Ryse: Son of Rome

Set in ancient Rome circa 68 A.D, this third-person action game follows Marius Titus as he sets out to avenge his fallen family. Developed by Crytek as an exclusive Xbox One launch game.

Overview

Marius and his commander, Vitallion.
Marius and his commander, Vitallion.

Ryse: Son of Rome is an action game developed by Crytek for Xbox One and PC. First revealed at Microsoft's E3 2010 press conference under the name Codename: Kingdoms, it was initially designed for the Xbox 360 as a Kinect exclusive. After this first unveiling, not much was heard about it until a reimagined version of the game resurfaced at E3 2013 as an Xbox One launch title. Most of the Kinect features had been dropped (with the exception of some voice commands) in favour of a more standard controller-based action game.

The retail version of the game was published by Deep Silver whereas the digital versions are published by Crytek themselves. The PC version of the game which included all of the released DLC and support for 4k resolution was released on October 10th, 2014.

Ryse was the first game to utilize the 4th generation CRYENGINE which boasted being capable of rendering more than 100 characters on-screen at any given time and character models being indistinguishable between cutscenes and gameplay.

Story

Set in an alternative historic ancient Rome circa 68 A.D, the story follows Roman soldier Marius Titus and begins with Marius leading the Roman defense against an oncoming barbarian attack led by Boudica (the barbarian leader). At the offset of the game Marius hands a small package to ally with instructions to display its contents from an elevated position before proceeding to secure the Roman emperor Nero by guiding him to his personal safe room. While journeying along a secret passageway to the safe room with the emperor, Nero employs Marius to tell him his soldier's story at which point the game enters an extended flashback sequence telling Marius story up until this point.

After barbarians murders his family, Marius will rise and build an army to take revenge against the barbarian horde.

Gameplay

Gladiator: Blood Brothers [Cooperative]

Battle in the Colosseum.
Battle in the Colosseum.

RYSE will feature a coop mode set in a Colosseum. The Gladiator: Blood Brothers mode will pit two players against hordes of barbarians. Players must survive waves of enemies and complete the given objective. Enemy varieties are randomized with every match. The usual match will last between 10 to 30 minutes.

Kinect Integration

With Kinect a player can give optional voice commands to units in the battlefield, launch fire suppressing arrows, or hold off incoming attacks.

Smartglass Integration

Smartglass will give the player the ability to manage inventory, to strategize when in battle and give players access to character upgrades. Users can track friend's games progress, share video clips with friends, and smart match with friends in multiplayer. Hints and in-game tips are given to the player, with achievement integration. Players' collectible progress will be tracked along with the campaign progress.

Release

Standard Edition ($59.99)

The regular edition of the game without the content listed below.

Day One Edition ($59.99) Limited Release

As part of Xbox One's launch lineup, Ryse is participating in the Day One Edition program along with Dead Rising 3 and Forza Motorsport 5. A Day One edition gave access to:

  • Legionnaire's Trust Exclusive Sword that includes bonus in-game attributes.
  • Ruins - Columns of an abandoned temple, Ruin will pit players against hordes of barbarians. Day One owners can invite friends who own the standard edition.

PC System Requirements

Minimum

  • OS: Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 or Windows 8 (64bit)
  • Processor: Dual core with HyperThreading technology or quad core CPU
  • Examples: Intel Core i3 2.8 GHz (3220T) or AMD Phenom II X4 3.2 GHz (945)
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: DirectX 11 graphics card with 1 GB video RAM
  • Examples: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or AMD Radeon HD 7770
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Hard Drive: 26 GB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX compatible Sound Card with latest drivers

Recommended

  • OS: Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 or Windows 8 (64bit)
  • Processor: Quad Core or Six Core CPU
  • Examples: Intel Core i5 3.3 GHz (2500k) or AMD FX-6350 3.9 GHz
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: DirectX 11 graphics card with 2 GB video RAM
  • Examples: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660Ti or AMD Radeon 260x or 7850
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Hard Drive: 26 GB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX compatible Sound Card with latest drivers

Recommended for 4K

  • OS: Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7, or Windows 8 (64 bit)
  • Processor: Quad Core or Eight Core CPU
  • Examples: Intel Core i7 3.5 GHz (2700k) or AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: DirectX 11 graphics card with 4 GB video RAM
  • Examples: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780/ Titan or AMD Radeon 290x
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Hard Drive: 26 GB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX compatible Sound Card with latest drivers