Team Ninja states Rise of the Rōnin’s combat revolves around studying and learning enemy patterns gleaned after repeated failures, suggesting it will be as challenging as the games preceding it. When I asked if it still punishes death in the same Soulslike fashion, where players must retrieve fallen experience points, and how the more realistic story would justify this, Yasuda confirmed it does and involves a progression resource called Karma. It’s an apt name; the developers say the word symbolizes the destiny people carry from one life into the next. However, Yasuda clarifies that Karma only represents one system. There is another, more traditional type of XP that players retain after death. “You can look forward to the details of this in the future,” Yasuda says.