Just as I arrive in Yokohama, one in every of Rise of the Ronin’s three main cities, I hear a smooth meowing within the distance. Spurred by what have to be the cutest of cats, I dash off within the path of the mews after I encounter a dilapidated bandit camp. I kill everybody there, not simply because the sport’s swordplay is incredible, however as a result of I so very desperately wanna pet the kitty. This has change into my obsession in Team Ninja’s latest RPG, and as a cat guardian myself, I consider this recreation—and this feline-hunting goal—will make cat lovers swoon.
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Rise of the Ronin is the upcoming action-adventure recreation by Nioh and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty developer Team Ninja. Coming out on March 22 for PlayStation 5, this open-world samurai RPG takes place throughout the Bakumatsu period, the tip of the Tokugawa Shogunate and insurance policies of cultural isolation that gave strategy to the modernization of Japan as we all know it. As a anonymous and masterless warrior, referred to as “ronin” within the Land of the Rising Sun, you’ll participate in key occasions throughout Japan’s late Nineteenth century, assembly traditionally pivotal figures, such because the American naval officer Matthew C. Perry and the anti-Shogunate nationalist Ryoma Sakamoto (yep, the identical man performed by Kazuma Kiryu in final 12 months’s Like A Dragon: Ishin). I’ve been having a good time with this politically charged story about revolution and upheaval at a time when a cholera outbreak sparked by an inflow of foreigners is plaguing the nation. Learning about historical past is nice and all, however the very best half may be scouring the world for cats.
Rise of the Ronin’s cats make you stronger
Felines are all over the place in Rise of the Ronin, simply kinda hanging out, doing cat stuff: cleansing, hissing, meowing, sleeping. Every one in every of them beckons you to seek out and pet them, although realizing cats, I’m certain they’d slightly be left alone. Regardless, whenever you do handle to get some snuggle time with these furbabies, you get some stable rewards in your troubles. For starters, it’s simply pure satisfaction and an exhilarating journey to trace down these felines both atop mountains, on the highway, in homes, and even deep inside enemy caves. By holding down R1 on the DualSense controller, you’ll be able to “pet” the cat, which provides you a brief petting animation because the digicam pulls into the loving embrace the 2 of you share. It’s adorably cute and heartwarming, significantly because the cat purrs and nestles its head into your cubital fossa (or the house between your arm and forearm). It’s sort of like coming home after an extended day and petting your cat. You labored onerous for this second, you realize?
Outside of the satisfaction of holding a (digital) cat, Rise of the Ronin rewards you for locating and petting them. Early on, you’ll encounter a feminine entertainer who has a specific affection for felines. This character sells all kinds of particular gadgets in change for silver cash, a foreign money you get by finishing open-world targets like discovering misplaced cats and searching down fugitives. You can purchase common old gear from her, like armor and weapons, and you can too buy stat-increasing scrolls to get expertise factors for the Charm attribute, which impacts your poise, Ki restoration, and luck stats. In this manner, finding the felines is each heartwarming and rewarding, making it a incredible methodology to develop stronger whereas filling your coronary heart with love.
There’s additionally some historic context for why finding these lacking cats strengthens your powers in Rise of the Ronin. As Smithsonian Magazine explained in a September 2020 post, cats have featured prominently in Japanese folklore for hundreds of years, starting from corpse-eating monsters to the ever present Maneki Neko (or “lucky cat”). But I’ve my very own suspicions for why Rise of the Ronin locations such an emphasis on discovering cats: We want them greater than they want us as they heat our souls and provides optimistic advantages all through our lifetimes. It’s candy.
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“What a relief it is to see even a small number of my beloved cats come back to me,” the service provider tells me early on in Rise of the Ronin. “I cannot imagine a life without them…To feel their weight upon my lap is enough to raise my spirits.” I really feel the identical approach when my cat, Loquacious “Loki” Winslow, decides I can pet him—however simply this one time. There’s one thing about their furry coats, their ticklish whiskers, their sharp claws, their lovely meows, that raises my spirits when issues get powerful. And issues are powerful in Rise of the Ronin, in a interval marked by political turmoil and wanton bloodshed. We might all stand to pet the kitty now and again, particularly if it makes us stronger alongside the way in which.
