Finally - a proper look at Team Ninja's PS5 exclusive, Rise of the Ronin

Sony has delivered on its promise to bring those of us starved for Rise of the Ronin news something to chew on. During today’s State of Play presentation, we got treated to a deeper look at gameplay from the upcoming PS5 exclusive.

As a Team Ninja game, and one of PS5’s biggest titles for the first quarter of the year, the anticipation for this one has been very high.

You may recall that Rise of the Ronin revealed its March 22 release date just recently, in December. The release date trailer was brief, and it was strangely not accompanied by any sort of deeper dive on the PlayStation Blog or elsewhere. For a game coming out in seven weeks - and one that incidentally shares its release date with Dragon’s Dogma 2, there was precious little footage to pick apart or get excited about.

This all changed during Sony’s State of Play, where Team Ninja was on hand to deliver a lot of goods.

In the gameplay trailer, we see a lot more gory Ronin action, as the player character makes use of swords, early firearms, and even a grappling hook to navigate their way through a war-torn Japan. We see not only some one-on-one boss battles, but also hectic group engagements that really boil the blood. The game looks great!

Rise of the Ronin is Team Ninja’s first open-world RPG. It builds on a lot of what the studio learned from working on the excellent Nioh games, but relies on an evolved structure that may, potentially, make it more accessible to new players.

It looks like a fast-faced Team Ninja game, with a grappling hook for use in combat, more practical firearms, and a collection of melee combat styles. It even goes beyond, with a large world you can explore on horseback, or using the new glider. And, for the first time, you’ll be interacting with NPCs in ways other than killing them.

Rise of the Ronin arrives March 22 on PS5.