Is Rise of the Ronin Still Worth Your $69.99 on PS5 in 2025?
The Rise of the Ronin is an open-world action-RPG for PlayStation 5 created by Team NINJA (of Nioh and Ninja Gaiden fame), released in March 2024. In mid-2025, it’s still priced at $69.99 on the PS5.
As someone who’s played a lot of action RPGs and spent a lot of hours immersed in Rise of the Ronin, I want to help new players decide if this game is worth diving into now or should you wait. Over a year later, does this PS5 exclusive justify its premium price?
What You’re Stepping Into
Even if you are completely new to samurai adventures, Rise of the Ronin will feel top-notch in its presentation. The game is an open-world action RPG set during Japan’s Boshin War in the late Bakumatsu period in the 1860s. The story blends historical drama with intense action-RPG mechanics.
The story lets you create a ronin, a masterless samurai, who visits Yokohama, Edo and Kyoto. The players have to make choices – either your character supports the shogunate, sides with rebels, or goes own way. Your choices affect the story’s progression and how it unfolds.
Because the game let me tweak difficulty mid-play and pause whenever I needed, I never felt overwhelmed. This was quite unlike the experience I had with the Ghost of Tsushima.
For those who like team play there is an optional three-player co-op and adjustable difficulty settings, so it’s not locked to one playstyle.
Gameplay & Combat Systems
The combat combines swordplay, firearms, and stance-based actions. You can use the weapons to block, dodge, parry, and switch stances mid-fight using katanas, spears, bayonets, and odachis, each with unique fighting styles. The core mechanic revolves around precise parries in close combat scenarios.
At first, I stuck to easier guns and simple sword attacks. But slowly as my confidence grew, I started mixing stances—light sword, heavy hits, mid-range firearms for balance.
The experience feels strategic without being punishing. There are memorable duels against historical figures like Commander Matthew Perry which demand mastery of weapons.
Team Ninja has released nine updates in a little over a year. One big patch, 1.09.0.4 fixed major performance issues and bugs, particularly stuttering and loading problems. That meant fewer interruptions and smoother battles over time.
Story & World Immersion
Your story depends on who you support in the civil war and these choices shape multiple endings. I appreciated how historical figures pop in, but the game never feels like a history lesson.
Each city feels alive. Walking through street vendors, noticing daily routines in NPCs, or stumbling on small side quests adds depth.
The bond missions are fun and I felt rewarded by getting closer to the characters, and the rewards were tangible in game stats.
Visuals, Performance, and PS5 Features
There are two possible modes on PS5. You can choose between:
- Performance Mode: Targets 60 FPS but dips to 40–50 FPS.
- Graphics/Ray Tracing Mode: Higher detail but unstable 30 FPS
The DualSense support is impressive. Haptic feedback adds life to sword clashes, gunshots, and even footsteps. I could feel subtle differences in terrain or weather. Adaptive triggers added weight to actions—drawing a bow or firing a rifle felt more tactile.
Another big plus is that the PS5’s SSD makes reload times nearly invisible – just eight seconds and you are back in the game. The April patch has trimmed a lot of visual hitches, reduced pop-in, and made performance more reliable.
In online forums, some players feel that while visuals are rich the execution feels dated. But I thought the visuals brought more immersion than many other open-world games.
Ongoing Support & Community
Team Ninja keeps supporting the game. The Steam release in March 2025 brought graphics choices like “Prioritize FPS” or “Prioritize Graphics,” benefiting PS5 stability too. If a bug was found, PS5 got its fix the same day.
Co-op works well. I rarely waited more than a minute to join another player during weekends.
New Game+ unlocks better loot and lets me replay with a different build easily, making replay worth it because it feels fresh, not grindy.
Content, Value & Pricing
My first run took around 50 hours. Jumping into another run adds about 15–20 hours with new gear and story routes. No microtransactions, no pay-to-win—just the full game with continued polish.
At full price, it’s fair when compared to other big single-player titles in 2025. But buying during sales with 30% off Deluxe editions will make this deal even sweeter when you’re ready.
Who Should Play (and Who Should Wait)
Should you buy Rise of the Ronin? In mid-2025, the answer hinges on player priorities:
Play it now if you:
- Enjoy mastering sword and gun combos
- Like story games with multiple endings
- Want a polished co-op experience with friends
Wait (or skip) if you:
- Demand a locked 60 fps experience
- Prefer huge multiplayer worlds over solo/co-op
- Don’t want to pay full price
Verdict—Still a Sharp Cut in 2025
As a gamer, I played, died, learned, and kept coming back. Rise of the Ronin offers satisfying, stance-based combat, a well-realized historical world, and strong DualSense immersion.
Critics may point out occasional frame drops, visual pop-ins, and an overloaded inventory system. However, over time, I found these issues manageable, and most were improved by updates. The game will definitely appeal strongly to those seeking a traditional RPG experience. The combat feels smooth, the design is great, and the world is full of color and charm.
If you’re into samurai action and don’t mind a few rough edges, this game is still excellent in 2025. Grab it on sale, and you’ll get a rewarding adventure that has grown stronger since day one. You can buy Rise of Ronin for the cheapest prices on the Official PlayStation 5 Store