![Rise of the Ronin PS5](https://images.pushsquare.com/98c4c207d6624/rise-of-the-ronin-ps5.900x.jpg)
Sony and Team Ninja have today uploaded a Rise of the Ronin demo for PS5 users to try free of charge, letting potential buyers to try the somewhat forgotten exclusive before they buy. It's available on the PS Store now, and gives you access to the first chapter of the game. If you like what you play, all your progress will carry over if you go on to cop the full title.
Released earlier this year for PS5, the exclusive game received a fairly muted response from critics, but it has resonated with a lot of full-price buyers in the months since. As of mid-June, it became Koei Tecmo's best-selling game ever, which owns Team Ninja and has also helped bring the likes of the Nioh series to market alongside Sony. A PC port is probably already in the works to help further boost those sales.
In our Rise of the Ronin PS5 review, we awarded a 6/10 rating and shared praise for its deep combat system, extensive difficulty options, and relationship-focused Bonds mechanic. With criticisms relating to its dated open world and poor narrative, we said: "At no point is it a bad experience, but the game's so run of the mill, so formulaic that attempting something new and ultimately failing would have been a more tantalising sell. You've already played better versions of Rise of the Ronin — what it's attempting is just fine, which is probably the most boring outcome possible."
Will you give Rise of the Ronin a go via this new PS5 demo? Let us know in the comments below.
[source store.playstation.com]
Comments 29
That's a welcome surprise, definetly on my wishlist and nice to try it out at last!
Wasn't this also well received in Japan?
The main reason i have stayed clear is the frame rate/pacing issues this game has.
To amyone who has played the full game (and can see the performance issues as not everyone can), is chapter 1 sufficient to make an assessment or is it a case that chapter 1 is small and enclosed and performance gets worse in later chapters.
Thank you.
Good to see a demo available to everyone as opposed to the scummy practice of locking them behind premium. I mean, has anyone actually taken out a month of premium just to try out a demos? Will defenately give this a go for sure.
@WhiteRabbit your praise has made me even more eager to try it out.
@Rich33 I played on performance mode and noticed the framerate hitches would consistently pop up when performing certain actions in the open world regardless of which chapter I was on. Also, the framerate would sometimes be inconsistent during the bigger story action scenes with more NPCs on-screen. Hope this helps!
Fantastic! I really want to play this, a demo might move it up the list a bit.
I hated the way everyone wrote this off and few seemed to give it much of a chance - but that seems to just be the way gaming has gone. I'm hoping VRR will help smooth the experience
@RBMango
Thank you, yes - i just wanted to make sure chapter 1 was representative of the game and not a case of concludes in its own little area, with none of the issues to come present as eg chapter1 doesnt go to the main open world.
I played the DD2 demo recently, and I applaud them for putting a representative demo out, but i found it such a dumpster fire in terms of performance.
I will try the RotR demo and see what its like as soon as i finish the game im on.
Did not care to buy this because of both the boring open world design and Dragon's dogma 2 was coming out so I will be happy to try out a demo.
@Rich33 I platinumed the game and play hard action games regularly. I can say you get used to it. Would probably avoid a parry heavy style though. I think the frame rate fugs the timing. Still doable just awkward.
I reckon Ghost of Tsushima 2 will be out by the time I get around to this one.
The game has got numbers the past couple months, many didn't look its way just because Dragon's Dogma was bigger.
This is the right move at the right time.
@JohntheRaptor
Im generally ok down to about 55fps (with VRR working well), but anything lower or too many stutters or frame pacing issues becomes an instant no go for me (I dont adapt, in fact the opposite can be true).
Either a 'glowing review' of performance or representative demo is needed for me now, after being bitten badly by a game or 2.
@Kidfunkadelic83 No. In fact if it is multiplat, then I often download and play the demo on Nintendo Switch instead. Makes zero sense locking demos behind a paywall
I’ve had this on my wishlist for a while, but it turns out I’m getting it for my birthday next week 🙂🍰🎆🎈🎉 needless to say I will avoid the demo
For those interested, demo is actually almost 100 GB. Quite a chunk.
But I really want to try this, and assuming performance issues are not too great I'll be dumping the cash..
Almost bought this in target the other day... this is definitely something I'd be interested in
My Game of the Year so far. Didn't want it to end
Can't see the demo
I'm having a great time with this game. I'm currently in the middle of it I believe. I really like role playing the wandering ronin in my head. I rarely go to a main story mission unless I stumble across one. Being as easy as it is and the fun wandering make it a great chill game for me. Glad others are at least able to try it and see if they like it.
@snoopae On the store listing, click the button with three dots next to the wishlist and you can get it there. Also on the PS App
It's a really good game but the performance is just not good enough. The frame time spikes are so frequent that it is just visually uncomfortable.
But as a videogame it's really fun and has great customisation options.
First Team Ninja game I’ve skipped in a while. The larger open world and all of the box-checking that likely entails has, I suppose, turned me off. I look forward to trying this demo, to see if the masterful Team Ninja combat can hook me anyways. Smart move on their part!
I know graphics isn't everything but Team Ninja could've done better than this the gameplay feels dated too IMO
@Rich33 I actually had some framerate issues at the beginning, and later on it got better, it didn't put me off the game ( weird I know) .
Chapter 1 should open the open world for you, the framerate gets better the more tge game opens up, don't ask me why
@Psnfanboy79 the gameplay is not dated, when you unlock lots of weapons and lots of styles, it had brilliant combat, switch styles on the fly, that takes a while to understand but when you do it's great.
It also has lots of features like auto dismantle or auto sell, you can go back in time and change outcomes and choose different paths, character create is awesome and you create you enemy too.
The world maybe dated but the gameplay is not
@Staroceanblue ok I would take u for ur word about this game gameplay opening up more u play nice to hear that
@Staroceanblue
Thank you. Framerate issues can be weird like that - take hogwarts legacy, which since the patch last summer now runs well in excess of 60fps in its normal performance mode with VRR on / Cap off (often >70fps, with some areas feeling in excess of 80fps) - yet in 1 unremarkable area on the south coast it dips to about 50fps.
Soon as I finish the game im on, i will give this demo a try - everything else i heard / have seen about this game sounds good and I enjoyed Nioh 2 (played it + dlc through ng+).
@MidnightDragonDX got it. Thanks for that.
I ,love this game so much, I pretty much never bother to platinum a game and I am terrible at games with specific timings like this, Nioh and Elden Ring so usually avoid them, but gosh I loved this game so much, what a journey
Also if you liked the Way of the Samurai games on ps2/ps3, this feels a bit like them
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