you should know that God of War y Gears of War They don’t have a monopoly on wilder violence and gore. There is a highly undervalued jewel that can look at these two great franchises from face to face with only one video game available. It was released on November 22, 2013 for Xbox One (2014 on PC) and in a few months it will be 10 years old. His name is Ryse: Son of Rome.
I do not want to dislike you or close the publication because I hate you, but poor those people who have not had the pleasure of enjoying this installment of Crytek, responsible for the saga Crysis y Hunt: Showdown. In my case, I played it a few more years later on my old PCPatata and have racked up two-three games since adding it to my Steam library.
A few days ago, while installing The Isle to play with some friends, I bumped into again Ryse: Son of Rome. I searched for a video of all his runs to kill time until the installation was done. That’s when I realized that this year is a decade old and I thought it was time to replay it on my current PC, which is a real nuclear power plant. It is my pride and satisfaction.
USE: This post has NO SPOILERS for the story of Ryse: Son of Rome, although it DOES have descriptions and images of its settings
Ryse: Son of Rome, a savagery way ahead of its time
It is not necessary to spend several hours to realize that Ryse: Son of Rome it was way ahead of its time visually. It is true that it cannot be compared to some of the most powerful games on PS5, Xbox Series X / S and PC, but believe me when I tell you that has aged very well and that at the time it was absolute madness.
the adventure of Marius Titus, a general of the legions of Rome, doesn’t mess around and jumps right into a siege of a Roman city by the barbarians. The battle looks incredible and the setting couldn’t be better achieved, but the combat which makes many players drop their jaws.
Its combat system is based on the blockade with the praetorian shield and in performing Gladius sword combos. We can dodge, break the defense and carry out executions which are among the best I have seen in the history of video games. We are talking about a variety of compilation videos of executions that last from 8 to 12 minutes.
And the executions are not carried out by themselves after activating them like in Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla or Saints Row. Ryse: Son of Rome follow the system of executions God of War con quick time events and it gives it a twist to make it look better: the bodies of the enemies are painted in the color of the Xbox controller buttons and we have to press correctly several times to carry out the execution successfully. But there is more! Can group multiple enemies (3-4) who are ready to perform a run and activate a single group run.
The defense of the Roman city is an epic welcome, but nothing to do with what awaits us in the next mission: a siege of a fortress which begins with a landing and which includes leading our legions in turtle formation. We must order when to advance, throw the spears and take cover with the shields. this is where Ryse: Son of Rome
The mechanic of the turtle formation is repeated several times throughout the adventure, although I would dare to say that it is not as epic as when we used it on the beach to advance the siege of the fortress. Crytek could have been a lot more abusive, but I think they knew where to put these moments.
After Rome and the fortress on the beach, we move on to the thick woods of york in one of the many battles that the Roman Empire carried out to conquer territory. Here certain mystical and religious elements begin to be introduced, although luckily they rarely take on as much importance as in God of War, for example. Ryse: Son of Rome it always stays closer to what we could consider real within fiction.
After the skirmish in York, which leads us to fight in an aqueduct under construction, history begins to reveal to us the not so honorable and more corrupt face of Rome. After many doubts, unintelligent decisions by the high command and an incitement to the barbarians beyond our means, the Roman legions lose the battle during an assault and we are left. abandoned to our fate.
Without going into spoilers, suffice it to say that a treason
Our return to Rome as an avenger has a bitter tone, for we do so as an ancient hero hated by his homeland. Despite these circumstances and the state of the city, the visual section of Ryse: Son of Rome reaches its zenith. Not even Assassin’s Creed has managed to show such a beautiful Rome. And yes, the Colosseum is more than just a monument in this adventure. I will not say anything else.
I’m aware of Ryse: Son of Rome is not perfect: He can be repetitive for some people and his combat can feel a little stiff (he’s 10 years old, let’s remember). Beyond that, it’s all good news: the story is really cool, the visuals are absolutely insane (even today) and the combat is the most badass thing you’re going to throw at your face. And the story lasts for 6 horitas!
By now, it won’t come as a surprise that I highly recommend adding it to your library, be it and Steam or on your Xbox consoles. And if you don’t want to buy it, know that it is included in the Game Pass service. In other words: you have no excuse not to give this undervalued gem a chance. I’ve had a great time replaying it and it’s a shame PSN users can’t enjoy it.
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