By the time of its launch, Rise of the Ronin is joining a staggering lineup of open-world RPG-style games. With games like Assassin’s Creed and Elden Ring setting the standard for this genre, Rise of the Ronin has had to shift from the norm to stand out. Some of that was successful, while some seemed to fall flat.

The comparison between Ghost of Tsushima (GoT) and Rise of the Ronin (RotR) feels unavoidable. However, it’s also entirely unfair to only view Rotr exclusively from the lens of GoT. That being said, if I saw someone playing RotR two months before launch, I’d think it was GoT until I was told otherwise. That is until you get to the combat.