Rise of the Ronin got audiences excited for large-scale games in a Japanese setting. With Assassin’s Creed Red on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to look at things Rise of the Ronin did that excite us for the newest AC installment. Here are 10 reasons why Rise of the Ronin has us excited for Assassin’s Creed Red.
1. Diverse Japanese Weapons
Combat in Rise of the Ronin is one of the most interesting things the game explores. Each weapon has different combat styles that can be used to gain the upper hand on enemies, but that’s never been the way Assassin’s Creed has approached combat. Assassin’s Creed is generally simpler, but many of the installments like Origins or Syndicate had the characters using a variety of weapons. Ideally, Assassin’s Creed Red will continue that trend with more than only a katana and hidden blade.
Rise of the Ronin has built up a good deal of hype for the combat in Assassin’s Creed Red. On top of having all the different combat styles, it also has a plethora of weapons to choose from like Polearms, Odachi, and Oxtail Blades. AC Red will surely explore this, but might not highlight some of the larger Japanese weapons as heavily. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of variety Ubisoft gives players for their first stint in Japan.
2. Open World Japanese Environment
The breadth of the maps in recent Assassin’s Creed games has become a staple, with loads of space to explore. There’s always plenty to do, whether it’s quests for side characters or simply gathering collectibles. Rise of the Ronin has continued Ghost of Tsushima’s trend of having an enormous map in a Japanese setting. Assassin’s Creed Red shouldn’t have any trouble following this pattern.
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag introduced naval gameplay and combat in the series, so we could see something similar in Red. It might avoid the mechanic though, just like Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Mirage strayed from this theme and focused more on stealth instead of exploration, but the map is still sizable. Not to mention, Assassin’s Creed shines with how easily you can scale buildings, so exploration should be a breeze.
3. Stealth-Based Combat
Before redirecting towards more of an RPG, Assassin’s Creed was considered a stealth game. Mirage flipped the script back towards stealth, and it would be great to see that trend continue in AC Red. Rise of the Ronin touches on stealth by letting you kill enemies from hiding spots or high places. Head-on fighting mainly drives the combat, but the stealth is still fun and effective. Putting this setting in the hands of people who specialize in stealth is an exciting venture.
Bringing the Japanese setting to Assassin’s Creed’s stealth mechanics should make for an enjoyable and compelling experience. Surely there will be some new and interesting forms of managing your enemies that fit the period of Feudal Japan. The architecture makes for great vantage points, and surely there will be plenty of hay bales to pull enemies into.
4. Unique Assassin Skill Tree
Modern RPGs almost need to have skill trees that help you boost your stats and get stronger over time. Rise of the Ronin takes an interesting approach by incorporating a Dungeons and Dragons-like system of stat bonuses. You put skill points into boosting different stats based on your playstyle. Assassin’s Creed’s skill trees have generally been a simple branching shape, but Red could try to switch things up a bit.
You can expect different skills for getting multi-kills or stealth bonuses, as have become standard for the franchise. Red could bring something new regarding its weapons and how those stats get boosted as you continue the story. Whether it’s throwable equipment buffs or simply combat, it’s always exciting to see what new skills and moves come to the table.
5. More Compelling Main Character
While Rise of the Ronin‘s voice acting is great, you don’t see any coming from the protagonist. For some people, this isn’t a problem, but it can leave a void in a scene when a main contributor doesn’t speak. Assassin’s Creed games have always focused heavily on their protagonists, so Red should be no different. Giving the protagonist compelling dialogue gives players a reason to continue their story, just by being a part of it.
Even when Assassin’s Creed ventured into having multiple playable characters, each has their own personality that makes them compelling. Jacob and Evie Frye are perfect examples – both are fun to play as because they’re so likable. That lack of personality in Rise of the Ronin leaves room for AC Red to step in and bring some personality to Japan. If that comes in the form of two compelling main characters, the more the merrier.
6. Accurate Historical Details
Something that makes Assassin’s Creed so special is how grounded the games are in history. Whatever time they’re set in, the details in the map and characters are impeccable. Multicultural teams of individuals develop the Assassin’s Creed series, so it makes sense that the games are fittingly representative of the cultures they portray. Everything from the buildings down to the people on the street feels like it was pulled from a history book.
Rise of the Ronin’s setting makes AC Red being in Japan that much more exciting. Colonial Japan was an interesting time for RotR’s story, and feudal Japan is no less interesting. Whether it’s architecture, music, art, or samurai, AC Red has plenty of historical material to pull from. It’ll be a surprise to see how that gets incorporated into the final story.
7. Exciting and Diverse Traversal
Traversal has become synonymous with the Assassin’s Creed games given the free-running mechanics that have made the name for them. Rise of the Ronin felt a bit lacking in this respect, but only when compared to the AC series. Not being able to clamber up every wall and crack felt limiting, especially when the horse doesn’t work nearly as well as even some of the camels in the AC series.
Being able to roam a similar environment as Rise of the Ronin with more freedom will be a high point for AC Red. There will likely be more overall verticality, especially if it’s paired with a great mount like Origins or Mirage. Even if traveling consists of hijacking carts like in Syndicate, climbing buildings and making leaps of faith will certainly be a highlight.
8. Unique Story Befitting the Time
While Assassin’s Creed is well-known for its mechanics, one of the things that it does well is telling a fictional story in a nonfictional world. The story in Rise of the Ronin is tied to history, with an extra layer of your personal Ronin’s tale. It isn’t exploring anything that’s inherently impossible, outside of maybe some technology here and there. It’s a real story grounded in reality.
Although there’s nothing wrong with telling a grounded story, it’s nice to play a game like Assassin’s Creed and know you’re exploring something new for the first time. The underlying narrative of the Assassins and Templars is already established. The excitement comes from seeing that narrative continue to play out in a new setting. We’ve seen these two entities battle throughout history, so feudal Japan is a great place to explore.
9. Strong Side Missions
Rise of the Ronin having such a massive open world means that there are plenty of opportunities to interact with characters throughout the landscape. Whether it’s named side characters who task you with going places and doing things or world events that you can participate in, there’s always something to do. These often serve as ways to get players to check out different areas of the map, and in a setting like Japan, there’s always something to see.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate thrived here because the side missions were given the likes of Alexander Graham Bell or Charles Dickens. AC Red will likely be no different, having many of the major characters be historical figures or people of importance. Not only do these missions tie the whole world together, but they make for perfect ways to get a hang of the controls and learn your way around the map.
10. Breathtaking Graphics
As has come to be the standard for games released on the current generation of consoles, Assassin’s Creed Red is likely to be a great-looking game. It does have some competition to stack up against, however, with Ghost of Tsushima setting the precedent and Rise of the Ronin coming in a close second. Japan is a stunning country with a lot of beauty both natural and manmade, so there’s certainly no shortage of ways to make the game look great.
Assassin’s Creed Red will be charting territory that has only recently been thoroughly explored for the first time. While it remains at the limitation of current hardware, it should still offer the same graphics modes that Rise of the Ronin and even AC Mirage had. These allow you to choose between a higher FPS or a higher resolution, which can make a significant difference depending on who’s playing the game. Either way, technology has come so far that regardless of how you run it, it should still look great.
