Rise of the Ronin’s PC Release Might Be Poorly Timed

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 29, 2025 4 Views 5 Min Read
Rise of the Ronin’s PC Release Might Be Poorly Timed
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Team Ninja has had a rather busy start to the year. Last week’s Xbox Developer Direct saw Team Ninja make a surprise appearance, where it finally announced the existence of Ninja Gaiden 4 and shadow-dropped Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, an Unreal Engine 5 remaster of the original 2008 game. And as if that wasn’t enough, Team Ninja has just announced that last year’s Rise of the Ronin will be coming to PC very soon.

Originally released in March 2024 as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, Rise of the Ronin is an open-world action-RPG that sees players take control of a custom wandering warrior as they slice their way through 19th century Japan. Rise of the Ronin is coming to Steam on March 11, 2025, a release date that might put it in direct competition with one of the year’s biggest releases.

Rise of the Ronin Skyrim Maps

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How Rise of the Ronin’s Open-World Map Compares to Skyrim

Despite being somewhat influenced by The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim’s map, Rise of the Ronin’s open-world map takes a somewhat different approach.

Rise of the Ronin’s March PC Release Date Puts It In Proximity to Another Open-World Samurai Game

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Releases Just Nine Days After Rise of the Ronin

At least on the surface, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Rise of the Ronin are quite similar games. Both games are set in historical versions of Japan, albeit set a few hundred years apart, with AC Shadows taking place in the mid-16th century, while Rise of the Ronin is set in the mid-19th century. Regardless of the different periods, however, AC Shadows and Rise of the Ronin share some very similar architecture and environments.

Fans also expect to see similar ronin character archetypes in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, with Naoe being a stealthy shinobi and Yasuke being a deadly samurai. Similar weaponry will also be present across the two games, both giving players katanas and larger Odachi-like bladed weapons.

Both games also belong to the same open-world action-RPG genre, and naturally, their gameplay loops share some similar elements. Though not all of the details have been revealed about Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ open-world, it’s certain to contain plenty of side activities, some of which could bear some similarities to Rise of the Ronin‘s. Both titles’ melee-focused combat is also not dissimilar from one another, both encouraging parries and ripostes.

Rise of the Ronin’s PC Release Might Be a Tough Sell

Many gamers probably only have room for one sprawling open-world action-RPG set in historical Japan this March, and Rise of the Ronin might find it difficult to convince players it should be that title. Rise of the Ronin had generally favorable reviews on launch, but it wasn’t quite a must-play title. It’s also far from being an exciting new AAA release.

Rise of the Ronin‘s PC port will obviously ensure that the game reaches a much wider audience, and its PC-exclusive features like 8K resolution, 120FPS, and NVIDIA DLSS support will all be welcome additions. But Rise of the Ronin might still have a tough time persuading players to choose it over Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a game that inherently has more brand recognition, and a game that’s completely new. Rise of the Ronin might have been better off either beating Assassin’s Creed Shadows to the punch by releasing a month earlier, or delaying its PC port until later in the year when the hype surrounding Shadows has presumably worn off.

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