Rise of the Ronin reviews round-up: What do the critics say?

Based on reviews, it seems there is plenty to like about the game including its combat, but there are also a few issues.

Let’s get into the Rise of the Ronin reviews round-up to find out what the critics thought of the game. Before we head into that, though, we’ve included the game’s Metacritic score so you can see the consensus of the title at a glance.

What is the Metacritic score for Rise of the Ronin?

At the time of writing, the Rise of the Ronin Metacritic score is 76 out of 100 based on 104 critic reviews. As of 22nd March 2024, Rise of the Ronin has a “generally favorable” Metascore, with 63 per cent of reviews being positive, 36 per cent mixed and zero negative scores.

While a Metacritic score of 76 isn’t a bad score by any stretch, it doesn’t paint a tremendously glowing reception of Team Ninja’s latest. We’d argue that the game has received a warmly positive – if lightly mixed – critical response.

The highest review score given is a 95 from PlayStation Universe, while its lowest is a 50 from Variety. It’s worth pointing out that Metacritic takes scores of all varieties and applies them to its 100-point scale. Variety’s review, for example, awarded the game a score of 5 out of 10.

To put Rise of the Ronin’s 76 Metascore in some perspective, Team Ninja’s Nioh ended up with a score of 88, Nioh 2 got an 85, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin scored 72 and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty bagged an 80.

If you want to know why Rise of the Ronin received a Metascore of 76, you need to find out what the critics thought with a reviews round-up. Hang on, that’s where we’re headed next. Quite the coincidence.

Rise of the Ronin reviews round-up: What do the critics say?

The Rise of the Ronin reviews are in and the response is mostly in favour of the game, with many praising the combat. There are a number of mixed opinions, however, with the ambitious nature of the game holding it back from being considered a true great by quite a few.

PlayStation Universe’s 9.5/10 review is the highest-scoring of the lot. In its review, the site claims that “Team Ninja’s most ambitious effort yet is a must-have for action RPG fans everywhere”.

The reviewer dubs it “a jack of all trades and a master of some… Though the visual presentation might be comparatively a little rough around the edges, Rise of the Ronin nonetheless is simultaneously the most accessible and ambitious game Team Ninja has done to date and one that both hardcore action RPG fiends and open-world adventure aficionados will surely embrace.”

Another positive review comes from Eurogamer, which awarded Team Ninja’s latest 4/5 stars. Claiming that while “Ronin isn’t quite Team Ninja’s Elden Ring... it’s been great to witness the renaissance of Japanese games these past few years, there’s something special about seeing a Japanese developer stepping up to reclaim the AAA open-world samurai game for itself - especially one that cares more about being a video game than a Kurosawa film.”

IGN, meanwhile, was less positive in its 7/10 review, praising its “cool historical setting” and “Team Ninja’s mastery of tough-but-fair combat” along with “cool little touches”, while arguing that “it’s also a game full of map clutter, bloated systems, and a truly absurd amount of junk loot”.

The IGN review continues, claiming that “Rise of the Ronin is excellent when it has the courage to be itself and lean into its challenging, rewarding fighting; too often, however, it feels stuck in indecision, torn between what it wants to be and what it feels it’s expected to be, and not even the best samurai can overcome that”.

GamesRadar+ agrees in its 3.5/5 star review, arguing that Rise of the Ronin is “fun but too familiar in the grand pantheon of similar offerings – not least from developer Team Ninja's back catalogue itself”.

Finally, we move on to Variety, with its 5/10 review proving to be the most negative of the lot. Variety concisely argues at the end of its review: “Unfortunately, Rise of the Ronin is a much better game in theory than it is in practice, falling short with outdated graphics, hackneyed combat and painfully generic characters.”

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