Rise of the Ronin review

Rise of the Ronin PC port struggles with performance issues.

: Team Ninja's Rise of the Ronin's PC port is plagued by performance problems, such as fluctuating FPS and slow motion in crowded areas. While the game offers a layered combat system and rich historical setting, these issues hinder its enjoyment. Players experience gameplay swings between smooth and frustrating due to optimization faults. A promising update to address these concerns is underway, yet it remains pending.

Rise of the Ronin, developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo, was initially released on the PS5 and has made its way to PC, but with significant performance issues. As noted, the PC port suffers from erratic frame rates, dropping from triple digits to unexpected single digits, especially in graphically intense scenes or when many non-player characters (NPCs) are on-screen. These fluctuations are worse in built-up areas, leading to slow motion effects that detract from the intended fast-paced action of the game.

Team Ninja has a reputation for creating engaging action RPGs and has been praised for its previous works, like the Nioh series. However, the transition from console to PC has not been smooth for Rise of the Ronin. While the game allows players to experience Edo-era Japan with engaging combat systems requiring skillful timing and strategic weapon choices, these features are overshadowed by technical inadequacies on the PC platform.

With a graphics setup featuring an NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, Intel Core i7-10875H CPU, and 16 GB RAM, the reviewer expected to experience smooth gameplay. However, performance issues became apparent during gameplay as the opening missions started with reduced animation quality, audio problems, and noticeable texture pop-in. Attempted solutions such as reducing graphic settings to low did not entirely resolve the issues.

Despite these setbacks, when operating smoothly, the game captures the allure of Japanese history, challenging players with a combat system interspersed with layered strategies and difficulty-scaling enemies. Feedback from the community is mixed, with a 45% positive review rate on Steam from over 1300 reviews, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction among users.

Koei Tecmo acknowledged the performance challenges upon the game's release and assured players that a patch is being developed. While the update's details and release timing remain uncertain, it is expected to alleviate some of the predominant issues. This scenario is illustrative of the ongoing challenge of adapting console-optimized games to PC environments.

Sources: PC Gamer, Steam

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