Team Ninja’s PS5 Exclusive Rise Of The Ronin Gets Mature ESRB Rating

The upcoming role-playing title, Rise of the Ronin, has been rated Mature by the ESRB, which rates games and other forms of entertainment for age and content. The action-filled title is the latest addition to the already-packed portfolio of the Japanese video game-developing studio, Team Ninja. It is scheduled to be released on March 22 next year.

As evident from the Mature ESRB rating that Rise of the Ronin obtained, the game will feature uncensored gore and violence not foreign to other Team Ninja titles. As stated in the rating, the title is an open-world RPG which allows players to interact with their surroundings and, unlike previous Team Ninja games, they can kill civilians as well with no impact on their story progression.

Furthermore, this will allow players to fully experience the unabashed brutality of the “Bakumatsu” period during which the game is said to be set. This period marked the end of the Edo period in Japanese history, which witnessed unprecedented savagery, resulting in the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The title features very few fantastical elements leaning towards realism.

Moreover, taking away the fantastical elements makes the bloody dismemberments and decapitations even more grotesque. This sets Rise of the Ronin apart from other Team Ninja titles such as Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and the Nioh series. ESRB summarised the rating as follows,

Players use samurai swords, bladed spears, pistols, and flame throwers to kill thugs and ninjas in melee-style combat. Players also have the ability to kill civilians, with no impact on players’ progress. Some attacks result in decapitation and/or dismemberment, with large blood-splatter effects and dismembered body parts on the ground. Players’ finishing moves depict enemies being dismembered at close range. The word “sh*t” appears in the game.”

Rise of the Ronin is a PlayStation 5-exclusive open-world action RPG being developed by Team Ninja. The title had been in development since 2015 but wasn’t announced until September 2022. It is set in the Bakumatsu period which, as Team Ninja president Fumihiko Yasuda stated on the PlayStation Blog, is arguably the darkest period of Japanese history. As announced earlier this month, the game will be released on March 22, 2024.