Ryse: Son of Rome (2014 game) = Finished

Let me start off by saying - the way they treat Boudica was abrasively, persistently disrespectful, and that alone soured a big part of the campaign for me.

That aside, would you be surprised to hear that Ryse: Son of Rome has an active multiplayer community in 2018?
You shouldn't, because it's an exceptional piece of an otherwise conflicted and forgettable project.

Ryse is a game of spectacle. Exploitative, brutal, and ultimately silly in its excess. In the single-player mode, when noble-hearted Roman soldier Marius chooses to execute yet another random grunt in the most violent, extended manner possible, this results in some tonal disconnect. Place it within the Colosseum though, as you fight alongside a partner...and now you've got something special.

Now, you've got something that fits.

You and another human are thrown into an arena filled with hazards and told to fight for your lives, completing objectives as the field of battle itself shifts and changes beneath your  feet (kinda like the real Colosseum!). Executing enemies makes your character temporarily invulnerable, which gives you breathing room if you're surrounded, and keeps the fickle crowd happy. Taunting also makes the crowd happy, but leaves you open to violent counterattack for an extended period of time.

The result of this basic loop is that, unburdened by the narrative ambitions of the campaign, Ryse gives you a small, experiential peek into the life of the gladiator. For the four grueling rounds in a match, each consisting of roughly 3-8 minutes, the simple systems at the core of the game's combat shine. You stab an endless parade of barbarians with your partner, knowing full well that even a full minute of peace, no matter how spectacular your former achievements, will result in the crowd baying for your execution. I felt exhausted after a single round of this panic. I was getting my butt kicked, and barely made it through thanks to a much more experienced, silent co-op character I had been paired with in matchmaking. I couldn't believe when the next round queued up.

"More?" I thought. "You want more of this?"
"Yes!" the crowd called back--and when I could see through the haze of adrenaline and blood again, I realized I was deep into the third round...and calling the exact same thing.