Reviewed on: PS5
Ghost of Tsushima drew a lot of attention when it was announced, after all we had gorgeous graphics, an open world with an extremely interesting premise (Feudal Japan) and the honorable, strict samurai and their code of honor as the theme!
The prelude to the end…
Kublai Khan was a Mongol leader who dominated much of Europe and almost all of the Middle East during the medieval era. Khan was a legitimate “steamroller”, running over every nation or individual who dared to go against his plans of conquest. With each conquered nation Khan preserved and valued the individuals capable of contributing something he considered advantageous, and with this Khan achieved an unprecedented military evolution, making the Mongols the most feared army of their time. After the conquest of Korea, Khan found himself seduced by conquests beyond the sea; the target? Japan, land of the legendary samurai…
Inspired by a real event, Sucker Punch has gifted us with a tale… the tale of the Ghost of Tsushima and his relentless quest for the freedom of the island of Tsushima. The island of Tsushima was ruled by an honorable Samurai named Shimura (the island’s lord), who was captured during the Mongol invasion led by Khotun Khan (cousin of Kublai Khan) after his small army of Samurai was massacred and defeated in battle. The Mongol army, besides having technologically more advanced weapons, had no moral sense seeking a fair fight, but a style of battle that first sought to adapt to each situation, fair or not. Basically they were willing to do ANYTHING to win.
Amid the wreckage of combat, Jin Sakai (who will later come to be known as the “ghost of Tsushima”) manages to survive with the help of a thief named Yuna. After waking up, Jin begins his journey… will Jin be able to keep his honor as a Samurai and still defeat enemies who don’t know the meaning of honor, or will he have to resort to darker, reprehensible means according to the samurai code of honor?
Graphics
Immersion, that is the word that best defines the game’s graphics. Feudal Japan is portrayed beautifully… Grassy fields, bamboo forests, villages, temples; the player truly feels inserted in a samurai epic! I played the enhanced PS5 version and although the graphical changes were not as big as expected, they are there and noticeable. Nothing like running through a bamboo forest in heavy rain with the sounds of lightning cutting the air, or letting Jin relax in hot springs while he thinks about various matters.
How the story is told
The game splits its story into primary quests, secondary quests and tales. Primary quests advance the story, secondary ones serve as support and expansion of the main quests’ story, and tales are basically quests (very well crafted, by the way) that talk about the myths of the island, always introducing us to legendary figures of local folklore, people who through their deeds reached the level of “mythical beings”. But make no mistake: the tales show us the people behind the legends and all the mysticism created around them… there we have only a pinch of supernatural events, shown to the player quite subtly.
The tales received very special attention from Sucker Punch: the entire presentation and story behind each one is delivered with a special, atmospheric narrative, where paintings take on the outline of the character whose legend is being shown, and besides that the reward for completing each one is great and very useful to the player.
Besides the tales there are other epic moments in the game… the samurai vs samurai duels. The music, scene composition and visual elements of each one make every clash more epic than the last. This is also where the game forces us to use all the mechanics we’ve acquired to win, since the enemies are samurai as skilled as Jin.
Gameplay
Jin can choose to follow the path of the ghost, which is stealthy, or the path of the Samurai, which is honorable and always faces the enemy head-on. The coolest thing is that the game doesn’t force you to follow only one path, you can mix stealth and non-stealth attacks. The combat mechanics let you use either one whenever you like, with no swap menus or anything. In concept it reminded me of Assassin’s Creed, where you can hide and kill enemies one by one or simply go fighting everyone who shows up in front of you. In the case of Ghost of Tsushima, Jin can even call enemies out to a duel.
Jin can use various stances during the fight, each one effective against some type of enemy (brutes, swordsmen, spear warriors and shield warriors). The game’s combat (compared with other games with the theme) is more measured and somewhat strategic (although relatively easy on normal difficulty), seeking inspiration in fights from films like those of Akira Kurosawa, but without forgetting to be a game, since in a real duel the fight would be decided in a few moves. Too bad the A.I. doesn’t always offer a good challenge and still has some bugs. At times the A.I. glitches and simply stands there watching you slaughter its allies, but fortunately moments like that are rare.
The world and how it communicates with the player
Ghost of Tsushima, like The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, uses elements of the world itself to communicate with the player. Instead of seeing flashy lines and maps with obvious indications, here we have the wind, birds, foxes and even the controller’s pulse. It’s all so “natural” that it enchants. You are walking through a place when suddenly you hear the song of a yellow bird and, following it, voilà, a collectible is acquired! The foxes guide us to a shrine where Jin can honor the gods and receive as a blessing improvements to the amulet slots in the game, and the wind literally points the way!
Expanding the story – Iki Island
The Ghost of Tsushima expansion is called Iki Island. In this DLC we get to know Jin’s past better and are also introduced to a new villain who calls herself the “Eagle” and has a pretty strange hobby…
In this DLC we have a whole new map to explore, doing (on several occasions) the same actions as the base game, such as clearing camps, bamboo-cutting challenges, meditating at hot springs, composing poetry and so on. Fortunately the developers also added new things such as a new music minigame used at temples to gain the trust of animals, a combat tournament, archery challenges, new tales and we also have to deal with a new “debilitating” condition…
On the combat side, we are introduced to a new class of enemy, the Shaman, who with their chanting can encourage Mongol warriors to attack with much greater fury and precision (practically turning them into Berserkers), and this translates into more challenging combat without being cheap.
All told
Ghost of Tsushima is a great game, with an absurd atmosphere, gorgeous graphics and combat inspired by old samurai films (director Akira Kurosawa was the reference the developers used). It’s indispensable for fans of the genre and even for those who aren’t fans! It falls short in not having an A.I. as sharp as I would like and in having an extremely beautiful world that is a little empty.
About the price charged for the improvements, I honestly found the practice extremely abusive. Look, if Sucker Punch had charged only for the DLC I wouldn’t see anything wrong with that… but charging for graphical improvements and even for lip sync (the PS4 version doesn’t even have that option) is complete bullshit, especially knowing they didn’t improve it nearly enough to charge what they charged… the game is great, but if possible wait for a sale!
Max Xavier
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