Ryse: Son of Rome Review (Kess1987)
Gorgeous, magnificent game in nearly all their aspects.
Visuals:
Absolutely stunning even today (2022), the facial animations, scenarios, textures, illumination, everything is on top level. Unfortunately the Crytek engine is not so well optimized and with a mid-high end PC (i7-8700K+RTX3070), I can barely get 60fps at 1440p with all settings on ultra. Aside of that, this game from 2014 is still substiantially better than lots of modern games.
Levels like Rome are amazingly impressive with every little detail greatly recreated, the ambientation and the feeling to be there are completely achieved. Full gore, decapitations and all the crudity of the Roman era adds even a more spectacular atmosphere.
Story:
Great plot with only few inconsistences but overall a good "movie" feeling through all the levels. Impressive acting and voicing, nice forward-back moments and the way the puzzle pieces are connecting near the end it's great and it totally implies the player with the story of the main character (Marcus), a good man who has to face lots of challenges and betrayals in the ancient Rome. The transitions and story telling between the different levels are amazing aswell.
Gameplay:
Let's put this straight: It's repetitive as hell. Basic gameplay is to advance through a corridor scenario (beautifully recreated, yes, but so closed and tight aswell), facing the same enemies again and again and again and again (unfortunately there are few different enemy models/behaviours). You'll find yourself totally surrounded and fighting the same "battles". But there is the executions mechanic whilst pretty simple, it's entertaining and has spectacular movements which you can unlock and practice for a full gore experience, and that luckily adds some variety.
Also there is some fresh air in the mechanics from time to time like the formation management, which is great and really immersive, ballista firing, and the bosses, all of them are great but it's easy to learn their weak points and finish them, also the final boss it's not as spectacular as the rest of the game, it feels a bit like an last hour "addition".
Overall
Pretty solid game that deserves at least a full playthrough, specially which its price nowadays. Totally underrated by the press at its launch, I've paid 4 EUR for it on sale and it's probably cheaper on key, so it's a total bargain and I do totally recommend it for a few afternoon's entertainment.