Ernest Satow, a British diplomatic saboteur in Japan, secretly works to erode the Shogunate’s authority while advancing foreign interests in Rise of the Rōnin.
Two narrative-driven missions reveal his shifting stance toward supernatural alliances and imperial ambitions.
Diplomatic Intrigues
Operating under diplomatic cover, Satow’s covert activities aim to destabilize Japan’s leadership, mirroring real-world 19th-century geopolitical strategies between empires.
Story Progression Requirements
Completion of the pivotal “Wildfire” campaign mission initiates Satow’s arc, contextualizing his disillusionment with initial strategies.
Initial Bond Mission
Fateful Revelation emerges following your return to Edo after Kyoto’s military setbacks. Satow grapples with moral reckoning regarding past allegiances, signaling strategic recalibration.
This mission features Satow’s desperate attempt to expose supernatural manipulations targeting sacred sites, demonstrating his fractured loyalty to former collaborators.
Ethical Duality
Satow’s narrative arc examines the psychological toll of espionage through contrasting priorities – cold strategic calculus versus emerging human connections in enemy territory.
Continuation Missions
Unexpected Alliances becomes available immediately post-initial mission, accelerating character relationship development through high-stakes collaborative scenarios.
Mission narratives emphasize personal connections as counterpoints to political machinations, reflecting Satow’s ideological transition from operative to conflicted ally.
Interpersonal Options
Players can pursue romantic entanglement with Satow through dialogue choices, illustrating how personal bonds might transcend nationality during turbulent historical moments.
Foreigner’s Lens
Satow’s perspective offers unique commentary on Japan’s cultural transformation, representing the complex realities of foreign intervention during the Bakumatsu era.
Conflict of Interests
The storyline interrogates the sustainability of divided loyalties, juxtaposing institutional obligations against organic human relationships forged in crisis.