Rise of the Ronin’s reception has been mostly positive, but more often than not, fans end up making comparisons to a game that came before and set a high bar for samurai/sword-based combat games. Ghost of Tsushima may have lacked a multiplayer experience at the very beginning but added it later to make the most of its existing gameplay loops.
One feature that could have made Rise of the Ronin shine above all was the co-op experience. Unfortunately, even with the promise of being a skill-demanding journey, it lacks the components that could have made it great. And Ghost of Tsushima 2 will need to take notes from it.
Why Rise of the Ronin’s Co-op Feels Lacking
At its core, Rise of the Ronin has combat that slices up its completion in several parts, making the best of melee mechanics that come out of some of the best gameplay design choices in recent times. If you’re playing the game solo, you’ll probably spend a lot of time mastering certain movesets and making the best of your blade.
Even though this carries over to the co-op experience, the overall quality of quest design and open-endedness simply doesn’t match the standards of its single-player playthrough. At best, you’ll be spending a few hours playing very specific missions while not really experiencing the game’s promising open world.
User irgei on X shares this sentiment pretty strongly.
The lackluster co-op experience may put a dent in what’s otherwise a great game, but fans can’t be blamed when the title is an open-world adventure and the multiplayer bit of it isn’t. It’s not all bad, though. Rise of the Ronin does a lot of things well, and now the hype is going to be carried over towards the wait for a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima.
How Ghost of Tsushima 2 Can Learn From This
The success of Ghost of Tsushima can be credited to a lot of things. The objective markers were almost nonexistent; instead, winds would guide you. The combat felt personal and punishing. The story was heartfelt, with characters who often felt morally ambiguous.
The success of the base game called for an expansion, as well as a co-op feature added to the mix. Ghost of Tsushima: Legends would let players experience this expansive world together, but limited itself in its own problematic ways. Fortunately, with the failure of Rise of the Ronin’s multiplayer aspect, Ghost of Tsushima 2 can make the open world much richer with co-op.
Instead of making specific zones, enemies, and quests for multiplayer, it can open up the entire space for players to explore. Perhaps even the campaign itself. Something that the Borderlands games do pretty well.
Do you think the game will incorporate co-op into its open world? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.