This is the final major choice in the Rise of the Ronin storyline. If you’ve been going back and forth (when possible) in choices this whole time, it’s time to choose your final path. This final decision will have you going to the Revolutionist or Shogunate Army Base to join one side in the upcoming battle.
Should You Pick the Revolutionist or the Shogunate Army?
As Ryoma isn’t around to help you weigh your options, this choice falls squarely on your shoulders. No matter how you have sided on every previous mission, you aren’t locked down to only one choice. As with all other choices in the game, this choice doesn’t change the ending but does affect how you experience the mission.
By this point, you have likely gathered just about every ally, so there’s no need to play this in a specific way for recruitment.
Also, the nice thing is if you ever go back to change your choice, the game lets you fast-travel to whichever army’s base, so you don’t have to get there on foot again.
Choosing the Revolutionist Army
If you choose to join the Revolutionists, Kogoro Katsura will recognize that your purposes aren’t exactly aligned if you have sided with the pro-Shogunate before but will still ask for your help. This mission is a lot like Ejiri Post, because you can sprint to the finish if you don’t get too shot up by the gun emplacements.
The mission starts with you on horseback. If your horse is agile enough, you should be able to get to the end without any problems. Before the main tent of their camp, you’ll be stopped by Soji Okita. After defeating him, you can advance to the main part of the camp, which will bring you into the final boss fight with Jules Brunet and Isami Kondo.
Despite expectations, your Blade Twin doesn’t appear regardless of your choice.
Choosing the Shogunate Army
This one is largely the full opposite of siding with the Revolutionists. You start where you fought Soji Okita, except you aren’t on horseback. However, you can summon your horse if you want to.
Not far before your destination, you must defeat Shinsaka Takasugi before you can progress. Then, you must take on Kogoro Katsura and Takamori Saigo for the final fight.
Despite your help defeating them, history overrules, and the pro-shogunate side loses. That loss causes the shogunate forces to retreat back into Edo for the last leg of the story.
The real answer to this guide is that it doesn’t make a difference; pick whatever makes you happy. Regarding difficulty, I believe the Shogunate side is easier, mainly due to the high chance of getting ripped up by the guns on the Revolutionist side. While the Shogunate side has cannons, they are easier to outmaneuver.
There’s no real reason to redo your choice and pick the other side unless you want to unlock those specific characters in the Dojo. Otherwise, you can stick to your choice without any reason to change.
Hopefully, this will help you decide between the Revolutionists and the Shogunate in Rise of the Ronin. Please ask us in the comments if you have any other questions about decisions we haven’t covered.
