Team Ninja gave us our first proper look at Rise of the Ronin during Wednesday's PlayStation State of Play showcase, and it looked good. Assuming you're into the Soulslike action-roleplay that the developer executed so well across its Nioh games, this independent follow-up ticks a lot of those boxes – on paper, and now, it certainly seems, in practice.
What started with light exploration, rooftop grappling, horseback meandering and glider-based aerial travel, quickly progressed into brutal, blood-spilling melee combat, deadly sword-slashing combos, and, thank the Edo era gods, quick-firing firearms. Hand cannons and rifles featured in Nioh, but this looks like the From Software-style mash-up I've always dreamed of – a martial arts game inspired by real events that combines deftly-timed, rhythm-heavy sword-play with gun-powered parries a la Bloodborne. We're some ways from Yharnam in the throes of the Boshin war, granted, but Rise of the Ronin is already speaking my language.
