Rise of the Ronin is Assassin's Creed with killer combat
Plus, the best open world games you probably never played
Listen to this week’s episode
Team Ninja has been busy!
In the past five years, the studio released Dead or Alive 6, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Nioh 2, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Their latest game, Rise of the Ronin, compiles everything they learned into their most ambitious project: a sprawling open-world samurai adventure set in a recreation of mid-19th century Japan.
Rise of the Ronin takes the “something for everyone” approach, blending the exploration and loot systems of recent Assassin’s Creed games with the quick-reflex sword fighting of the studio’s Nioh series. This video game smoothie is quite delicious — if you can stomach the occasional funky chunk of game mechanics.
In the back half, we talk about our favorite underappreciated open-world games.
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This week on The Besties Bonus Patreon: This Tuesday, the Resties talk about The Saboteur, a forgotten open-world game in which an Irish pro racecar driver fights Nazis in an open-world recreation of occupied France! Plus, we share our other favorite forgotten games of the Xbox 360/PS3 era.
Games discussed:
![Steam Workshop::[The Godfather 2] Fredo Corleone, 45% OFF](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F286fc00e-734c-44e1-bbab-94770fbe9ed3_1280x720.jpeg "Steam Workshop::[The Godfather 2] Fredo Corleone, 45% OFF")
Rise of the Ronin, Gloomwood, Final Fantasy 14, World of Warcraft, Sleeping Dogs, Prototype, Infamous 2, The Godfather 2, Mad Max, Earth Defense Force, Balatro, Stardew Valley update 1.6
Movies discussed:
TV discussed:
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Next week on The Besties:
On next week’s The Besties: Dragon’s Dogma 2
On Tuesday’s The Resties: The Saboteur and the forgotten AAA games of the Xbox 360/PS3-era
Bonus links:
What video games do that you won’t find anywhere else
14 beginner’s tips before you start Dragon’s Dogma 2
The first Dragon’s Dogma predicted the future of good games
Sand Land is looking promising
“The Ultimate Dreamcast Gaming Jungle Mix 🌀 // 90s 00s DnB, Ambient, Intelligent, Acid House”
A Sufjan Stevens musical/dance performance is coming to Broadway!
Question for the Besties;
With the update 1.6 for Stardew Valley, adding mayonnaise we can finally eat, what are your all’s most stand out food/consumable in a video game?
Highly recommend Delicious in Dungeon, can’t recall if it’s been discussed on the show before or not. Reminds me a lot of the old indie game Battle Chef Brigade