Ryse made a strong first impression when it premiered at Microsoft’s press conference early Monday morning, but even in that brief demo that one got the feeling that the game might get repetitive. Stunning visuals quickly gave way to what looked like a series of quick-time events masquerading as battles, causing many to question just how deep this title, once a Kinect exclusive, really is. 

Crytek and Microsoft had a chance to correct course in their booth, where hands-on demos of the beach sequence were given to press. Unfortunately, when I finally got my hands on the controller, my worst fears were confirmed. Kinect DNA runs strong in this one, and that means Ryse is a game that could easily be played with one hand. It’s not hard to see how the title would have once been on rails, utilizing only swipes of the hand to attack, thrust and parry.

Translated to an Xbox One controller, Ryse is a three-button game. The A button parries, the X button attacks with the sword, and the Y button thrusts forward with the shield. You can move around with the left stick, and occasionally the game will prompt you to hit LB to order you units around. Most battles end in a brief QTE sequence that has you dispatching enemies in a series of rather gruesome way.

From a gameplay perspective, it’s not much to talk about. There’s definitely some skill involved in knowing when to attack and when to thrust or parry, especially because there’s a little bit of delay in the animations, but what I played of Ryse did little to assuage my fears that there would be little to the game aside from those three simple functions. 

The game at least looked incredible, practically a necessity given just how shallow everything surrounding those visuals is. The pacing was like a Call of Duty level set in ancient Rome, an idea that could really hold some water were it supported by strong gameplay pillars. If Ryse can pull together and introduce some complex combos to match its jaw-dropping visuals, I’ll welcome it with open arms. The demo I played today, however, did nothing to convince me that Ryse will be anything other than super-linear, super-shallow eye candy when it releases alongside the Xbox One this November.

If you’re still curious about Ryse, we recently got a world-exclusive tip on the game’s co-op multiplayer mode. Check it out here.