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Ryse: Son of Rome originally debuted roughly a year ago on the Xbox One. It was hailed as a gorgeous game hampered by a near complete lack of actual gameplay. Fast forward to October 2014 with Ryse's PC debut and here we have an even more gorgeous looking game with gameplay that is linear, repetitive, and full of quick time events.
I really will not go into too many details here since this game is a year old now, but I will shine a light on some of the improvements made to the PC version of the game. The obvious one here is that the game is capable of running at resolutions higher than 900p and at a framerate greater than 30. However, as this is a CryEngine title, you will need some beefy hardware to maximize the game's visuals.
Plenty of visual options. Oddly enough, the controller shows the Xbox One controller even when using an Xbox 360 controller.
If you are able to max out the visual settings you will most certainly be in for a special treat. Ryse is easily one of the best looking games out there, though it's not without faults. Some character animations look a bit awkward, including a few canned animations for when you kill enemies with a ranged weapon. The fire effect also came across as a bit odd. Not only did it look terrible in comparison to the other effects in the game but it also looked like the animation was playing at half speed for some reason.
The gameplay essentially boils down to: Run down a linear path, face off against some enemies, make use of a quick time event to kill a handful of them to regain health or earn bonus experience, and repeat in a new area 15 feet away. It is a very simple, linear experience. Hell, I have no issues with letting you know that the entire final encounter is a literal quick time event hallway. It's literally a hallway that you do nothing but quick time button press your way through. You don't even control the walking, it's done for you.
I'm going to QTE you so hard!
Interestingly, it's not really possible to fail the quite time events in Ryse. The harshest penalty for not being successful is that it doesn't reward you with as much bonus health or bonus experience. You can literally hit the wrong button, or even no button at all when prompted, and it will still play the kill animation without any variance.
On top of the game being a linear, QTE filled experience, it's also quite short. According to Steam, I beat the game in a little over five hours on normal difficulty. This total includes time spent finding a handful of the game's collectables, taking time to snap a number of screenshots, and re-do a few parts where I died or the game locked up on me. The section where the game locked up on me has reportedly been fixed in a patch released earlier today (Saturday).
I briefly looked into the game's multiplayer component, but it is only a wave based mode where you and a buddy take on waves of enemies. This mode takes place in an arena with constantly changing tile sets to make it seem like you're in various locations from the game. However, as the case was with the single player experience, the gameplay quickly turns into repetitive quick time events without the added benefit of a cohesive narrative experience.
Then again, the story in Ryse's single player game was also a bit questionable. It certainly took some interesting twists that I was not really expecting but that is about the highest praise I can give it.
Ryse: Son of Rome is priced at $39.99 (USD) on the PC. Is it a bit overpriced for what it offers? Absolutely. However, if you know that you will play through the story multiple times or dive head first into the game's multiplayer component, that $40 price tag may be a bit more appetizing. Or maybe you want to get it just to take some gorgeous looking screenshots. That's perfectly fine, I won't judge. I did find some enjoyment during my brief time with Ryse and it certainly wasn't a terrible game, but when the best thing about your game are the visuals and not the gameplay, that's never a good sign.
| Positives |
| + Gorgeous looking game |
| + Fun if you have a few hours to kill and just want a fairly generic action game to tide you over |
| Negatives |
| - Very linear |
| - The entire game is essentially a prolonged quick time event |
| - Very repetitive |
| - Some animations and effects look poor, especially in comparison to the otherwise gorgeous graphics |
| - Very short (~5 hours long for the campaign) |
| - Mutliplayer is just a wave-based, arena/horde mode |
Title: Ryse: Son of Rome
Platforms: PC, Xbox One (reviewed on PC)
Website: http://www.crytek.com/games/ryse/overview
ESRB Rating: M for Mature 17+ for blood, gore, intense violence, partial nudity, sexual content, and strong language.