Ryse presents the foundation of an epic, multi-year revenge story, yet another element no doubt inspired by God of War, but doesn’t effectively capitalize on it. There are shades of intrigue and commentary on what we understand of the historic Roman Empire, a decent narrative device of Marius recounting the game’s story to the emperor that he is protecting from siege, and there’s even a good chunk of deep, complex personalities throughout the game that are actually surprisingly well-done!
This is most noticeable with the Briton villains, whose leaders aren’t just bloodthirsty brutes and shallow antagonists. They’re effectively portrayed as human beings with real concerns and real depth, and it’s about the best that Ryse’s story effectively achieves, giving you villains that aren’t just cartoonishly evil sword fodder for Marius to cut down en masse.
Later in the game however, the plot really starts to fall apart. The scenarios become more outlandish, the blatant disregard for real historical accuracy becomes all the more noticeable, and by the last couple of chapters, players will just be scratching their heads as to what’s going on. There’s suspension of disbelief for the sake of a video game, and then there’s just throwing up your hands and doing whatever because the mandatory launch window is closing in.
Crytek’s priorities were clearly not with the storyline, which feels as half-baked as the gameplay. Like the gameplay, the plot is functional without being exceptional, and intriguing without being interesting.
Early in the game, when Marius is recounting his family being murdered by the Britons, he mentions a mythical hero called Damocles, who was betrayed by his cowardly commanders and left to die, revived as a spirit of vengeance by the goddess of revenge, Nemesis. When Marius is entrusted the supposed dagger of Damocles by his father, it’s an obvious tease that Marius himself becomes the avatar of Damocles later in the game, or so it’s stated by Nemesis, who interacts with Marius as a deus ex machina figure whenever the plot gets backed into a corner.
Ryse attempts to present an interpretive argument about whether the Roman Empire and its many campaigns were just games by the Roman gods, amusing themselves by pitting various mortal forces against one another. Unfortunately, it fails, because the otherwise acceptable writing really starts to come apart towards the end, making the divine element of the story feel very confusing and frustrating to sort out.
This arc also does a dis-service to Marius, otherwise a serviceable protagonist, by drawing yet more attention to the game copying the story structure of God of War. Like Kratos, Marius is a pawn of the gods who are using his desire for violence for their own personal ends. It’s as if Crytek wrote half a plot, then just looked at what God of War did for the other half.
It’s a shame, because the foundation of the story and its resolution is sound, but the execution is really faulty, especially later in the game.
Ryse: Son of Rome was already a visual standout on Xbox One, but its graphics are better than ever on high-end PC settings! With the PC version supporting 4K resolution, along with boasting improved shading and performance, this could potentially be one of the most gorgeous video game experiences realized to date on any platform!
… But with that said, the same shallow gameplay drags down the experience, and Ryse: Son of Rome still feels far too much like a tech demo that too often takes control away from the player, even in its supposedly improved PC build. You can play with either a gamepad or the keyboard (the former is definitely preferred), and all of the expected Steam features, including Steam Achievements, are present, but that doesn’t matter when the actual gameplay experience still feels so lightweight. At the very least though, those asinine microtransactions that Microsoft put into the Xbox One version are completely absent on PC.
Oh, and as for the PC-exclusive Survival Mode, it’s not that enjoyable. Even with the pressing demand of your health constantly draining if you don’t kill foes, the same hamstrung, quick-time event-driven combat kills any appeal that this mode may have had. Since the same issue drags down the multiplayer, the pack-in DLC is also largely worthless.
Predictably, the system requirements for Ryse: Son of Rome are astronomical to boot, and even devout PC gamers probably won’t be able to get the game to run at full specs without sinking a bunch of money into improving their rigs. It’s at least being sold at a slight discount on Steam compared to the original Xbox One version, for $44.99, but this still feels too pricey for a short, shallow game that just feels like a big heap of window dressing overall.
If you like to flex your PC’s muscle, and haven’t yet played the Xbox One version, consider grabbing Ryse: Son of Rome if you have a powerful PC, and you can snag it for dirt cheap during a Steam Sale. Otherwise, it’s really not worth the effort to grab on PC.
From a technical standpoint, Ryse is a stunning launch title that proves the Xbox One’s potential better than any other game to release alongside the console. It’s very beautiful, very polished, and comes with no shortage of great ideas for a much-needed new Microsoft IP to beef up the Xbox brand’s roster of exclusives.
On the other hand however, Ryse is a disappointing slog of missed potential from a gameplay standpoint. It somehow manages to make brutal, gory combat feel dull, and it somehow manages to make gorgeous, dynamic environments feel constrained and tiresome to trudge through. It just digs itself even deeper with missing multiplayer modes that have to be patched in later, and that’s not even mentioning the completely unnecessary and completely shameless microtransactions peppering the whole thing.
Ryse has merit, since it’s still a promising idea that does a good job of demonstrating the Xbox One’s capabilities, but a $60 price tag is just way too much for a game this shallow and short. Like Knack, Ryse will be more worth checking out when it drops to the neighbourhood of about $15-$20. Otherwise, it’s overpriced, especially when you have games like Forza Motorsport 5 and Dead Rising 3 that offer players much meatier and much more rewarding play experiences that are still exclusive to Xbox One.
Ryse is an IP that Microsoft and Crytek should absolutely keep pursuing and tinkering with. It deserves sequels, and it deserves more completely-realized final products.
For now however, Ryse merely presents lots of window dressing for early Xbox One adopters and not much else. The console already has several better gameplay experiences that do a much better job of justifying a $60 price tag, and it’s only getting more as the months go on.