Rebecca Wildman

One of my favorite games I’ve played to date. The legendary soundtrack composed by none other than Inon Zur was tense and emotional in all the right places, and nailed the time period it represented. The character creator had so many unique options that I loved, and the game has a vast array of outfits you can change into whenever. It was nice being able to play as a stylish AND kickass ronin lady. I enjoyed collecting all the cats, training at the dojos, and target practice. It was so satisfying to let an arrow fly into a barrel that exploded a bunch of targets. The world was filled with beautiful things that I’d stop to marvel at: flowering trees, sprawling vistas, mountains, waterfalls etc. I took every chance to use my glider to soar from one plateau or rooftop to the next. You also have a steed you can switch out and equip with different tacks. The combat was varied and fast-paced, and I enjoyed experimenting with different weapons and styles. There are different forms of assassination you can learn, and you can drop bombs while gliding. There are different skill trees where you earn general skill points and special skill points that coincide with the traits of strength, dexterity, charm, etc. You have some dialogue choices that become available as you learn to lie, persuade, or intimidate. Loved the performances from the voice actors; they even made sure each person’s accent related to their country of origin. Americans sounded like Americans, British like British, and the Japanese characters had Japanese accents (I played in English). The story kept me interested although I do agree allegiances didn’t make complete sense, i.e. you’d fight an ally out of nowhere or someone you just fought didn’t seem to mind. But as someone else said, that’s common in these fighting style games. It was cool that there was a romance element; it wasn’t too fleshed out, but that’s not really the focus of the game. In the future though, if Team Ninja does anything like it again, I wouldn’t mind seeing some romances that tie into the main story rather than all of it being rushed at the very end. That being said, I really do hope I see more like this from them! It was an experience that I miss now that it’s over. I’ll definitely be playing it again!

The one star reviews are from people who haven’t even bought or touched the game themselves and are just parroting the superficial criticisms they kept hearing online. They want any excuse for the game to fail and refuse to concede anything positive. That’s how you can tell if a review is disingenuous or not—if they’re mostly one note and lack nuance, like with the one star reviews. I won’t say it’s perfect (nothing usually is), but I’m genuinely enjoying the hell out of it. The scenes are so smooth they feel like you’re watching a movie, and combat is fluid and dynamic. You can create different builds, such as making a warrior built around takedowns, smash or strike damage, or flaming weapons. Exploration is so much better than I thought it would be. You can walk around cities and discover ways of platforming your way up to treasure as well as pick up extra side quests. The environments are incredibly detailed and gorgeous. I swear I’m living in photo mode. 😂 Your story choices have consequences and not everyone is happy with them. People make sensible and unique references to your background and race which I enjoyed listening to. One criticism is that the puzzles could stand to be more challenging, although I’ve had difficulty finding things which added some challenge. I guess the art style may not be for everyone but I got used to it and even endeared to it. Also some things you may miss out on if you proceed too quickly through story but I think some may like that! The pacing in the beginning is rather fast and I wish they’d taken a little more time to set things up with your character. The character creator has improved options, but it does admittedly have some limitations as well. Just play it for yourself and make your own judgement, that’s the best and most reasonable take I’ve seen. It’s a lot of fun for me and it’s very hard to make myself stop playing. I’m already planning my next playthrough! I really respect what BioWare has done here.

No matter what (nitpicky imo) issues the game has, it doesn’t deserve the massive one-dimensional dumping of all the one-star reviews. I wasn’t even aware of these microtransactions everyone is bemoaning and I’ve gotten around just fine. Nothing’s been shoved in my face at all. Tons of equipment you can upgrade like in the first one, several dynamic areas to explore like caves, towers, forests, ruins, and swamps. Ox carts available for faster travel and campsites spread out in the world to rest for free. Fun battle system with interesting abilities. It’s very satisfying and rewarding to defeat a large beast. The only thing I didn’t like was not having different save slots but that just means you have to pay attention to when you stay at an inn or your house(s) that you can buy and save often that way. I didn’t at first, but now I quite like problem solving and thinking ahead about inventory space and managing weight (pssst, hire pawns and have them help out!). You can also store your items at any inn, it’s universal. There are also these gold beetle things you find on trees that increase your carrying capacity. Not hard to get items and materials and gold; seeker’s tokens are understandably more challenging but still not unreasonable. I’ve really enjoyed myself a lot and am having a ton of fun!