Team Ninja just confirmed the release date of Rise of the Ronin.
At The Game Awards, they revealed the game would be arriving on March 22, 2024, exclusive to the PlayStation 5.
The trailer also demonstrates a narrative element that had not been known before, which was that you would not proverbially not been fighting alone. Several scenes show you fighting next to a younger man than was revealed in the initial trailers (or is it a woman in disguise). There are also other scenes that seem to show you meeting with a small army.
PlayStation Blog actually makes these details more explicit. We already know that the game is set at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, but Team Ninja named Ryoma Sakamoto and Shoin Yoshida. These are historical figures who resisted the Tokugawa.
In fact, Ryoma was already cast as the playable character in the video game Like A Dragon: Ishin, given the likeness and voice of the series regular protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. In this game, your character will be interacting with the likes of the historical Ryoma and Shoin, and the way your interactions go will also direct this story. This won’t be as lighthearted as RGG’s Yakuza spinoff, as Team Ninja indicated an interest in depicting this dark period of Japanese history, one that other Japanese creators prefer to avoid.
The trailer also demonstrated that Team Ninja is willing to stretch its historical setting just a little bit, so that they could make a more enjoyable game. You can ride a horse, and use a glider that lets you drift in the air like Link. You can also use grappling rope to grab and swing weapons at enemies, in ways that may not make sense if you think about the physics too much.
PlayStation Blog revealed that pre-orders for Rise of the Ronin will launch at December 14, 2023 at 7 AM PT. Pre-orders will be available at the PlayStation Direct site, PlayStation Store, and some participating retailers. Pre-ordering will get you early unlocks of Iga Ninja’s Katana and Armor set, and 4 Combat Styles.
If it wasn’t clear before, there is no longer any question now that Rise of the Ronin is no Soulsborne or maso-core game. Instead, Team Ninja has put their narrative in the front seat, and we suspect there are some more gameplay elements they have yet to show us.
You can watch the trailer below.
