CRISP. Gaming: Ghost Of Tsushima Review, Playstation 4

This is the one we’ve been waiting for.

Developer Sucker Punch – the brains behind Sly Cooper and the Infamous series – turn their hand to another epic open-world adventure in Ghost of Tsushima, a story of a single hero pitted against insurmountable forces invading his homeland.

You are tasked to gather a disparate group of mercenaries, fallen samurai and humble peasants to rise up against the Mongol hordes in a game steeped in stylish combat and stealthy action.

Rote in parts, this game still serves as a totally immersive, exciting and intricately woven experience which is captivating throughout.

Let us tell you why the journey to becoming The Ghost is one you definitely want to take on your PS4.

 

 

Story

This is a very grounded tale of honour, family and sacrifice in pushing the Mongols from Tsushima – the last bastion against an invasion of mainland Japan.

The path to victory is an unorthodox one however, conveying protagonist Jin Sakai’s internal struggle of challenging his code of samurai ethics with the guerilla stealth tactics needed to defeat the invaders. 

It’s this balance of blood-soaked violence with a deep resolve that makes Jin such an interesting character, a far cry from the cipher that he seems at the start. 

Flashbacks to times with both his father and his mentor Lord Shimura flesh out an emotional journey of confronting the past, contending with current foes and his many difficult decisions needed to liberate his island.

This is a story rooted in authentic history, Ghost of Tsushima is very much a swords and (Japanese) sandals tale that occasionally dips into the realm of the fantastic with optional side quests to find mythical fighting styles and armour.

Many of these tales run in parallel to the main questlines and span the entire length of the story, often proving poignant and lending real depth to supporting characters.

Uniting the various clans and disparate people of the island to rise up is a thrilling experience, with a real story arc and growth of Jin as his reputation as the titular Ghost grows – injecting fear into the hearts of your enemies.

 

 

Graphics

Sumptuous visuals are a huge draw throughout Ghost of Tsushima – incredibly saturated palettes and hyper-stylised landscapes create endless stop-and-stare moments as you traverse the island.

The game uses all manner of visual cues to maintain immersion – the soft blowing of the wind steering you in the direction of your next objective, yellow birds subtly steering towards unique loot, fires or plumes of smoke on the horizon always leading to an interesting event or item – making exploration often worthwhile.

The world feels truly alive with every blade of grass, flower and tree swaying as light dapples on your armour – they’ve created an incredible sense of place in Tsushima, where just pointing your horse to a waypoint to explore is frequently met with surprise and wonder.

Display options include HDR support to make colours even more vivid and a Kurosawa Mode which places colour palette and film grain evoking classic samurai tales of old.

Playstation 4 Pro owners can also benefit from a resolution or frame rate toggle in the options, bumping the fidelity even higher. We can only imagine how incredible this game will look like with the inevitable PS5…

It’s truly impressive that Sucker Punch has managed to deliver this quality of visuals on such a grand scale of environment – Ghost of Tsushima is open-world done right.

 

 

Gameplay

Tsushima definitely has the feel of an ‘Assassin’s Creed in Japan’ (which we’ve long wanted!), but with a more focussed story, stronger combat, improved visuals and less RPG-lite trappings to make for a tighter overall experience.

You have open freedom in traversal, but slightly more clunky than a pure stealth or action game – still allowing for a variety of ways to tackle situations and opponents.

Whilst you possess the same pairing of a long katana and short tanto blade throughout the game, these – as with armour only found in missions as opposed to looted – can be enhanced with resources and customised visually.

Stats are broad-brush as opposed to attached to numerical values – 30% more resilience or 15% more to stealth – meaning that you won’t need to spend hours comparing incremental differences, and more time in the action.

Combat is brutal and you’ll meet a swift end with a few well-placed arrows or katana strikes if not methodical. The pacing is deliberate, with windows to block and parry for the patient player.

What starts as an overwhelming and complicated combat system quickly becomes second nature as you read your enemies’ stances, switching techniques on the fly and dispatching multiple foes with single strikes.

A real highlight is duels and boss battles – pivotal one-on-one fights against named enemies. These are a thrilling, cinematic war of attrition that distills Ghost’s swordplay and is a true test of your ability to block, parry and attack effectively.

The absence of lock-on is odd, however, causing movement around enemies to feel a little strange as strikes miss – understandable as gameplay is geared towards aiming at multiple foes but keenly felt when against a single combatant.

The game will easily run into 40+ hours to complete all core and side stories, with the game still finding a way to offer plenty to enjoy and discover after the credits roll on the main tale.

 

 

In addition to your health bar, a series of yellow pips marked as ‘resolve’ enables you to special moves and recover energy during combat. Increasing this by conducting a number of side quests becomes key as the difficulty swiftly ramps up.

A less direct form of combat is possible via a laundry list of skills to unleash your inner ninja – kunai blades, smoke bombs to disorient enemies, wind chimes to distract – the option for stealth is plentiful, and the penalty is rarely steep if things escalate.

Hiding in long grass and dispatching foes with the bow never gets old…but is at odds with your samurai heritage, so it’s up to the player to decide whether or not to take the honourable path…

It is a bit of a collectathon in the open world style, but all meaningfully woven into the setting and punctuating the tale with genuine moments of calm.

Onsens (open-air baths) provide an opportunity to increase health whilst quietly reflecting on everything from death to your favourite meals, bamboo strikes increase resolve, and areas of natural beauty can strike Jin with the inspiration to craft haikus and unlock unique headbands.

The PS4’s trackpad is also used in some clever ways – a swipe up creates another gust of wind to highlight your direction of travel, whilst a swipe to the right unsheaths your blade…as well as enabling you to wipe it off after a particularly gory interaction. 

Torii gates dotted around the environment often mark a shrine, where plenty of attention to your surroundings and deft leaping leads to new charms to build out your character.

Charms act as perks to your samurai’s ‘loadout’, but it’s a shame that often many of these are the same for completing side missions or offer benefits that are minimal.

There are a few – multipliers for crafting resources collected through the world being one – which are objectively more useful than others but is ultimately very customisable to one’s preferred playstyle.

People become less willing to take you on in open combat, you receive gifts and rewards at shrines and you end up truly embodying The Ghost as reputation spreads.

 

 

Defeating stronger Mongol leaders eventually unlocks more fighting stances, with a total of four that can be switched dynamically to match up with the kinds of foes encountered.

A staff-wielding enemy might come unstuck when faced with the Wind Stance’s heavy kicks, whilst those wielding shields may find the fast and furious strikes of the Water Stance overwhelming.

It’s fun to mix and match these within the throes of a battle, but the controls do take a bit of getting used to with a series of combinations between the shoulders and the face buttons being needed to navigate your ever-increasing moveset.

There are also a wealth of accessibility options as well as toggling the HUD to remove enemy health bars, tougher but goes a long way to enhancing the gorgeous visuals and immersing you in the swordplay.

 

 

Audio

Ghost of Tsushima has a minimal but highly effective soundtrack – melancholy notes rise to epic and atmospheric crescendos, with traditional Japanese instruments like the biwa and shakuhachi flute steeping the title in period authenticity.

Weapon clashes sound satisfying and wind streaming through the sweeping plains is full and rich, and the ‘click’ of removing your blade from its scabbard before a duel is perfection.

A fully-voiced cast evokes passion and energy, with Jin matching that journey from staid and stoic samurai to angry vengeance. Kenji proves to be an amusing source of light relief, and does inject some much-needed levity at times with his dialogue.

There is also the option to fully immerse yourself with Japanese audio and English subtitles, which only serves to elevate Ghost’s authenticity.

However, the characters are still lip-synched with the original English dialogue, so enjoying the subtitles did prove a tad distracting at times.

 

 

Verdict

Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world delight, lavishly depicting Feudal Japan with incredible detail and a whole island to inhabit and explore in depth.

However, it is easy to burn out on simply clearing forts and completing basic side missions, so focussing on key Tales and leveling up one’s character health and resolve should be a focus – the adventures of side characters are a boon, however.

It does at times feel like an amalgam of successful titles in the genre – the mission structure of surveying for evidence and following tracks smacks of The Witcher 3 whilst taking down forts, planning attacks and assassinating foes are pure Assassin’s Creed – but the setting, tone, dramatic visuals and overall polish make Ghost of Tsushima an amazing experience all its own.

A fitting swansong to Sony’s console, Ghost of Tsushima is a jewel in the crown of Playstation exclusives.

 

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