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Ryse: The Cancelled First Person Brawler

• Christopher Mark Stahler
• December 16th, 2014

Ryse was not always the game that it was on the Xbox One. Back in the not so distant past, Ryse was actually an Xbox 360 game. It was also a first person action game. For those of you who have not played Ryse, it is a game that received mixed critical responses, but it was definitely 3rd person. Ryse has had some trouble finding footing as a game, with its mixed critical reception to its jump to PC, Ryse has had an off launch. What is interesting to hear though, is that Ryse was originally slated for the Xbox 360 and as a first person game. As Ryse does not seem like it would play too well from a first person standpoint. Ryse is a game with good graphics, but not so great gameplay mechanics, as it is an action titled marred down by Quick Time Action Events, which aren’t always so bad. Sadly in the case of Ryse: Son of Rome, I did not enjoy them.

Microsoft tried to bury this first person brawler, but Unseen64 has managed to dig the game’s forgotten past up. From concept art to the actual video linked above, it was an extremely different game. Maybe this played out in favor of Ryse, but who will know? As Ryse: Son of Rome is a thing, but the game described is not. The game had a rather uncertain future back in 2006, from the first person brawler to an MMO of monsters and sorcery. A look at the past of Ryse allows us to look at the interesting past of the game. This isn’t only for Ryse though, as games are constantly evolving and changing. It would be very interesting to see how games like Mass Effect, Kingdom Hearts, Assassin’s creed, and many others started out. Ryse shouldn’t be the only game with an interesting past and it would be incredible to see where many games started off from and where they landed.