Team Ninja Challenges Ubisoft To A Feudal Japanese Duel, Announces ‘Rise Of The Ronin’ Will Hit PC Just Days Before ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’
In yet another unfortunate development for Ubisoft’s last hope for survival, Team Ninja has confirmed that the PC port of their previously-Sony-exclusive, feudal Japan-set, open-world samurai game Rise of the Ronin will officially release just days ahead of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
RELATED: ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Art Director Responds To Criticisms Regarding Game’s Depiction Of Japan: “We’ve Paid A Lot Of Attention To Stay As Respectful As Possible To Japanese Culture, But Creative Choices Are Made On Our Side”
Whereas Assassin’s Creed Shadows is jam-packed with questionable design choices and a lack of historical accuracy regarding its historical setting, Rise of the Ronin presents a more authentic, feudal Japanese-era take on the action-adventure formula.
Taking place in the mid-1800s during the last days of Japan’s then-isolationist foreign policy, Rise of the Ronin sees players making up one half of the so-called ‘Blade Twins’, a pair of highly-skilled sibling-warriors who have dedicated themselves to overthrowing the ruling Tokugawa shogunate after their parents were murdered by the government’s hands.
However, after a mission to assassinate the historical Matthew Perry results in the death of their brother/sister (depending on which gender they chose to play as), the surviving Blade Twin dedicates themselves to the Ronin way, going on to become essentially a sword-for-hire during a period when the country is engulfed in political strife and a new stream of visitors from the West.
In doing so, players will not only make their blade available to a number of different factions – with the decision’s one makes regarding who they do or do not choose to help ultimately affecting which of the game’s multiple endings they receive, but engage with a stealthy combat system that’s reminiscent of older Assassin’s Creed games with just a hint of Souls-likes in the form of a ki gauge and a stagger-causing parry/dodge system.
Upon release, Rise of the Ronin received widespread praise from both critics and players, especially in regards to its depiction of mid-18th century Japan, depth of combat, and overall story.
And though the game also received its fair-share of criticism, particularly concerning the lackluster and empty feeling of its open-world design (which, in fairness, many titles struggle with nowadays), it was nonetheless a massive success, going on to become the best-selling title ever released by publisher Koei Tecmo.
But while Rise of the Ronin has managed to endear itself to players, the same cannot be said of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The upcoming next entry in a franchise that has long since diluted its everything that made it unique in favor of tired open-world RPG mechanics, Shadows has been mired in controversy since the day it was announced thanks to Ubisoft’s disrespect of the game’s long-demanded Japanese setting.
Even putting aside the entire controversy surrounding the game’s deuteragonist Yasuke, Shadows is a buffet of Japanese historical and cultural blunder after another, with news – such as watermelons, a Summer fruit, bbeing sold at the same time as the blooming of the cherry blossoms, a Spring event – even after Ubisoft delayed the game to, among other things, supposedly double-check their work with local scholars.
Combine these narrative issues with an overall gameplay system that feels 10-years out of date and it becomes clear that the fan apprehension towards Shadow – which is even being felt by more casual players – poses a serious danger to both the game’s success and Ubisoft’s future existence.
And as if Shadows didn’t already have enough problems, its chances of success are now under further threat thanks to Team Ninja’s recent confirmation of Rise of the Ronin‘s official PC release date.
As announced by the developer at the end of January, after just barely under a year of PlayStation 5 exclusivity, the Blade-Twins will finally make their leap to Windows operating systems on March 11th – exactly nine days before Shadows protagonists Yasuke and Naoe are set to start their own sortie.
Thus, with Rise of the Ronin so expertly delivering where Shadows looks poised to fail in regards to the promise of a digital samurai-experience, there exists a good chance that positive word of mouth could see a significant amount of prospective Assassins choosing to ignore a middling-at-best mission in favor of actually having fun as a masterless Samurai.
That all said, Rise of the Ronin‘s PC release comes with a number of major upgrades over its original PS5 version, including support for 8K resolution, 120 FPS, ray tracing, and ultra-wide monitor compatibility, as well as fully customizable controls, UI upgrades, and improved 3D audio.
And in one final slash to Shadows‘ potential success, the PC port will retail for $49.99 – a full $20 less than Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ cheapest version.
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