Ryse: Son of Rome launch trailer heralds PC release

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As launch trailers go, Ryse: Son of Rome's is a good one: It's pure cinematic bombast, with dramatic music, sweeping vistas, inspirational narration and waves of dudes meeting their ends in all sorts of stabby, slashy, blood-splattering ways.

In fact, Crytek said last month that its singular focus on technology is the reason it opted to forgo the microtransactions that were present in the Xbox One release. "It enabled us to focus more of our time and energy on pushing the visual fidelity we were after with 4K," the studio said. "Enabling microtransactions for the PC version of Ryse would have taken additional time and we simply chose not to."

Sadly, it seems that great technology does not necessarily translate into a great game. Our Ryse: Son of Rome review says it looks fantastic, "but it's too narrow and repetitive, even for a short game."

Strong trailer though.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.