Ghost of Tsushima is a narrative-driven game that has unique combat, a plethora of exploration, and enough heart to keep gamers coming back for more even after the game is beaten. The lack of a combat camera locking system will certainly cause some frustrations, but that is small potatoes when compared to the rest of the experience. This is the game Sucker Punch said it would be, and you won’t be disappointed.
Sony has been the Marvel Cinematic Universe lately with its releases. They have been blessed with hit titles and extraordinary narratives, and it appears that the hits will just keep on rolling with its latest title — Ghost of Tsushima.
Story of the Ghost
Ghost of Tsushima unleashes the extraordinary tale of one samurai’s quest to keep his homeland safe from invading Mongol forces. The game focuses on samurai Jin Sakai, who nearly falls in battle trying to defend Tsushima during the initial Mongol invasion. Sakai manages to survive, unlike his brethren, thanks to a thief named Juna, and recovers enough to find out what happened to his comrades. Jin soon discovers that not only have the Mongols taken control of Tsushima and are terrorizing residents of the island, but he also learns that their general and leader, Khotun Khan, has taken the island’s main samurai, Lord Shimura, who also happens to be Jin’s uncle. Desperate to get his uncle back and restore peace to Tsushima, Jin ends up confronting Khan only to be knocked off a large bridge and left for dead again. Much like the first time around, Jin survives and has to revive and reset his journey, find help with local residents, and slowly make his way back to confronting Khan.
Is that the entire story? GOD, NO! Not even close. In fact, that is the first act of the first act. The story is huge, it’s engaging, fulfilling, and, above all else, memorable. This structured narrative is on par with the likes of Horizon Zero Dawn, in my humble opinion. The story in Ghost of Tsushima makes you want to take out the Mongols and take back the island at all costs. If you needed a game this year that was drenched in emotion and that makes you feel a sense of urgency from beginning to end (which isn’t what you think it might be), then welcome to Ghost of Tsushima. Sucker Punch absolutely knocked this out of the ballpark on the narrative side of the tracks. They built a strong lead character that is believable and one that is also grounded and flawed. The latter being the most vital of narrative design, as those traits humanize Jin and make him easier to understand and bond with as a gamer. Anyway, this game might be Sucker Punch’s best work to date, and the story isn’t as straightforward as this all seems (meaning there is a lot of hidden gems within the bigger picture).
One of the bigger reasons the narrative works so well is that the characters are given time to develop. Beyond our main character Jin, you have side characters that have their own personal stories and stakes with Tsushima’s fate. Juna, the thief that helps Jin recover at the beginning, has her own reasons for fighting the Mongols, and it isn’t related to the samurai code. Characters like Juna bring their own cause to the fight, as well as their own stories that are built into substantial side quests but fit perfectly into the main story. Each quest has its own journey and each one comes with its own powerful conclusion, but all conclusions feed back into the overall adventure. Sucker Punch did their best to make each person matter and add to the weight of urgency that presses down on the entire island of Tsushima. It’s absolutely breathtaking how well these characters are developed and how much they matter to the overall picture.
I’m telling you all this because story matters in games (duh). Gameplay design and graphics are sideshows compared to a good, memorable story. Stories are what make games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, God of War, Halo, and Metal Gear long-lasting in the minds of gamers. Story is what drives Tsushima and it’s why the game excels.
No Hack and Slash
Sucker Punch did an admirable job of getting the fighting system in Ghost of Tsushima right. Fighting feels good when you get into the groove of it. You can roll around to dodge attacks and perform light swings and heavy hits with your sword when the time is right. The game has a bit of that God of War chaos to its fighting system, where you can pull off destructive moves quickly when hitting the right notes at the right time.
Success and failure of fights depends solely on one thing — timing. Knowing when to attack and when to defend is something you just have to get better at with each fight you run into because it’s going to be rough going at the beginning. With any game of this type, players will have to overcome multiple failures. You will find that the system is more intelligent than you assume. The AI of the Mongols (and other enemies) is smarter than they appear. They know when to block and when they have the advantage. There are times when enemies have a brainfart but, for the most part, they know their roles and perform them swimmingly. Having good timing and learning from your failures will be key to success.
One of the biggest timing elements is blocking. Blocking is key to everything in the game, as silly as that sounds. If you block at the right time, you throw your opponent back and open them up for sword damage. Correctly timed blocks also refill Jin’s ‘resolve’, which is a circular meter that has two purposes: refilling health and allowing for special moves, two things you will need to survive in every fight. You essentially can keep Jin in a fight or build him up during the game if you master blocking. As Van Wilder said in the first movie, ‘write that down’. I spent the first part of the game avoiding blocking because I thought I could just get away with slash-slash-slash at enemies; that is not the case at all. Blocking is vital for your success in Ghost of Tsushima and you should get to know the ins and outs of it as soon as the game gets going.
The trick about blocking is that it doesn’t work all the time. Enemies can pull off special moves that range from incredibly tricky to anticipate, all the way up to impossible to block. When enemies pull off impossible to block moves, they tend to wind up, shine a red/orange glimmer before they are unleashed, and then strike. Getting out of the way is the only option, and these moves are unpredictable if you’re trying to look for a pattern.
The incredibly tricky moves shine blue, but at least give you a fighting chance to block, but are extremely (can’t stress this enough) tough to block as you have to have the exact timing for the block. Most of the time in this game, I just dodged out of the way with both the above scenarios. Both were frustrating, especially the impossible to block moves. Ultimately, I did get used to them, which helped tremendously as the game pushed on. They certainly made gave enemies a depth of challenge and not each one acted the same way which, respectfully, brought a fresh variety of gameplay to each fight. Still, very frustrating. Grrrr.
To add more flavor to the fighting system, Ghost of Tsushima also features upgrades through special missions called Mythic Tales. These missions, which are marked in blue on the map, give you access to Tsushima lore. The lore usually tells you about a great samurai that roamed the land in the past. Each warrior had a special power or special item that went with their lore. If you complete the Mythic Tale, you can obtain whatever the lore spoke about. Sometimes it can be armor, sometimes a weapon, and sometimes a technique. Regardless, each item helps you during fights and adds a bit more ‘oomph’ to Jin’s arsenal. I want to tell you the specifics of these items but I honestly don’t want to spoil them.
Beyond special weapons/armor and standard sword swipes, the game also features a variety of side weapons that make the combat a bit more diverse. As the game progresses and Jin begins to learn new items, you obtain such things as smoke bombs, sticky bombs, throwing knives, and other distracting and destructive objects that will keep your samurai butt alive. The throwing knives, especially at the beginning can be a great distraction for enemies. If you hit enemies with the throwing knives, it knocks them back and opens them up for sword attacks. These secondary items are useful and not all of them are offensive. As mentioned above, some can be distractions, especially the items I haven’t mentioned. As cool as these might sound, they do have a downside during battle.
If you try to switch between the above items during a fight it can be a messy situation, as the button layout isn’t as easy as 1-2-3. For example, if you’re switching from short bow to longbow in the game, you have to hold down L2 to access the menu, while pushing up on the directional pad (short bow) or right on the directional pad (longbow). You also have to choose between arrow types, which can be either circle or triangle. You’re thinking to yourself right now, “Seriously, Nathan? You’re bitching about this?” Take into account that you’re doing this while you’re trying to dodge charging enemies. I can’t tell you how many times I had to create distance between Jin and the enemies, switch secondary items out, then go back to the enemies and begin fighting again. Trust me, panic pushing on the control scheme will happen. I honestly never got used to these controls, but I did manage them over time. Eventually, I found a system of fighting and switching that worked, but it wasn’t perfect and I still panic-pushed my. buttons.
Pulling back to the positives, an additional item for Ghost of Tsushima’s combat system is learning fighting stances. You learn these stances through enemy generals, who practice them in Mongol camps. You do have to take out each general, but that’s the price you pay for learning. Each stance you learn allows you to break certain enemy defenses. For example, there is a stance that will allow you to break shields carried by giant enemy muscle heads. By using this stance and breaking the enemy defense, you can swoop in with swordplay and take out baddies quickly. The quicker you can break the defenses of an enemy, the quicker you can dispose of them. The stances add a lot to the combat system in the game and changing between them is actually a breeze (R2, then pick a button that represents a stance). I hadn’t discovered how useful the stances were until halfway through the game, then I started to get the combat system down and picked fights instead of dreading them.
The stances themselves are buried under the ‘techniques’ tab of the menu and are upgraded through a skills tree. The technique tab holds your skill tree for Samurai skills, Stances skills, and Ghost skills. Each of these skill trees can be unlocked using technique points. You can earn technique points by completing missions, killing Mongols (and other enemies) out in the wild, or by completing story missions. The more skills you have, the easier the combat system becomes, which motivates you to continually find fights and/or rescue villagers that need saving.
While all of the above seems more positive than negative, there are some downsides to the combat system. The two biggest issues I found during gameplay revolve around camera control and the lack of an enemy locking system.
The camera situation is weird for this day and age in gaming. When you’re in a fight with multiple people, sometimes the camera will swing out and find itself out of place. What I mean by ‘out of place’ is that you can get stuck behind a bush and have to keep retreating until the camera has a clear view of your opponent. I can’t tell you how many times I lost track of my opponent during a fight due to my surroundings. Was it manageable? Yes, but it was persistent. I still completed the game, and I’m close to a platinum trophy but it was rather annoying.
The lack of an enemy locking system was more than likely the cause of the above issue. While I’m certainly not Sucker Punch, nor could I be on my brightest day, I think adding an enemy locking system would have cleared up the loosey-goosey camera. It would have certainly been one less thing to think about during fighting. It would have been nice to lock onto an enemy, let the game take control of the camera, and allow me to stay focused on the fight. I’m sure Sucker Punch tested this out somewhere along the way and had their reasons for excluding it, but on the surface it feels like a necessity. It certainly would have saved my kids from hearing some curse words.
The camera issue is manageable, but it’s not perfect by any means. It also isn’t a dealbreaker whatsoever, so people complaining about this as if it devastates the gameplay should just simmer down a bit. Just know that the camera will give you fits sometimes, but you will be able to work around it.
The overall combat system is complete and beautiful, but certainly not perfect. It does add more positive than negative, so you’ll have more to look forward to than to dread.
Customizing, Items, and Gathering
The demo that was shown a month or so ago (maybe two months ago, gosh the pandemic sucks when it comes to remembering times) boasted the ability to customize Jin. They delivered perfectly on this aspect of the game. Ghost of Tsushima allows you to dress your samurai the way you see fit with items that you gather or are awarded. You can also change the color of outfits, weapons, and whatnot through patterns you either buy or gather from missions. Outfits for Jin are broken down into hats, masks, and armor. You can mix and match all of them and, trust me, you won’t be short on gear or occasional humor.
You can also change things like saddles for your horse and find special items through the help of golden birds as you move along. The golden birds also take you to hot springs that level up your health, as well as sword slicing bamboo stands (those are crazy fun) that will increase your resolve as you progress in the game (these are so important for your survival — let me stress that again — SO IMPORTANT). The birds also lead you to rare gear scattered throughout Tsushima. There are a lot of places in the game to explore to find these items and golden birds will lead you to them, so pay attention to your surroundings.
Other items that you can pick up that will help you either defensively or offensively are charms. Charms can be acquired through visiting Shinto Shrines or visiting enough Inari Shines (fox shrines). You’ll want to visit the fox shrines to pet the foxes, so bonus! The charms can be applied to your swords and will help provide you an edge (pun intended) during battle. The charms are tiered and offer up a certain amount of strategy on which ones you’ll use that will help successfully move Jin along the battlefield. To be quite honest, charms are vital for your success in the game as much as resolve is, as they can be powerful with the right combination in place.
If fighting, customizing, and strategizing weren’t enough for you, there is also item gathering. After you take down a Mongol camp or save villagers from ‘other’ folks, you can explore buildings and tents to find specialty items. As with the main story, I won’t ruin it for you, but just know that ‘gathering’ everything you find as you’re ripping through enemy locales is a good way to progress in the game. I won’t say anything else. Just heed those words.
Exploring, Presentation, and…Load Times?
The first two items in this section’s headings are self-explanatory. You will definitely want to explore this Tsushima’s land and all the secrets that it holds. What’s hilarious about exploration is that the first week I was playing this game I unlocked the island from head to toe. I thought to myself, “There is a lot of land here, but it certainly isn’t as big as a Horizon Zero Dawn.” I was dumb. This sizable landmass that took me over 20+ hours to complete was just the first act of the game…then more land showed up. My thoughts shifted quickly to, “This actually might be bigger than HZD.” ‘Might’ being the word of choice there, and it is comparable to HZD in scope. Sucker Punch was on the money when they said the game was built for exploration. You will want to take in this world and find all the wonders and secrets it hides. There are plenty of both.
The presentation of this game also pushes you to explore it. I’m not entirely sure what engine Sucker Punch used to build this game on, but it’s freaking gorgeous. It wasn’t overhyped in the initial presentation, rather it was spot on what they showed in the demo. From endless fields of flowers to overcast creepy nights with fog rolling over eerie fields, the game is going to rock on the PS5 whenever the hell it gets here. The Akira Kurosawa-like visual mode is an outstanding addition to the overall visual flavor of this game. This particular mode seemed to be the driving point behind the game’s design on every level of its development. Dramatic stand-offs and emotional encounters seem to have been built out of a Kurosawa film’s structure. As for what it looks like on a PS4 Pro, it is nothing short of fucking stunning. It hits all the right marks and that directional wind that helps lead you to your destinations make it visually better. There’s so much to love about the visuals of this game. The draw distance is something to behold.
Shifting gears, let’s talk about the load times. I know, I know…load times? Yes. Load. Times. For a game with this type of beauty, this scope and size, you would expect the load times to be comparable to HZD, which has similar scope and visuals. If you played HZD, you know that ‘fast travel’ meant at least 20-40 seconds of load time, if not more, which defeated the term ‘fast travel’. Sure, technically, it did help you cover land quickly, but you felt the load times. Felt them so much that you could leave to get a snack in the kitchen and still come back and the game almost was loaded (I still love HZD, so no disrespect).
Ghost of Tsushima didn’t allow you to feel the load times, as the most amount of time that passed during a ‘fast travel’ session was a maximum of seven seconds. Most of the fast travels were actually much shorter. It was impressive enough for me to notice and want to write about them, which I haven’t done since the release of King of Fighters ’97 on the first PlayStation (1:30 minutes between matches — so much fun). The quick load times also translated to reload times when I died in major fights. The reload times lasted about 1-2 seconds. You don’t even have time to curse and readjust your controllers before being thrown back into the fight at those speeds. Anyway, the load times for the game was crazy impressive.
Okay, I’ve jibber-jabbered enough, let’s wrap.
Final Verdict
Ghost of Tsushima is a narrative-driven game that has unique combat, a plethora of exploration, and enough heart to keep gamers coming back for more even after the game is beaten. The lack of a combat camera locking system will certainly cause some frustrations, but that is small potatoes when compared to the rest of the experience. This is the game Sucker Punch said it would be, and you won’t be disappointed.
