Rise of the Ronin Devs Discuss Open World, Difficulty, and Ghost of Tsushima Influence
To prepare players for the release of Rise of the Ronin, the game's developers - Team Ninja Studio - gave fans a glimpse of some important aspects of the production. A stunning new trailer also was released.
We are only six days away from the premiere of Rise of the Ronin -- a new game from the devs of the NiOh series, namely Team Ninja Studio. On this occasion, the developers not only presented the players with the game itself but also with the origin of its creation.
In a recent interview with the Automaton editorial team, the dev of the game, Yosuke Hayashi, explained that the motivation behind developing an open-world action RPG was the desire to take on new challenges. Furthermore, when designing Rise of the Ronin, the developers aimed to create a game that would provide a "time-traveling experience."
When deciding on an open world, the devs had to take care of various ways of traversing it. For Rise of the Ronin, this involves horseback riding, using a grappling hook, and glider, in addition to the standard walking journey. In response to the question of why the team used such ways of exploration, Team Ninja developer - Fumihiko Yasuda - answered:
We decided to use horse riding for traveling along the ground because Rise of the Ronin involves journeying around three cities, and it is also realistic for the time period. As for the glider, you will probably think it sounds like fantasy. But actually, an inventor from the Bakumatsu period left behind blueprints for such a device, which inspired us to add it to the game.
The difficulty level was discussed later in the interview. Yasuda explained that unlike the studio's previous productions, which were focused on very challenging fights, when developing Rise of the Ronin, efforts were made to ensure that the gameplay was as enjoyable for fans of tough fights as for those who prefer to focus on story and exploration.
The highest difficulty level is for those who enjoy the typical Team Ninja-style action-packed experience. The so-called normal setting is for players who want to enjoy aspects, like developing your character, through exploring the open world. The easiest setting is for those who want to focus on enjoying the story. We decided from the very beginning that for players to experience being a ronin in the Bakumatsu period, there was no need to make it so that players couldn't complete the title unless they fully understood the game system -- explained the developer.
Due to the similarity of Rise of the Ronin to Ghost of Tsushima, there were inevitably questions about inspirations from Sony's hit production. Yasuda explained that the game of Sucker Punch not only served as a "reference point" for Team Ninja but also offered a "strong motivation" to create a game with a similar theme.
Yosuke Hayashi, mentioned at the beginning, even claimed that the combat, visual experience, and other aspects of the "Japanese essence" in Rise of the Ronin will be perceived as "superior to other titles" by players.
So we have no choice but to check for ourselves whether the bold assurances of the developer won't turn out to be just empty talk.
We will find out about this on March 22nd. Rise of the Ronin is coming exclusively to PlayStation 5.
You can spice up your anticipation for the release with an eye-catching premiere trailer for Rise of the Ronin.
