Ryse: Son of Rome (Legendary Edition)

Description

Ryse: Son of Rome is an action-adventure game set in ancient Rome and follows the story of Marius Titus, a Roman soldier who seeks revenge against those who killed his family. The gameplay consists of sword-fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and quick-time events. The game also features a cooperative multiplayer mode where players can team up and fight against waves of enemies. This Legendary edition included a number with DLCs with the physical release. The game was also part of the early drive for Xbox One SmartGlass compatible titles that had a companion Apple or Android phone/tablet companion apps.

The title was initially released as an Xbox One exclusive in 2013 at the console’s launch. It was later released on PC in 2014. Retrospectively it was part of wave of initial cinematically driven titles that showed off the latest of generation of graphics. However, the cinematic presentation but understandably was criticised its repetitive gameplay and shallow story. I generally compare it to The Order: 1886, which released a couple years later as a PS4 exclusive title. Although they both shared a dated approach to cinematic gaming resulting in similar criticisms, The Order was broadly panned and painful to play where as Ryse is worth a casual revisit.