For a game that hasn’t come out yet, Ryse: Son of Rome has its share of fans and critics. It has inspired both love and scorn as one of the launch titles debuting Nov. 22 with Microsoft’s Xbox One video game console.
P.J. Esteves of Crytek, the maker of Ryse: Son of Rome.
And with other big titles coming later, Ryse could turn out to be one of the reasons why consumers buy the $500 game console — or not. P.J. Esteves, the design director for Ryse at developer Crytek, has been following the feedback and he believes that the naysayers will find that Ryse is going to be better than they thought it was. I got a good look at the start of the game and feel like it plays a lot better than it did at E3, the game industry’s trade show, back in June.
Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks.
Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
GamesBeat