Sony’s State of Play brought us many previews for anticipated games in the future, one of them being Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin. In the past, Team Ninja were heralded as one of the pillars of the action genre with the Ninja Gaiden series, and in more recent memory they’ve gotten some of their fire back in the form the Nioh series which is more in line with Dark Souls style gameplay (though there are very significant differences), specifically Nioh 2 which many proclaim as the pinnacle of the genre. Now, Team Ninja is back with a new IP but a familiar setting in Rise of the Ronin.

Rise of the Ronin is set during the 19th-century Bakumatsu era. Yokohama, which was one of the first ports opened to foreign countries, boasts a unique cityscape blending Japanese culture and Western influences.

So Rise of the Ronin could be considered a successor to Nioh in some respects, taking place in a pretty grounded setting based on actual history with actual historical figures, this time a couple hundred years after the warring samurai events of Nioh 2.

Rise of the Ronin has expanded on its exploration from its contemporaries though, as shown in the trailer, the main character uses a grappling hook to leap onto British inspired buildings and jumps off them, gliding with a kite named ‘the Avicula’ strapped to his back, before falling onto a horse for faster ground travel. This emphasis on open world as well as vertical exploration is likely the next evolution in Team Ninja’s almost perfect combat formula, rounding out the rather linear nature of their previous games with some more meat between encounters.

New Rise of the Ronin gameplay showcases precision swordplay, liberating traversal, and the impact of player choice.

Team Ninja’s open-world epic arrives March 22 on PS5: https://t.co/Bcj8GYiDp5 pic.twitter.com/exx1mRPX8j

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) January 31, 2024

Not that the combat has taken a back seat, this is Team Ninja after all. The short bits of combat we see are very inspiring, showing off a menu system similar to Nioh’s in the trailer, complete with what appears to be a posture system straight from Sekiro or Team Ninja’s own Wo Long to open enemies up to high damage grapple moves. It remains to be seen if the system is as deep as Nioh 2’s, Wo Long unfortunately faced a lot of well deserved criticism for not making a combat system as deep as Nioh 2 was, so hopefully Team Ninja have taken those criticisms to heart as they move forward with what appears to be the biggest endeavor the studio has ever pursued.

Rise of the Ronin will release on March 22^nd of this year, as a Playstation 5 exclusive. Hopefully that won’t last though, and those on other platforms can enjoy Team Ninja’s latest dive into the action genre soon enough.