Ghost of Tsushima (2020)

OPEN-WORLD ACTION - Play as Jin Sakai, a samurai, as he reclaims his home from the Mongols, at the expense of sacrificing everything he's been taught.

PROS:

++ Breathtaking & gorgeous visuals.

++ Combat. Fun and fluid gameplay. The more you master it, the more exciting and satisfying combat encounters become.

++ Enemy diversity. Enough enemy diversity to provide a challenge, and prevents the player from just button mashing.

++ Emotional storytelling. Especially with the death of Taka & the confrontation with your uncle, Shimura.

++ Themes. Theme tackled in main plotline was compelling (sacrificing honor in order to defeat a greater evil).

++ Mythic Tales. Mythic Tales were great side missions that had worthwhile rewards.

CONS:

-- Excessive collectibles. Too many different collectibles.

-- Bland side characters. Many of the NPCs had bland voice-acting and personalities.

-- Side quests. Most of the side tales (quests), with the exception of character questlines, were not incredibly memorable.

First off, Ghost of Tsushima looks amazing in 4k on a PS5. I usually don't use photo mode in games but here I got weak a couple of times because the landscapes were just too pretty.

The game itself was great too. While the main story is nothing to write home about some of the sidequests are quite entertaining. The gameplay is fun and the combat is interesting and diverse with all the different weapons, throwables, and stances. Even the stealth bits were pretty fun and I usually don't like those. The standard difficulty felt just right to me. Enough to occasionally provide a bit of a challenge (really just the Ryuzo, Khotun Khan, and Lord Shimura fights) without getting frustrating.

Why not 5 stars then? I found things got a bit repetitive after a while. Sure, they added elements like the Hwacha sequence to help Goro the smuggler but overall it was pretty much just ride to a place, kill Mongols/bandits, repeat. Also Lord Shimura got on my nerves a bit, his opposition to Jin's methods seemed to lean a bit too heavily into the noble samurai stereotype. Anyway, none of these are deal breakers and I'll most likely play quite a bit more of this as I want to finish all of the side quests.

Edit (Jan 2, 2023): Repetitive or not, I played both the base game and the Iki Island expansion to 100% completion, so I guess I did really like this game. Definitely can't be bothered with New Game+ though.

The main quests are great. The combat is super fun. But then when I started exploring around, I realized how empty the open world actually is. With all the activities having zero meaningful gameplay (shrines are slightly an exception) and all the side quests taking one of about 3 formats, the game loses alot of its magic.

I loved the nature/weather/particles - gorgeous. I feel like, if they just had a bigger team, took their time, or just made it a linear game it would have been incredible. But the components that filled it out to be an open world were very dull and not worth doing for the most part.

Definitely had my expectations too pumped up for this one.

I seem to be of a rare breed of people who aren't all that much into samurai, but this game seems to be less of a historical one and more of a Kurosawa tribute. Being able to play the whole game in "Kurosawa Mode" is a nice touch.

The fact I'm not into it so much personally made me not love most of the major aspects:

The story was alright, but I had a hard time connecting to the characters, including the playable one. Something just feels off to me, and it's always been this way with Sucker Punch games. It all feels a bit "distant", it's very hard to describe.

The world looks pretty good, mainly because of the lighting / shading. But it's also pretty empty. I suppose that's just what Tsushima more or less used to look like, so it's hard to criticise it; it's simply a personal thing of preferring open world games where there's... stuff to do? Apart from sitting down and writing haikus.

The many leaves falling down from trees are definitely a cool feature, but that's about it.

The gameplay is where it gets really good. While I never thought Sucker Punch's worlds were truly immersive (for indescribable reasons), they always managed to get the fighting right and allow for varied combinations with the skill tree. Here you have different outfits to choose from that aid different playthrough styles; although ultimately you better bulk up with the fighting gear because stealth is useless in boss fights. And while dealing with two or three guys is pretty easy in normal mode, boss fights and big fights with multiple people including heavily armored Mongols aren't very forgiving and require some strategy, and having enough ammo for your bow(s) and throwables always comes in handy. I remember from Infamous that it was quite hard at times; Second Son is a game I didn't even play through because it became too frustratingly hard at one point. I think the main reason the fighting is tricky here is that there are two different types of defense that you constantly have to switch between (parrying and dodging). At some point I got so used to the red and blue signals to tell me what to do, I almost unlearned to parry when there's no signal at all; ultimately there are three signals to differentiate, which makes me wonder if building my skill tree that way was even worth it.

All in all it feels a lot like an improved Ubisoft game, using the same formula but making the open world a bit more passable with fast traveling (that is actually fast, in that there are no lengthy loading screens to endure) and, while it might sound like a small detail, a horse that keeps following you when you call it so you can mount it while running, instead of having to stop and wait for it every time. It's the little things...

I definitely liked this game, but it didn't meet my expectations after reading so many good things about it. What I read made me expect something groundbreaking like one of the Rockstar games, or The Witcher 3. But I would say it's just a slightly better newer Assassin's Creed type game with good fighting, and not on par with TW3.

EDIT: I forgot to mention the guiding wind. That was cool. Not having a mini-map definitely makes a difference.

As video game production only continues to grow in style, substance and experience, Ghost of Tsushima is a fitting way to send off the ps4 and bring about a new standard for future games.

Everything about this production makes you stop and catch your breath: the gorgeous vistas, the beautiful and haunting soundtrack melodies, the arresting sword fight standoffs and the tortured tale of a samurai who sacrifices everything for his home and his people.

A true 10/10 game. Play it!

5/5

No mini-map and minimal HUD made this game brilliant. You can still chase after map markers using the wind mechanic. The combat was superb and satisfying to get good at, especially on Hard mode. Really enjoyed the weapon and armor system as well, you could make Jin look exactly how you wanted. The armor perks added more oomph to whichever play style you wanted. Also really liked the platforming bits when finding the shrines and stuff, was very simple but satisfying.

Graphics and art design were stellar. The story was very straightforward but the inner struggle of Jin and his relationship with his uncle hard-carried it into very engaging territory.

Replayed about half the game in an attempt to get to Iki Island in 2024 on PS5. All the positives above still hold true. However I think the gameplay loop just isn't enough to hook me in a second time for the great story. I played on lethal mode which is such a genius move for difficulty. Still a phenomenal game.

Just started this and I find all of Sucker Punch’s dialogue and voice acting choices deeply off putting. The game gives you a choice of Japanese or English dialogue. I chose Japanese and quickly learned that Sucker Punch did nothing to match the voice acted dialogue to the facial animations. It turns out only English matches up. This seems like a significant oversight, one that relegates Japanese spoken dialogue to a secondary, less important position in the game.

Nonetheless, I switched to English and then quickly learned that Sucker Punch’s direction to its Japanese voice cast mirrors that of a lot of western representations of Japanese speech. The choice feels less driven by a desire for Japanese representation than it is rooted in western orientalism. It’s an unsettling and unfortunate first impression that colours my feelings about the game, and my desire to want to continue playing.

It’s also telling that when setting the game up at the start, the English language mode is called “Standard” and Japanese is “Japanese Cinema”, rather than the far more simple English and Japanese. The game positions its questionable English voice direction as the standard way to play the game.

It feels as though, for a studio who made a game that supposedly reveres Japanese culture, they did little to actually reflect that reverence when it comes to the dialogue and voice over direction.

Haven't posted here in ages, mostly because work has keeping me far too busy to even be able to play games, and I was much more in a book/film mood for most of the year. That said, I picked up some of the bigger releases of the year to see what all the hype was about. Having a bit more time now for the holiday season, I started going through them, and the following was the rage-post that resulted. (Originally posted in a discord and slightly edited)

After playing ~7 hours of Ghost of Tsushima, I kinda hate it. It's such an unambitious bog-standard AAA game, with all the hallmarks of Sony gameplay design it sometimes feels like developers have a checklist of things they need to put in to get the Sony bucks. The start of the game is thoroughly slowed down through multiple tutorials. The game features such old friends, as unsikippable cut-scene and walky talky exposition dumps. The fact that they call the black and white filter "Kurosawa mode" would be funny if it wasn't so insulting. If anything, it shows the rampant misunderstanding of cinematic language by game developers.

Film has been a (if not the) major influence on big budget games for the past two video game generations. But this game is probably emblematic in showing the faults that lie therein. The devs named their filter "Kurosawa mode" in honor of legendary director Akira Kurosawa. They call his work a frame of reference (although from reading what they've said I have a sneaking suspicion they really only watched Seven Samurai and Sanjuro). This should somehow be reflected in the game, but honestly, it's not there. Even the mode itself apparently reduces his visual language to: black and white, higher contrast, film grain, muffled sound. So why not call it Kobayashi mode? I guess that name is too unfamiliar for the Western audience who might just recognise Kurosawa's name, but nothing beyond that (just like them erroneously using the term haiku, just because that at least is a word westerners will know, god forbid they learn something new). Nooo, the real reason they call it Kurosawa mode is of course because the filter actually does something else! It increases the wind.

Yep, Kurosawa is now reduced to black & white samurai movies with strong wind. It's not more occurrence of weather in general, because he's obviously not known to layer his frame by employing other weather conditions like rain or snow. No, wind. (also the fact that he did far more than just Samurai movies, or the fact that his color work is impressive as hell as well doesn't matter either). I guess it sounds nit-picky to harp on this when the devs probably just added the name to pay respects to the film director most known in the west for doing samurai (chanbara) movies. But I think it actually shows a far deeper problem. Like I said earlier, a lot of game directors just seem to know jackshit about cinematic language. Kurosawa's your influence for this game? Throw out framing, who gives a damn about editing, what even is blocking, choreography is just something in dance right? And I can understand that it's not very playable to have that in gameplay (although at least early Resi pulled some of it off) but it's not even there in the cutscenes. They're incredibly dull long shots, shot reverse-shots, characters have absolutely no on-screen presence, they just stand there yapping to each other.

Please, please just stop.

Even game directors that know a bit more about cinematic language fail to implement it well. Like, at least God of War had some interesting camera movement in its cutscenes, but it needed to shoulder pat itself for having a camera that never (seemed to) cut. Well con-gratulations, that's not anywhere near as much of an achievement as it is in film, and it served no thematic purpose whatsoever. (also doesn't actually have that much impact when you need to navigate tons of menus that break that continuity anyway).

And I wouldn't even mind this as much, if at least the actual gameplay was cool. But it's not. There's no experimentation, there's no deviation from the formula, it's color by numbers 3rd person action adventure. Unlock all your cool skills by investing points in the eleventythree skill trees! Wow, we have such an immersive experience by not having a mini-map on-screen! Have fun turning on your map every few minutes, or setting a waypoint so you still don't have to think about where you walk while you check off all these little icons worth of side-quests! I also felt like I struggled more with the camera than in the average From Software game. I feel like I still have quite a way to go, and usually that would at least give me some hope the game might add some complexity to its mechanics. But hey, it has skill trees, so I can already pretty much see the extent, and it's not really great.

I don't know if I even want to go on.

I think I was too harsh with Ghost in my review here, because the disappointing, cliche-filled and unoriginal story, clearly didn't leave to my expectations. Yet, my disappointment might have influenced me -at the end as a Japanese history aficionado and big fan of Japanese cinema this was my most awaited game of 2020- and might have overshadowed what I think is great about it, although not entirely historically accurate, it is definitely the best representation of Feudal Japan in Western Media we've had so far. And how beautiful the world is, sometimes I want to re-download it again to be able to trek through the ukiyo-e like beauty, of that mythical Japan. The free DLC, has also inspired or re-established hope for the title.

I am bound to go through it again, and try to make a more serious and focused approach to it.

(Once I am done with MGS2 -my first time playing it! Loving it so far!- and have played a bit of Cyberpunk, of course)

I’ve completed Act 1 here at around 7-8 hours and I think I’m kinda done with it, which is unfortunate since I thought I’d like this a lot more. I can’t overstate how stunning the game is, a mostly realistic natural setting that’s embellished with the extra beauty of a painting almost everywhere you look, but it needs something more than what it has to keep my attention. I won’t write a review since that’s not fair with 2/3 of game left, but some general thoughts and gripes:

The missions just feel so “bleh”... Trail someone for a while, sneak into somewhere through a painfully obvious path, or “investigate” some clues (aka, go hit R2 on some prompts), clear an area of dumb AIs via stealth, then fight... It’s very standard design for this kind of game, but it feels so dull because, to me, the game isn’t excellent in some other way that makes it worth it.

Combat has become a slog through crowds of similar enemies—a few extra abilities being added on both sides doesn’t really make it any more exciting, it just makes it annoying. I find myself just wanting to get these segments over with, and what is there after they’re over? Either another one, a “boss fight” type of thing that’s basically just the same thing I was already doing, or progression of the story which also is not really that interesting. I enjoy the dynamic of two bows, and using the bow up close in the heat of combat is kinda fun, so I’ll give it that.

The story has its moments where it works for me, when it’s laying out its characters’ motivations through some great flashbacks, or just their internal struggles, or when the characters are making up some creative plan, but its broad strokes are just not really all that interesting. Kinda the classic “early in The Witcher 3” problem where people fall off big games while they’re slowly setting up their world and characters, but unlike that one it seems from reviews like it’s not really going to get much better here.

This game feels better in many ways than the latest I’ve played from the Assassins Creeds and similar series of the world, but next to the spectacular open world narrative action games of the last few years like Horizon Zero Dawn or Red Dead Redemption 2 or God of War, this one is just not hooking me in the same ways. I’ll just chalk it up as “not for me” and appreciate all the things it does right, which I really think are quite cool and helping set the standard for what games look like in 2020, even on last-gen hardware.

Been working my way through Act 1 and I’m very impressed by this game’s presentation. The lighting and representation of nature in general is next-level, especially amazing at sunrise/sunset, or when the leaves are blowing around. The minimalist HUD is brilliantly done with subtle wind motions showing the way, and the golden birds and the foxes leading you to secrets instead of just following a waypoint. Loved the way my random stealth assassination of an enemy was intercut with a flashback reminding me that I was breaking the samurai code; the way enemies finish you off when you die and the screen cuts as soon as their sword enters you; the way the mythic quest I just did was set up with these cool black-and-white ink drawings. It’s all really impressive.

Gameplay is enjoyable, especially when I can complete an entire mission in stealth. The story is pretty good, taking on a serious tone that can really draw me in at times. I am finding playing the game for a long session to be really tiring but I’ll keep picking away at it and see where it goes from here.

What an absolute pleasurable experience. This game had so much love put into it it was staggering to play. I said before it was so damn 'human' and I stick by this. The world felt so detailed, the characters so rich, the setting so compelling... there's a lot to love to this game.

It did get a little repetitive by the end but I was seeking out a lot of the question marks and going for side quests (or Tales if you will) and I was happy to finish it but I really just enjoyed the whole world.

Put a lot more time into this one. I'm currently nearing the end of Act 2 with most side content done. The story isn't really all that great, relying on several tropes but it's just so damn human in its portrayal of the relationships between characters. Many moments have touched me and once again, the level of care that's been placed in this game is astonishing.

This could very well be the best game I've played all year.

Easily favourite game of 2020 and one of the best games I've ever played, Jin Sakai's story is riveting from start to finish. Visually it's some of the best graphics I've seen and really makes the sometimes long treks feel joyful. Characters are well written and likeable and the main antagonist is a proper villain, one you are desperate to overcome. The gameplay is one of repetitiveness in the sense of clearing outposts and a relentless amount of side missions, but the exciting, brutal and fluid combat keeps it from being that and that subtle but impactful soundtrack completes the experience.

There is just something so soothing about this game. I originally believed it was generic looking from initial gameplay trailers - looking like a dash of Shadow of Mordor and Assassin's Creed - but I didn't entirely write it off, deciding to make up my own mind from some gameplay.

The level of detail and care put into this game reminds me of Spider-Man. Yes it is still generic in many regards, but care has been placed in world-building and adding unique challenges to existing open-world traditions. Question marks aren't always bandit dens or camps, they can be a quiet moment to reflect upon something heavy on Jin's heart or a hot spring to take a moment and relax. After putting the better part of my day into this game I'm so impressed with the detail put into this game that I just want to devour it all as quickly as possible to soak in the reverie that will come with having experienced a well-crafted and lovingly made game.

Ghost of Tsushima could've been a mediocre game at best, but it proves to be much better than many other open world games out there.

This is probably the most beautiful game I've ever played, after TLOU2. Part of the reason why it is so fantastic is because of its scenery. The art direction and evinronmental design is near-perfect here and it merges VERY WELL with story and gameplay. The island of Tsushima is so rich with beauty and secrets to find, that makes you ACTUALLY strive to defend it from the Mongols. It makes you give a **** The gameplay is also top-notch. I confess that it took me a long while to fully get used to the combat but, when it clicks, it CLICKS. It mixes style with substance with ease and makes every single encounter be slightly different or intense enough to make you search for more. Especially during the big battles that the story throws you in.

Exploration (of course) plays a gigantic role in how you'll enjoy the game's progress and I'm happy to say that riding and running through the fields of Tsushima is one of the "chillest" things in gaming, in 2020. Discovering secrets, experiencing the calm soundtrack, collecting masks, flowers, completing objectives, raising your legend status and doing everything else that the open world has to offer is stunning. It might get repetitive, since objectives lose variety halfway through the 2nd act, outstaying its welcome a bit, but it's nothing gamebreaking and it's just incredible how GoT's collectables managed to keep me interested until the credits roll. Even the sidequests got me hooked. There are some very fun and well-written ones.

But the story is probably the weakest part of GoT. While it does get better in the 2nd act, characters have no charisma and the writing lacks any surprises and charm. It does come with some impactful high stakes moments and a few enjoyable samurai tropes, but not enough to make it stand out. Combat, while VERY stylish, does require some time to get used to. At first, it might feel clunky, especially when you're fighting many enemies. Fighting does not work against mobs in this game. Also, stealth mechanics, while seviceable, only work when you done perfectly. Problem is, GoT will seldom give you space or a path to always eliminate entire groups by only using stealth.

One last thing that might push you away from Ghost of Tsushima is how "cliché" it can become. It is an open world that WILL get repetitive, DOES use a bunch of systems and mechanics from others of the genre and NO, it's not as good as industry colossi like The Witcher 3 or Zelda BOTW. The thing is: That's fine! Ghost of Tsushima gets all of those clichés and problems, put them in a powerful blender and makes an impressive and bonafide juice with it. If you like action and open world games, I definitely recommend this one. It's one of the most remarkable exclusives on the console.

Unless... Unless you don't like the samurai, for some reason.

This game is perfectly competent. That's about the best compliment I can give it. It does a lot of things that have been done before, competently. It does some new and interesting things but they don't blow you away, they're competent. In other words, it's a pretty bog-standard open world adventure game with a check-list, "towers", and missions where you follow people slowly without getting too close.

Starting with the most obvious elements of the game, the combat and stealth, there are a few things that work well in its favour. The combat skills make for fun, high octane, fight scenes that are super photogenic and can, at times, feel super cool. Moves like the heavenly strike make combos flashy and dynamic, knowing the best ways to launch your combos and the best finishers to use is very satisfying.

That said, the combat isn't without its flaws. With no lock on system in place, large fights can get sloppy and can result in moments where you feel robbed of success. Generally, when fighting, you use the left stick to direct your attacks towards a target but at times Jin will attack the wrong enemy or a closer target than where you're directing him. More than once I broke down a foe's guard and hit the buttons for a heavenly strike only to have Jin launch the attack off to the right, at a guy who took almost no damage since I hadn't hit him at all yet.

Moving on, the stealth is rudimentary. If you've played Assassin's Creed you know exactly what this stealth is like. It doesn't really add anything to the formula, avoid lines of sight and stab guys. You can level up to do chain assassinations and get gear that makes you harder to detect but that's about it. Nothing to write home about.

Stealth missions, because of this design, can be confusing and frustrating at times. Missions where getting caught is a fail state can feel incredibly linear, with a single path to progress through, which seems pointless in my view. What's the point of all these skills if all I need to do is crouch walk along the path you've pre-designed to get me through? On one occasion I failed to sneak but must have hit a check point because I loaded forward in the mission, I still have no idea how to succeed at that particular mission.

The story is alright, maybe one of the weaker points. None of the characters really have personality, and Jin's journey to becoming the Ghost is weakened by this. The game suffers from a real "events as plot" mindset, there aren't many occasions where you really spend time with your allies to get to know who they are as people. You only show up to help them murder the people that they're mad at so that, when it's time, they'll show up to help you murder the people that you're mad at.

Spoiler territory now: The side characters are fine. Whatever. A lady samurai on a murderous revenge rampage is fine. It would have been nice to know who she was as a person better but oh well. The characters that really come across as weak are Jin, Yuna, Ryuzo, Taka, and good ol' Uncle Shimura. Playing as Jin you don't really spend any time with his uncle or his childhood friend. There are a few flashbacks to Jin's past where his uncle is fatherly but aside from a combat tutorial they're non-interactive. Ryuzo does not appear in flashbacks. This kind of drains the impact of his betrayal, as well as the conflict between Shimura's honour and Jin's fall from grace.

Yuna and Taka are better served, but ultimately Taka dies off so fast his sacrifice is more of a gotcha than something the writing built up to. Yuna gets more time with Jin and we learn of her past, her abusive mother, and why she and Taka ran away but nothing else. Additionally, we have no idea about her values or beliefs, she's just there for the ride, I guess.

The plot is flat. It's serviceable if you turn your brain off, but it's not worth much consideration.

Where this game really shines is the exploration. When you go off the story and quest rails to play with the toolbox that the devs have given you. Raiding camps, dueling, assassinating, and mowing down enemies is what the game was built for. The above gripes can make for frustrating moments, but they don't happen in every encounter, and if you're the kind of person who likes completing a collectathon in an open world then this game scratches that itch.

The world is beautiful, the minimalistic HUD and the photo mode really add to this. Without the constraints of the plot the game is much, much better.

Ghost of Tsushima is a totally passable experience. The plot's not great but it is short at least, and the combat can be fun when it opts to function correctly. The world is beautiful, the sound is excellent, and if you need a little vacation into an action game with colour and interesting vistas to explore, you could do worse than this.