliest chapters [in Japan's history] that many will shy away from." While details of the game are still scarce, it seems clear that the studio wants to set a serious tone early on.

Regarding the title of the article: I noticed some elements that harkened to Assassin's Creed inspiration points, such as a hawk that graces the screen's intro or a nifty winged glider that players can use to explore the skies above Japan. The game's cinematic combat moments instantly reminded me of Ezio in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood with the graphics and graceful movements. Ghost of Tsushima's influence is apparent in the production, with Team Ninja taking care to display Japan's lands and history in the careful and multilayered way Sucker Punch did.

You can watch Rise of the Ronin's official PlayStation State of Play 2022 trailer here or read the official PlayStation blog detailing the game further. Rise of the Ronin will be a PS5 exclusive, so players should expect a PC port. 

What are your thoughts on the influx of East Asian-based games on the horizon? Are you excited for Team Ninja's shift into RPGs?

Replies • 51