Under the Radar Games: Ryse Son of Rome

Testudo

Enter Ryse: Son of Rome. Yes, the same Ryse: Son of Rome that was one of the flagship exclusives for the Xbox One launch.

Since its launch and less-than-steller reception though, Ryse found a new start as a PC port in October 2014. The port remains the same as the Xbox version save for its graphical limitations. Whereas Ryse capped at 30 frames per second and 900p on the Xbox One, the PC version supports 4k viewing and 60 frames per second.

However, given this is an Under the Radar segment and not a video on PC specs, let's go back to the topic at hand, the game itself.

Swift

Ryse is a Herculean amalgam of a mindless hack-and-slash violently juxtaposed against cinematic gore. It's as if the developers took the fun, repetitious combat of a Dynasty Warriors game and threw in Russel Crowe from Gladiator to froth together a precise, brutal video game of visceral combat and a sea of lost limbs.

Throughout the campaign and multiplayer modes, this four-button fighter pits the player against hordes of barbarians. Combat in Ryse, similar to the Batman Arkham series, is handled through strikes, counterattacks and finishers. But where Batman only knocks out his enemies, the foes found on the other end of the blade are efficiently cut down. Executions are brutal galleries of pain. Each strike holds its weight as limbs are cut and flesh is pierced in slow motion. There's an epic, yet simple satisfaction reveling in Ryse's combat and battle finishers.

Down

Ryse's narrative doesn't bring anything new to the industry. However, contained in the package of what the game is, Marius' RISE to revenge spells an exciting adventure through his campaigns as a Roman soldier. One segment, especially, proved thrilling and absolutely fantastic because it adopted much of the brilliant arena-moments of the movie Gladiator to Ryse.

Intervention

The narrative also lingers between the realm of men and gods. This inclusion of deities, along with striking a chord in my heart of literature, sculpts Ryse to be very Homeric and classical. Instead of a bland tale of revenge, Ryse orchestrates a thematic narrative driven by personal desire. 

Now whether those desires loom from the Ceaser, the main character Marius, or even the barbarian king, Oswald, Ryse cements how much humankind strives to choke every advantage it can receive despite the costs.

The characters in Ryse, like the myth of Sisyphus, the boulder and the mountain, are eternally lost between what they set to achieve and actually fulfilling their goals. The game tells a story much bigger than personal desire, and the characters who remain blind to this are punished like those in the ancient Greek tragedies.

Cut

Ryse is absolutely brilliant in its aesthetics of brutality and its execution of themes. Combat is simple, but stylish, visceral and fun. Marious' epic unfolds as a quest for personal revenge, but also expands beyond mortal boundaries to create a much more mythical narrative on the human condition. The initial release of Ryse bore witness to a game that was deemed to repetitive without much of a striking plot. However, I feel Ryse basks in its glorious combat and thematic narrative without exceptions, thus landing it as a perfect contender to be an Under the Radar Game.