SDCC 2013 Video Game Round-Up: ‘RYSE: Son of Rome’

RYSE: Son of Rome first made a splash at this year’s E3, and has since been put at the forefront with its companions as launch titles for the Xbox One. At SDCC, I had a chance to sit down with two minds behind RYSE and was able to gather information that is sure to be pleasing for all.

First, I’ll start with the game’s story. RYSE stars a hero set on revenge. The story takes place in the darkest days of Rome’s existence, and with his family dead, our hero has more than one reason to take his anger out on barbarians.

Battles in the game’s campaign will be historically accurate. For example, the battle shown at SDCC and E3 can be found in the history books and is commonly regarded as the “Roman D-Day”, due to its amphibious landing. With any luck, each battle will feel meaningful and worthwhile enough to look it up on Wikipedia once we’re done playing. I don’t know about you, but I did this after every mission when playing Call of Duty 2.

What we saw during SDCC was a “small slice” of the final gameplay. It’s also worth noting that the demo, like many others, was in God Mode the entire time. It’s important to note that most of what we saw may change in the final product, and there’s one particular aspect to the game that will be gone by the time it hits store shelves. I’m talking about none other than those silly buttons that pop up above the enemies head to let you know what button to press in the midst of an execution. Sure, the animations look cool, but the seemingly mandatory quick-time event for every enemy was sure to get annoying after the tenth kill. I’m happy to report that those buttons will be removed in favor of adding skill and freedom to the game. Instead of dishing out the same combo over and over, players will have a choice on refilling their heath, receiving a damage boost, or increasing their focus depending on what combo they choose to do and how well they complete said combo. This, coupled with the fact that the demo was in God Mode and difficulty on Easy is sure to quell some fears about RYSE‘s difficulty. Those who love difficulty will also like to hear that a “Nightmare” mode will be available at launch too. Details on that mode, as well as what exactly “focus” does in the game will be released at a later time.

The next thing covered was the SmartGlass integration. Through SmartGlass, gamers will have the oppertunity to glance at their friends “timeline” at any given time. Timeline is a feature in which your friends or yourself can view how much of the game or mission you have completed. It updates in real time. Timeline also serves as a strategy guide and will provide hints on the level in play. RYSE‘s SmartGlass integration will also allow gamers to view video of any kind associated with RYSE. These videos will be recorded via the Xbox One’s DVR feature. The best thing about this is that any achievement or challenging part in the game can be viewable via a friend who has already moved onto the next mission.

As for the Kinect functionality, RYSE will incorporate gestures and verbal commands in scenarios in which the hero must command other soldiers to complete a task. However, a Kinect is not mandatory and you may press buttons instead of doing gestures or voice commands (yay).

Later on, I had a chance to play RYSE myself. I was able to fight more enemies as time was not an issue. It was fun slicing enemies and severing arms, and conducting the voice commands. I can see myself trudging along in this game’s story upon release and am excited mostly for its Timeline feature. As a gamer who doesn’t regularly look forward to hack-and-slash titles, RYSE looks to set itself apart by featuring historical battles, freedom to kill how you want, and a challenging campaign. RYSE: Son of Rome is set to release on the Xbox One launch day.

Did you get a chance to play at SDCC this year? Let us know what you thought!