Rise of Rebellion is a 3D action-soul-like RPG currently being developed by Team 疾鷹 and is being published by the renowned Manga giant Kodansha. As one of the early reviewers, an early access copy of the game was provided to us. The game is currently slated for release in 2025. You can try the demo to experience the early hours of its campaign.
The Last Manus
The game is based on a fractured archipelago, a land where divine wrath and mortal ambition collide. As a disgraced warrior exiled from your homeland, you find your home ravaged by mystic-powered invaders upon your return. Now, you must wield this same power to reclaim your home—but every swing of your blade and every surge risks invoking the fury of the Earth God who once smote the dragons for their arrogance.
Previously, the earth was full of “May”, and the warriors who mastered it were called “Manus. As the last surviving Manus, you must rid the earth of the invaders and restore the lost balance.
Despite its intriguing premise, the story is nonexistent in the build I played. The game jumps straight into combat, with no cutscenes or voiceovers to fill the void. In the final build, a lore-based cryptic approach like the FromSoftware titles would be quite fitting for its setting. But for now, that’s just a very big if.
Janked Up!
Combat in Rise of Rebellion is a visceral ballet of steel and strategy. The game relies on lightning-fast melee clashes with swords, axes, chain weapons, and mystic powers summoned using ‘May’—a volatile energy drawn from the land itself. Players can unleash earth-shattering techniques to freeze enemies in crystalline tombs, summon volcanic fissures, or warp time itself to outmaneuver foes.
Yet, as glowing May courses through your veins, so does danger: overuse it, and the Earth God’s wrath will leave you paralyzed mid-fight, vulnerable to devastating counterattacks or catastrophic environmental disasters.
Despite its intriguing systems at play, the jank it comes with is quite heavy. Be it melee finishers, parries, or mystic arts, it does not feel smooth in combat and translates quite poorly as far as collision-based physics is concerned. The enemy design and AI feel underwhelming as well. I certainly hope that its final version will be a much-refined version of its current state. The combat animations and movement are still quite decent considering its other factors.
The Price of Power
In terms of visual presentation, Rise of the Rebellion looks like eye candy marred by barren terrain. The assets, character models, and environment have a generic look, but in terms of quality, it’s serviceable. There are a lot of low-poly texture models being used in the game which is fair considering it only takes 12 GB of storage. It’s also riddled with several visual bugs and issues. One notable one, for instance, is when you get too close to the objects or surfaces and they disappear completely.
But as far as performance is concerned, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. The optimization on GPUs with 4 GB of VRAM like the RTX 3050 Ti is really bad, and I was really struggling to even maintain stable 30 fps. Turning down Global illumination below medium completely turns off the in-game shadows, and if the shadows are to medium, it also results in the same. So there is also a lot of work left in terms of tweaking the graphics options.
Initial Impression
While still in development, Rise of Rebellion seems to have a potent mix of soulslike combat and mystic powers. However, in its current state, the game is far from complete, marred by practically nonexistent storytelling, janky controls, and bad performance optimization.
