Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut is truly a masterpiece, much like its original release. It introduces an entirely new and separate experience with Iki while bringing and refining the beauty of the gameplay and visuals.
It has been over a year and a system ago that we reviewed Ghost of Tsushima on Digitalchumps.com. The game in July 2020 was a masterpiece of narrative storytelling that was unrivaled in its execution. It took us through Japan’s Tsushima Island and samurai history led by a vengeful, yet honorable lead character named Jin Sakai. His quest was to save his homeland island from an invading Mongol force that was hellbent on taking Japan and bringing down the Shoguns. It was a one-player adventure at the time that broke off into multiplayer last year with Legends, a free download so that people could party with each other. That said, here we are now in August 2021 and the director’s cut of this game has surfaced with PS5 upgrades and a new tale for a separate area called Iki Island. For PS4 and PS5 owners is this worth the price of admission? Well, let’s talk.
Is it worth it
God, yes, it’s worth the price of admission. Thankfully, I didn’t save my PS4 console save on my PlayStation Plus account, which meant I had to go back through this entire game again to unlock the Tale of Iki Island at the beginning of act two, which only took about 20 hours to get to in the game. You’re wondering if that is sarcasm, no that isn’t. The game was a treat to go through the first go around thanks to its immersive and thick narrative carefully crafted by the good devs at Sucker Punch. Going through the loss, trials and tribulations, and seeing it a year removed from the original playthrough dug up seemingly new feelings on how the story unfolds. It confirmed what I had felt the first time I wrote a review about this game. It was a masterpiece of storytelling. All of this before even setting foot on the new Iki Island.
The addition of Iki Island does feel like a separate expansion from the main story, so the term ‘director’s cut’ is correct on items outside of the main narrative but does not apply to Iki at all. Iki is a separate story of its own that would have never worked with the original cut of this game. It is in the truest sense an expansion, which should make some of you on the fence very happy because it means it’s a big story that has a timeline of its own to work with as you progress. That also means that you feel like you’re on a separate adventure even though the game is still on act two when you get the option to shove off onto Iki. Once you’re on Iki, you’re on Iki and you have to complete it.
The Tale of Iki Island is mainly focused on Jin’s father, whom he saw die on Iki island during a battle with raiders and rebels of the island (this is a storyline that was included in the first go-around of the game but never explored). Jin goes there to help people because Iki was the first stop of the Mongols before they invaded Tsushima. Anyway, after Jin crashes into its shore, the story introduces a new villain named The Eagle. She is a warped Mongol that distributes a poison that makes the recipient go mad with guilt and eventually fall into loyalty with her teachings. It’s almost a Serpent and the Rainbow type of mind control, where it’s more fearful and psychological in nature. Once Jin gets the initial poison, he must deal with the guilt of his father’s death and the switching back/forth of being present and being out of his mind. Ultimately, Jin must stop The Eagle before Iki completely falls under her poisonous spell, which would make saving Japan more difficult.
It’s a good storyline that is certainly an expansion by construction. It connects with the main story well, but only with a sliver of a connection. And that is okay because it entertains just as well. I’m impressed with how Sucker Punch has gotten the most out of its narrative tales. I’m not sure they need to stray away from a strong single-player experience if they can keep delivering good moments and emotional trials and triumphs as they have done with Tsushima as a whole. The stories make this game worth your admission price.
What about the gameplay
The gameplay has been just a bit refined on the PlayStation 5, or I have perceived it as such. While I still do not like the free-floating camera that can get caught behind trees (and whatever) at times, it still works better than a locked camera. That said, the movement of Jin has been tightened up, something you can see when he climbs, and when he fights. The glitchy nature of the game because of its girth has been very much cleaned up. I think my game maybe quit on me once during my playthrough the last week, but that was prior to an early patch released for it. Every aspect of controls and gameplay seem a bit more refined and focused, though that wasn’t terribly an issue the first go around. It just feels more comfortable pulling off moves and less loosey-goosey. Again, this might be my 60+ hours of gameplay and muscle memory, but it feels like the game went through some clean-up to tighten the gameplay experience up.
Controls aside, the game does offer up some new items of interest.
Firstly, GoTDC brings three new evolving tactics. One of the evolving tactics is a horse charge. While I won’t get into when you get this and why I will say it’s nice to see the horse come into play with regard to fighting. The charge sends the horse barreling into a crowd of enemies and hurling them through the air. The charge tactic uses up resolve (if you don’t remember, that keeps your health in check and allows you to pull off special moves) but is entertaining and effective if executed correctly. The addition of three tactics widens the game’s scope on gameplay options. It was fine the way it was, but you didn’t know how much you needed these tactics before until you use them. The other two tactics will remain a spoiler-free secret. They’re good but not as extensive as the horse charge.
The second set of items is the inclusion of new tales that equal out to new armor. One of the charms of the original game was to explore mythical stories and obtain new armor or items that would help enhance Jin’s abilities during his quest. Iki brings in some strange stuff including a cursed set of monkey armor that is both brutal in delivery and how it affects Jin’s defensive skills. The first go-around with the game brought mostly positive upgrades to Jin’s journey, but the new ones in Iki look to make the gamer think about what they’re wearing and the pros/cons of doing so. It’s a change of direction from the original design, but it does offer up some interesting ways to approach a battle. It certainly works for what it’s trying to do, and you have to high-five Sucker Punch for going a different direction with this segment of gameplay. It was a chance for sure, but a welcomed one.
The third interesting addition to Iki is new enemies are introduced. The Eagle brings in a mythical, trippy storyline that is more from a Wes Craven horror fantasy than it is grounded like the original game. That’s not bad at all and it changes how you should perceive Ghost of Tsushima, now and into the future. The game also introduces a new set of enemies, one led by a throat singing Mongol. The Mongol will stop on a battlefield and sing, which will make killing charging enemies more difficult. The singing enrages everyone and drives them insane. Hitting an enemy while this goes on is essentially ineffective, though it is possible to eventually kill an enemy during this process. The singing Mongol must be taken out first during fights, which isn’t difficult, but sometimes can be incredibly inconvenient due to their location and the rest of the Mongol horde coming down on you at the same time. The new throat singing villain changes up the gameplay quite a bit, making it more difficult to strategize how you’re going to get through Mongol territory. In other words, you won’t be going through the motions towards the end of the tale.
Related, the difficulty of Iki is far above what you will find in the original tale. The inclusion of the singing Mongol and the sheer number of enemies the game throws at you will have you sweating just a bit as you slowly tear through your Iki adventure. The difficulty seems appropriate to the game given the narrative, so it won’t feel like you’re playing Dark Souls all of a sudden, rather it will feel like you’ve run into a different kind of enemy that is far trickier than expected. It works and it will offer up a challenge, but a welcomed one.
Other items to focus on during this expansion are the additional activities on Iki, which include, and this is so wonderful a cat sanctuary. The island is crawling with cats, monkeys, and deer. Walking into a cat sanctuary is something special, as you must play the flute for wild cats using the motion controls of the PlayStation 5 Dualshock. If you successfully play the flute in a weird Guitar Hero alternate universe, then you get the pleasure of petting kitties. If you’re not a cat person, then you’re missing out on how much joy this brings. Maybe you’ll be one by the end of this experience. Who knows?
Anyway, you do have other cool activities outside of animals, as you can enter yourself into a Bokken tournament (fighting) and an archery challenge (hitting lanterns in a certain amount of time). While all these things are a bit Horizon Zero Dawn, they’re still neat distractions if you need a break from killing singing Mongols.
The additional points of interest with Iki are wonderful for continuing Jin’s adventure through Tsushima’s siege. They add to the overall package and don’t weigh it down.
About these PlayStation 5 upgrades…
I know that Sucker Punch has put a lot of time and effort into making Ghost of Tsushima a gorgeous game. Hell, it was stunning before any of the PS5 upgrades rained down. The game’s presentation has considerably improved thanks to those upgrades and we just never knew how good these were until they arrived. While the frame rate was improved a few months ago with a few PS5 upgrades, the visuals have been on-point with this director’s cut. The draw distance is amazing, and it never goes away. You truly feel like you’re on a big island with lots to explore. Iki’s visuals might outshine the original game, as the water and beachfront are more visible and contained, while also displaying the hilly landscape that has a beautiful array of flowers everywhere. The weather is certainly more erratic on Iki and the lushness of the landscape is proof of it. Sucker Punch did a bang-up job of not relying on the usual visuals or borrowing heavily from Tsushima’s. Iki is a world of its own that feels separate and individually defined and contained. It carries its own characteristics yet does remind the player that it’s connected with its big brother Tsushima.
As for other upgrades, the lighting seems more accurate, and the ray tracing is gorgeous. It does everything right visually and reminds the gamer how lucky they are to experience it on a current-generation console (not to rub it in for those who don’t have a PS5 yet – you’ll adore this when you get there).
The PS5 upgrades, which include a fast travel and load time of 1-2 seconds, are something to behold.
Conclusion
Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut is truly a masterpiece, much like its original release. It introduces an entirely new and separate experience with Iki while bringing and refining the beauty of the gameplay and visuals.
