Originally revealed as a Kinect-only Xbox 360 game a couple of years ago, Ryse: Son of Rome has finally seen the light of day, but as a launch title for Xbox One. Experience the bloody and extremely violent story of Marius Titus in Ryse: Son of Rome. Ryse: Son of Rome Written by Dalton "HorrorSpooky" Cooper and Trade Copyright 2013 The *ONLY* sites that have permission to use this guide are CheatMasters.com and GameFAQs.com. IF YOU SEE THIS GUIDE ON ANY OTHER SITE, PLEASE INFORM ME, AS IT DOES NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO BE THERE!!! Contact Information E-mail: horror_spooky@hotmail.com Legal Information - – – – – – – – - This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. =================== =TABLE OF CONTENTS= =================== 1. Introduction and Controls 2. Walkthrough Chapter I: The Beginning Chapter II: S.P.Q.R. Chapter III: Trial by Fire Chapter IV: The King Chapter V: Edge of the World Chapter VI: Pax Romana Chapter VII: The Wrath of Nemesis Chapter VIII: Son of Rome 3. Conclusion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1. Introduction and Controls - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Marius Titus is out for blood and it is your job to make sure that he gets what he's after! LT - Aim LB - Command RT - Throw/Execution RB - Focus Y - Shield Bash X - Sword Slash B - Roll A - Block D-pad (up) - Damage Perk D-pad (left) - Focus Perk D-pad (down) - Health Perk D-pad (right) - XP Perk LS - Move/Sprint RS - Camera/Look View Button - Upgrades Menu Button - Main Menu Kinect voice commands are also used at various points in the game. If you don't want to use your voice in these instances, you can alternatively hold LB instead. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2. Walkthrough - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ======================== CHAPTER I: THE BEGINNING ======================== After getting control of Marius for the first time, learn the combat basics as they are taught to you. Press X to attack with your sword, and press Y to bash with your shield. Use the d-pad to select perks, and press A to parry attacks with your shield. Fight through the barbarians on the bridge. To kill them, damage them until a skull and crossbones appears above their head. Then pull RT to initiate the execution. When their bodies are outlined in blue, press X. When their bodies are outlined in yellow, press Y. As you push forward, you can use the Kinect voice command "Fire volley!" or hold LB to call for arrows to take out the rest of the barbarians. Regroup and then tell your soldiers to take defensive positions at the doors. Get behind the ballista and fire the flaming arrows at the enemies as they charge. You can choose the barrels for explosions and you can shoot the boiling pots to create a splash of fire that will stay there like a protective wall for a bit. When archers show up, fire at the explosive barrels resting on their scaffolding. Marius will automatically let go of the ballista when it is time, and then head to the front doors. The game will then teach you about upgrades. You can upgrade with points earned from doing well in the game or you can buy gold that can also be used to purchase upgrades. At any rate, perform an upgrade as instructed by the game before opening the doors. Go to the next door and then kill the enemies in this lobby area. They will be more aggressive than before, so be ready to parry their attacks and watch your back for enemies that may try to jump you from behind. Next up is a battle against the Barbarian Warlord. This guy will surround the area with fire to make sure there is limited space to maneuver when battling with him. Wait for him to try to swing his flaming weapon, then move the left stick in a direction and press B to roll out of the way. You should be able to land a couple of hits on him at that point. Keep dodging his attacks and then attacking him as soon as he misses. When the execution prompt appears above his head, pull RT to perform the execution. Do it successfully to complete the first chapter. ==================== CHAPTER II: S.P.Q.R. ==================== To start things off here is a little bit of sparring with the old pappy. He may be getting up there in age, but the old dog still has more than just a few tricks up his sleeve! Er, tunic. Toga? I don't know. At any rate, the point of this little exhibition is to teach more refined aspects behind the game's combat system. When dealing with shielded enemies, as Marius's father is right now, first press Y to break their defense. Do this a few times to dad and then continue to follow his directions. Later he will ask that Marius break the defense and then a few perfect strikes. A perfect strike is an attack hit immediately after the defense is broken. When countering attacks, wait for dad to nearly land the attack. A visual clue to this is that his whole body will be highlighted green, indicating that the A button would be a good button to press at that moment in time. Anyway, when the sparring with dad is done with, the two of you will be attacked by barbarians! Fight the barbarians off and then follow dad into the courtyard. A short scene will play (achievement unlocked as well!) and then there will be more barbarians to battle with. From this point on, you're basically just following your dad through the city and getting into battles with barbarians. Don't forget about upgrading Marius as you slaughter your way through the dozens of barbarians. Also don't forget about the perk system, of which two more will be introduced in this stage. The "Focus" ability will also be brought up. Use Focus by tapping RB, which will slow down time and allow Marius to get in a series of attacks on opponents virtually unopposed. Experiment with the different perks and switch between them as necessary. Keep an eye on Marius's health when you don't have the health perk equipped, though, as it is easy to lose sight of that and it can cost you a life. A tip for when you're moving through the city, watch for objects and barricades that have a blue cloth on them. This blue cloth indicates something that can be climbed over or onto. Besides the almost constant-slaughter, there's also collectibles to snag here. You'll come across a glowing green body just lying on the ground in plain sight that can be examined for a "letter from the past". There's also a couple of vistas to collect that deal with Roman history and also count as collectibles. Just look for the glowing green things! Speaking of glowing green things, projectiles are also used here. When you first are introduced to them, press A to collect them. Then hold LT to aim at the enemies in the distance. Hold RT To focus in on them, and when the arrows turn red, release RT to throw the projectile for an instant-kill. You can also throw these off quickly against close enemies by quickly pulling LT and then quickly pulling RT immediately thereafter. These projectiles are used in a minor puzzle in the level. You have to lower a bridge for your father to cross. When you reach this bridge, turn around and directly opposite of it will be the area to climb up. Make your way to the rope that is keeping the bridge up and throw the projectile at it. Soon after that, you will have to push a cart by moving behind it and pressing Y. As you'll notice, the cart is highlighted in yellow, meaning that to interact with it, you need to press Y. Just like in combat, the objects in the environment that needed to be interacted with for puzzle solving purposes are color coded based on the face buttons on the Xbox One controller. There will be some boards to break with sword swingin', which is done with X. X is also used to cut a rope for Marius to proceed in the level as well. Speaking of "smashing", Marius can also smash the pots and vases that are all over the place for extra XP if you're desperate for it. ========================== CHAPTER III: TRIAL BY FIRE ========================== After getting on the beach, move through the ruined ship. On the other side, click in the right stick to check out your objective. The first objective in this level is to reach the tower and lower the harbor chain. Keep moving through the ship's ruin until you can drop down and engage some barbarians in battle. Try to make short work of these barbarians. There is a meter in the upper right-hand corner of the screen that keeps track of how many Romans you manage to keep alive during this entire stretch. This part also introduces the heavy attack. Hold in X or Y to use one. Anyway, after all of these barbarians have been killed, continue moving until a bunch of archers start firing arrows. Keep an eye on the arrow icon on the top of the screen. You can either roll out of the way of the arrows or tap A as soon as the arrow is about to hit to deflect the arrows. You can move your way to the archers by blocking and dodging the arrows, or you can grab the projectiles and toss them at the archers from behind cover if you need to thin them out. Keep going until you reach the tower and then when you reach the flag, press A to get your soldiers into formation. Hold A to block the incoming fire arrows from the archers and move forward. Inside the tower, grab more projectiles and then engage all the enemies at the counter-weight. There will be multiple waves of barbarians that try to fight you, as well as archers that will be firing at your soldiers from above. Kill these guys as well to keep your numbers up. Destroy the pieces of wood at the counter-weights and continue to engage the enemies that show up. Remember that Barbarian Warlord from the first chapter with the fire? At this point, enemies that behave very similarly to him show up, except they are armed with axes. Some of his attacks can be deflected, but whenever his body is highlighted red, roll out of the way. On the next beach, fight through the barbarians and kill their arachers. Climb over the barricade and start picking off the archers that are attacking your soldiers from the rooftops. Keep at it until your own archers arrive, and at that point, order them to "FIRE VOLLEY!" to thin out the barbarians significantly. You can choose to have your archers focus on the other archers that are in the next area or to help you fight the barbarians on the ground. Choose whichever one covers up your weakness (if you're bad at dodging the arrows from the archers, have them cover the archers; if you're bad at the melee combat, have them help you out). At any rate, kill all of the enemies that attack here. When they're dead, move with your soldiers to the next area, towards the catapult tower. Kill the barbarians along the way as usual, which will now be a mix of the archers and the melee-focused ones that you've encountered already. Upon reaching the base of the tower, kill the archers above the bridge and then throw the projectiles at the rope holding the bridge up. Enough strikes and you can move across the bridge and go up the stairs and reach the top of the catapult tower. Man the arrow turret and use it to kill the enemies at the tower on the other side. Avoid the catapult fire, which will appear as a radius on the ground mind you, and kill all the barbarians as they show up. Perform the Kinect voice commands, "CATAPULT FIRE!" and "FIRE VOLLEY!", as they appear and continue to engage the barbarians until they've all been sufficiently slaughtered. ==================== CHAPTER IV: THE KING ==================== Move down the ravine and kill the Barbarians that are encountered as usual. You'll then move through a narrow area full of nasty deady bodies and what-not. When RS appears on the screen, you can push it in to see what Marius has to say about the grisly scene. At the end of this hall of sorts is a trap that springs up. As soon as it does, it will be highlighted green. This is obviously an indication that you need to press the A button to deflect the trap and destroy it. Fight your way through the woods until you reach an impassable part of the river. Facing the river, look to the right to spot a path through the woods. Kill a bunch more barbarians and you'll eventually make your way to a log that moves through the river. Walk across it and you'll reach the aqueduct shortly. At the aqueduct, you'll reach a couple of spots where you need to use a lift to get higher. Simply kick the weight off the lift to use it. Continue to fight your way through all of the enemies, and watch out for a new enemy type that shows up as well. These enemies are equipped with two weapons at a time, and they are very fast. The best way to deal with them is to use Focus and then just slice the hell out of them. When you reach the barbarian princess Boudica, a similar strategy can be employed. When she is defeated, she will call the rest of her men to fight you. Kill them and then a cut-scene will play. At the end of the scene, go to the flag and press A to get in formation. A group of barbarian archers will start to attack. Hold RT to ready the projectiles at them and then let go. As long as you hold RT long enough, your shots should be extremely accurate. Hold A to go behind the shields as you push forward to avoid losing any soldiers in the battle. Afterward, move through the cave. You'll still be in formation and you will come across a couple of individual archers. Get rid of them from a distance. When the group splits up, hang a right through a narrow cavern. This will allow you to flank the archers pelting your squad. Grab the projectiles lying on the ground. Aim at the explosive barrels and throw the projectiles to get rid of most of the barbarians. Then yell "CHARGE!" when the Kinect voice commands depend it. Drop down and join your soldiers in battle against the barbarians. Move with them to the throne of King Oswald. Kill all of his men and then a cut-scene will cap off this chapter. ============================ CHAPTER V: EDGE OF THE WORLD ============================ Walk slowly with your troops through the forest until you cross the wooden bridge. At that point, you will be attacked by the minotaur men. Look at their weapons to have an idea of how they will have to be handled. Those with axes will occasionally perform attacks that need to be dodged with roll. Dual- wielding enemies are best dealt with by using Focus and then slicing the hell out of them. Shielded enemies need to be dealt with in the usual manner of breaking their defense and then going in for rapid attacks. So, they attack very similarly to previously encountered enemies, except that they are a bit harder to deal with. Kill all of them in the initial area, and then after the scene move through the forest. Various traps are laid out here that can cause some troubles, but tap A quickly when they come up to bust through the traps and you'll be fine. As you continue, there will be encounters with these horned enemies. Next you'll have a chance to collect some projectiles and use them on the enemies that are shooting flaming arrows at you. Use the large rock here for cover and pop out only to take a shot at them before going back behind cover. You will then come across to the horned minotaur men killing your fellow soldiers by burning them alive and such. There is also a cage of your men here. Use projectiles to kill as many of them as possible before jumping down and heading for the cage because more will show up as soon as you jump down. Kill them all. When they're dead, go to the gate of the cage and press X to free the soldiers. Go with them to the next camp and you'll find another cage of your soldiers. Kill all the enemies in the vicinity and then yell "GET THOSE CAGES OPEN!" or hold LB to order your troops to free their brethren. A flag will pop up in the middle of the area. Go to it and tap A. Choose where to send your archers. If you put them to the left, they will fire at enemy archers. If you put them to the right, they will fire at enemies that are moving in. Put them somewhere that covers up your weaknesses, then man the scorpion ballista thing and use it to hold off the incoming waves of enemies. A few waves of that and another flag will appear. Go to that flag to move with your troops through the ravine. This segment is basically on rails. Just push the stick forward, holding A to take defensive positions with your shields when you see enemies about to fire arrows, and then hold RT and release to have Marius and the other troops toss projectiles at the enemies to kill them and continue moving forward in this manner. The next time that you see your soldiers in a cage, they will be being lit on fire! So, that's a bummer, right? Also notice that the amount of soldiers you have with you are now represented by a bar in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. The longer it takes for you to kill the enemies, the more soldiers you will use and the less help you will have. In addition, the minotaur men are constantly trying to light them on fire, which creates obvious problems. When they are trying to do this, they will be marked with an objective marker. So turn your attention to them IMMEDIATELY. Use projectiles or Focus if you need to. This goes on for awhile, and then you'll have a boss battle with Glott. Glott is a bit tougher than previous boss fights because you can't use Focus against him. In fact, he will just cancel out your Focus any time that you try to use it. It's a good thing that he is fairly easy to handle then. Almost none of his attacks can be countered, but rather you need to roll out of the way of them. He will typically try two attacks, so be ready to roll twice before going in for a flurry of strikes. Keep this up until his health is a little lower than halfway, and then at that point complete the QTEs. In this second stage of the fight, the strategy for dealing with Glott remains pretty much the same. The difference is that he will now be more aggressive with his attacks and his attacks will also be harder to dodge. ====================== CHAPTER VI: PAX ROMANA ====================== The first part of this chapter is a long defend-the-base style affair where you are allowed to choose where your archers are firing in between waves. There are two choices for your archers; one, you can have them use suppressing fire on the siege towers so that they can't fire their catapults at you. The other option is to have them help you when the barbarians get on the top of the walls. Experiment with both and figure out which way is easier for you. You can use the scorpion ballistas to shoot the archers off the siege tower, but also be sure to call for the archers to help by yelling "FIRE VOLLEY!" In addition, if you asked the archers to cover you, you can repeatedly yell "ARCHERS -- COVER ME!" whenever it pops up on the screen. The barbarisn will attempt to reach the top of the walls using the previously mentioned siege towers as well as ladders. Run along the side of the wall and kick the ladders down to avoid having to fight as many barbarians and to keep your fellow Romans as alive as possible. When the siege towers get close enough, immediately go to work whacking away at its bearings. The poles that need to be targeted are highlighted blue, so just run up and start mashing on X to destroy them. Keep repeating this until it's time to yell for your soldiers to retreat. "SOLDIERS -- MOVE OUT!" or hold LB to accomplish this, and then kill any straggling barbarians to join up with them. Next you will encounter a group of barbarian archers. Deal with them as you usually do, and then get ready to fight a tougher barbarian armed with a bear fur on his head and a club. Most of his moves need to be dodged, and he has a tendency to block most attacks. He's kind of like a weaker version of Glott, to be perfectly honest. Use the same strategy as with Glott to deal with these types of barbarian enemies. Continue slaughtering your way through the enemy barbarians until you reach the burning docks. Marius will move slowly through here. Maneuver him around the and over the obstacles to the cart that is glowing yellow. Go behind the cart and press Y to kick down a ramp and thorugh the door. This will free your people, but you'll have to keep moving through the burning building the other way due to all of the flames. After you exit, go to the cart that you kicked before and kick it again. This will put it perfectly into place so that it can be used to climb up to the post where the barbarian archers are located. Kill them (you can kill at least one from behind with a stealth kill very easily) and then hop down to continue your battles with barbarians. Go to the flag at the docks and use it to get into formation with your troops. Push forward, blocking the arrows, and then taking the time to toss projectiles at your enemies as you can. The objective markers will lead you to the court house, so fight your way there and then fight your way through the waves of enemies that show up. Meet with Vitallion outside of the courthouse. Walk with him and he will lead you to the scorpion ballista that is sitting on a wagon. Man it and then use it to keep back the barbarians. Use the explosive barrels as much as possible and be sure to yell "FIRE VOLLEY!" so that your archers can even up the score a bit as your other troops drag you backwards. Start sprinting back through the courthouse when prompted, fighting off any enemies that show up. Marius will then have a final stand on the bridge, surrounded by enemy barbarians. Slice 'em and dice' em until Marius is inevitably defeated. ================================= CHAPTER VII: THE WRATH OF NEMESIS ================================= Things are all quiet on the Roman front for the start of this level. Just walk through the crowd. As you move, you can find collectibles and vases that can be smashed to either refill your Focus or snag you extra XP if your Focus meter is already full. You'll reach an abandoned colosseum. A group of enemies will attack; they are Romans armed with a shield, guards to the emperor. They are a bit more savvy than the barbarians that have been the main enemy throughout most of the game, but the same basic strategies still apply to these guys, even if it does take a few more hits to put them away. When the first batch has been killed, they will be replaced by another batch of enemies. Kill them as well and then climb up the wall to the stairs on the far right. Go up the stairs and you'll reach a courtyard area with more enemies. Slaughter your way through them until you can reach a ladder. Climb the ladder to get to a scorpion ballista. Take control of it and use it to kill all of the enemy archers in the garden area. When they've been killed, head there yourself and do battle with the melee enemies that show up next. Kill all of these guys before continuing to the next area where you will see a gate to your right as you go up the stairs, and then another gate at the top of the stairs. The gate at the top of the stairs is nothing. Kill all of the enemies, then the other gate you passed can now be kicked through to progress. If you can't find it, just hold up and the game will eventually mark it with an objective marker, as it does for all the objectives. Anyway, kick through the gate and move through the icky trench of dead bodies. Climb up the next ledge, grab the Vista collectible lying on the ground and move through the wilderness to reach your old home. When the scene is over, Marius will be decked out in spooky new armor. You'll be in a small arena with the goal of winning over the crowd. To do this, what you need to do is perform executions. After each wave of enemies, Marius will taunt to the crowd (probably to build his special meter, eh?) and then more powerful foes will keep coming out. The spikes will be raised on the walls, which actually can make the battle against the enemies that show up during this round, two dudes that are dual- wielding clubs, a lot easier. If you have Focus, use it and then simply press Y to kick them straight into the spikes. Alternatively, you can get them down to an execution and then use an execution near the wall to send them over to the spikes as well. Don't worry too much about your Focus in these battles. After every cut-scene that sends Marius around from one place to the next (this happens on a semi- frequent basis here) you will lose all of your Focus meter. Following another cut-scene, go to the steps that lead outside. You can tell because the light outside is extremely bright. This is the arena that features a shifting landscape, a ton of people in the crowd, and soon to be a lot of bloodshed. If you've spent some time with the multiplayer, then this is the same arena that is used in those matches. The point of this is to retell the triumphs of Commodus, though we know that he really didn't do anything and is actually a wimp. Anyway, you'll be led from one area to the next where you will fight enemies, block traps, etc. You'll have fellow gladiators at your side, but you'll find yourself doing most of the work. Try to build up your FOCUS METER here, as having a full Focus meter comes very much in handy for the upcoming boss fight. Finally, the gladiators will turn on you. Kill all of them and then go to the pot of fire and knock it over to light the aqueduct on fire. Now it's time for a lengthy !!!BOSS FIGHT!!! with Commodus, who, despite his wimpy outlook, is actually quite the formidable opponent for Marius. Commodus has a variety of attacks, and while it may be tempting to roll out of the way of them, which is something I would usually recommend, it's better to parry them. Watch the timing and see exactly when his blade is about to hit Marius. Right then, at the last second, tap A to parry the attack. This will allow you to get in two or three shots of your own. Focus can be used here, but it only lasts a couple of seconds and is not really worth the hassle right now. Save it for later. That coward Commodus will then have a bunch of gladiators show up and dress like him to stack the odds against Marius. Use Focus at this point to slice them down and then execute each copy one by one. If you are battling one of them and it doesn't seem like the execution symbol is ever appearing above their head, that is probably the real Commodus and you should move on to fighting one of the other copies. Commodus will then poison Marius. Just stand still and wait for the Commodus copies to charge you. Tap A when they're about to attack, and then Marius will take care of the rest. After that, Commodus will resume the battle and you will be back at full health. Fight with him just like you did at the beginning of the battle. ======================== CHAPTER VII: SON OF ROME ======================== Get on the scorpion ballista and start shooting the hell out of all the enemies trying to break through the Roman line! Yell "FIRE VOLLEY!" whenever that voice command appears on the screen to thin out the enemies. Whenever an enemy starts approaching with an objective marker over them, that's your cue to turn your attention away from the defensive line and to them as they will be much more of a threat to the line than anything else. Among these enemies that will be marked with objective markers include axe- wielding warriors, archers, large barbarians with clubs, and elephants. Yes, elephants. Whenever an elephant shows up, it should be your #1 priority. They take four to five hits to bring down, but thankfully they are fairly slow compared to the other enemies. There's various hazards that you can use to your advantage during this fight, such as explosive barrels and pots filled with burning oil that can be tipped over and kill the enemies as well. When this is done, fight through the next batch of enemies with your sword to the next area where you will need to position archers and your troops in different areas. The choices for troops are to the left or right. If you choose to the right, then you will be battling the enemies from the left with melee. If you choose the left, then you can man the scorpio ballista to keep back the enemies coming from the right. I found choosing to kill the enemies that are on the right to be the easiest. After ordering your ground troops where to be stationed, you do the same with your archers. Send them to either the left or the right area. If you choose to send them to the left, they will help there, choose to send them to the right, they will help there. What I recommend is sending your troops to the left area and also sending your archers there to help them. Then man the scorpio ballista on the right area yourself and just mow down the enemies as they come. If any of them get by you, let go of the scorpio (tap A), use Focus to slow down time, chop them to bits, and then get back on the scorpio. Go to the next area, fight the enemies, watch the scene. Afterwards, hop down to the next area and kill the enemies. You get the jump on them, so it is possible that you can get a kill from behind. Man the scorpio when they are all dead to shoot the oil pot across the water to help out your soldiers there that are being overwhelmed. As you move forward, take a left (opposite of the alley that you are supposed to run down) and you can hop over the boxes there for a Vista collectible. Move down the alley when ready, grabbing the projectiles as you go. Yell "FIRE VOLLEY!" to order the archers to kill the enemies across the water that are attacking your soldiers, and also toss the projectiles yourself to help kill them faster. Next you have to deal with the stampeding war elephants of Boudica. Zig-zag through the flames while avoiding the trampling feet of the war elephants. Climb up to the ballista and use to send a precision shot straight to Boudica's elephant. Chase down Boudica and do battle with her just like before, except this time Focus is not very useful and she has more aggressive attacks. Killing Boudica will then jump the story forward to the "present". Nero will flee down the halls, so pursue him. Various guards will pop out to try to kill you. Simply press whatever button their body is highlighted as to kill them. Getting through this hallway will end the game. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3. Conclusion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I hope this guide helped you complete Ryse for Xbox One!