At this point in time, with discussions about the value of console exclusives creating so much noise, it’s worth considering what Rise Of The Ronin represents as a game that will only appear on PS5 (at least until a PC version arrives). What does Team Ninja’s game say about what a PS5 exclusive should look like in 2024?
Most prominently, it says that all exclusives are certainly not equal. Even with seven years on the clock, and with no doubt hundreds of dedicated staff having put in their share of late nights, Rise Of The Ronin is just a bit tatty around its edges. The result feels below-par next to even an old PS5 game such as Demon’s Souls. (To be fair, barely anything stands up against Bluepoint’s remake in terms of presentation.)
It’s rare to be confronted by a scene or sequence in Ronin that feels as though it couldn’t have been delivered by the PS4 generation of hardware, but there is also a carelessness at play that doesn’t meet our expectations of either Team Ninja or indeed the concept of the big-budget platform exclusive. Even in early areas of the game, you can see tree models positioned so closely to houses that their swaying branches poke through the roofs. Some of the NPCs you encounter on your travels seem to skate as their walking animations play out. Random visual details suddenly pop into view as you approach. It is an odd sensation, seeing these foibles in the context of a high-grade modern game, like being transported back to another era. On the art side, there are flourishes throughout Ronin’s expansive world, but its environments have a general tendency to feel flat, which undersells its dramatic ambitions.
Enemy AI is another area that feels like a throwback, possibly relating to the challenges experienced by a studio making an openworld affair having previously specialised in games with much more closely choreographed action. On more than one occasion we’ve seen enemies suddenly turn tail and run away, not because of our fearsome reputation but presumably because they’ve reached some strictly enforced invisible boundaries. In another instance they’ve pursued our hero relentlessly right up until encountering a barrier whose navigation requires a simple crouch, which proves to be quite beyond their capabilities, leaving them hopelessly gawping at him t...
Most prominently, it says that all exclusives are certainly not equal. Even with seven years on the clock, and with no doubt hundreds of dedicated staff having put in their share of late nights, Rise Of The Ronin is just a bit tatty around its edges. The result feels below-par next to even an old PS5 game such as Demon’s Souls. (To be fair, barely anything stands up against Bluepoint’s remake in terms of presentation.)
It’s rare to be confronted by a scene or sequence in Ronin that feels as though it couldn’t have been delivered by the PS4 generation of hardware, but there is also a carelessness at play that doesn’t meet our expectations of either Team Ninja or indeed the concept of the big-budget platform exclusive. Even in early areas of the game, you can see tree models positioned so closely to houses that their swaying branches poke through the roofs. Some of the NPCs you encounter on your travels seem to skate as their walking animations play out. Random visual details suddenly pop into view as you approach. It is an odd sensation, seeing these foibles in the context of a high-grade modern game, like being transported back to another era. On the art side, there are flourishes throughout Ronin’s expansive world, but its environments have a general tendency to feel flat, which undersells its dramatic ambitions.
Enemy AI is another area that feels like a throwback, possibly relating to the challenges experienced by a studio making an openworld affair having previously specialised in games with much more closely choreographed action. On more than one occasion we’ve seen enemies suddenly turn tail and run away, not because of our fearsome reputation but presumably because they’ve reached some strictly enforced invisible boundaries. In another instance they’ve pursued our hero relentlessly right up until encountering a barrier whose navigation requires a simple crouch, which proves to be quite beyond their capabilities, leaving them hopelessly gawping at him t...
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Edge Uk (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2024