$12.99RONIN Turn-based swordplay, bullet-time by another name
Plot each leap and blade strike in frozen time, stalking five corporate targets through a cyberpunk city.
Is RONIN worth it?
RONIN is worth it if…
- you like planning a fight one move at a time instead of reacting in real time
- you enjoy stealth games where a clean, unspotted run is its own reward
- you want a tough game that lets you die, rewind and read the room again
- you have a soft spot for pixel art, chiptune-flavoured soundtracks and old-school 2D design
- you prefer a short, sharp campaign over a long one
Screenshots
Time stops when you are spotted
Sneak around in real time, and the moment a guard notices you, everything freezes. Now it is turn-based: you see the red lines where every gun will fire next, and you get one move before the enemies act. Jump along walls, swing on your grappling hook to a better position, or dash in with the katana. One hit kills you, so the whole fight becomes a puzzle of where to land so no line touches you. Land on a guard to knock him down, finish him mid-air, and the energy you gain sets up the next dodge. When a plan comes together, each kill feels like the last beat of a choreographed scene.
A shadow's toolkit
Before a fight starts, you have options. Crawl along ceilings, hang a guard from above, or throw your sword across the room. A holographic replicator draws attention away from your approach, and the razor wire and blade handle anyone who gets too close. Each mission has three objectives, and clearing all of them in one run earns a skill point, so the cleanest, quietest run is also the one that makes you stronger. Some of those perfect runs are genuinely hard: no alarms, every enemy down, civilians left alone. The game is difficult, and it expects you to die, learn the room, and try again.
What should you know before starting?
How long is the game?
The campaign runs about fifteen missions, and a single run takes most people somewhere around eight hours. There is a new game plus mode with harder enemy behaviour, two endings, and the three-objective perfect runs to chase, but this is a compact game rather than a long one. Come for the combat puzzles, not for hours of content.
How hard is it, really?
Hard. You die in one hit, some rooms demand near-perfect execution, and a few sections take repeated attempts to solve. Checkpoints are frequent, so a failed run usually costs a couple of minutes rather than a whole level. If you bounce off tough puzzle-combat quickly, this will test your patience.
Should you play with a keyboard or a controller?
Keyboard and mouse. The jump arc is aimed with the mouse, and people who finished the game generally recommend skipping the controller entirely. The controls take some getting used to either way, so expect a short awkward phase before the jumps start landing where you meant them to.
