Ghost Of Tsushima was a brand new IP developed by sucker punch Productions, the Studio behind the succesfull long running series Sly and Infamous. The game was published from Sony as a Playstation exclusive. The game was released in July 2020 and was
an instant sucess as the majority of the voices praised the game for many reasons. In fact, during the game awards 2020, the game was voted Best game of the year (fan's vote) and was among the games nominated from the jury alongside Final Fantasy Vii Remake and last of us part 2. Till
this day, 2 years later, the fans still argue that the game Ghost of Tsushima was robbed it's "rightfull" title from Last of us as the game raised plenty of complains and negative reviews, to the point where people where crushing the discs and ask for refund.(There were plenty of pictures online
of gaming stores who had their sleeves filled with return compies and statements that the stores did not accept any more copies).
The was released in 3 forms (Same for both the Ps4 and Ps5) :
Standard
Included the game alone
Special Edition
Included the game, Steelbook case and an Artbook.
Collector's Edition
Included the game, a Steelbook case,in game skins/themes ,an artbook, the Ghost's mask and a war banner.
Sucker Punch had an online playable version of the game that they were planning on charging as DLC. However they were shocked from the sales that they achieved and as a thank you to the players they release the "DLC" for free to anyone who own a copy of the game. The online version of the game
can also be purchased seperately for those whishing to experience the Co-op version Ghost. A year later after the games initial release(July 2021) and with the release of the next gen consoles (Playstation 5 and XBox Series X) Sucker punch rerelease the game with upgraded mechanicks that take advantage
of the Playstation 5 features and an expanshion known as The Ghost of Tsushima: The Iki Island . Once again the game was heavily praised and the game is consider as one of the best exclusives that can be found within the Playstation Console and also as one of the best brand new IPs that was developed
out of nowhere.
Story of the Game (Minor Spoilers)
The story of the game combines Real history facts with Original Story telling. It is not 100% accurate but that does not mean that some parts arent true. To ellaborate, the story takes place during the Mongol Invasion of Tsushima in 1274 where their ships arrived in the shores and phased of the Samurai.
The game briefly depictions the invasion near the sea and switches to the Samurai who rush down in order to prevent the Mongols. The game smoothly make transactions between the cinematics and the gameplay sections. The tutorial occurs whilst the player fights off againts various Mongols. Based on historical facts we know
that the defense was met with failure as the mongols succesfully captured Tsushima. Sakai Jin, the playable hero of the game, wakes up as he was found by a thief who treated to his wounds as he was in a critical state. The thief, Yuna, proceeds to explain Jin that he was out cold for a couple days during these, the Mongols proceed
to captured all of Tsushima, slayed most of those who resisted them and also captured Lord Shimura who lead the resistance of samurai when the Mongols first arrived. Lord Shimura also happens to be Jin's unlce. Before even making a full recovery, Jin storms off to the castle where he was told that the Mongols made it their main base.
Jin invaded the castke from the front doors making his way close to where the Khotun(Mongol leader) was. Khotun welcomes Jin and asks him to join him as he could use warriors like Jin and Lord Shimura of whom although prissoned tries to make him join his side. Jin as an honorale Samurai refuses and raises his blade againts Khotun who
easily defeats Jin and throws him off the bridge.
Jin survives the fall and feels completely weak as he could not have done anything more on his own to free his homeland. Jin thinks that there still might be a chance for freedom if he could beat and army. For this he sets on a journey to find anyone willing to help him, from long lost masters, to old friends and even thieves and normal farmers
capable of raising a blade. Each time he come across people capable of handeling themselves in the battlefield, Jin has to prove his resolve to them or simply help them with their own missions. Whilst travelling around helping small villages and taking down small bases, Jin was told that simply honoring his blade will not bring freedom to tsushima
as continuing down this path, will soon reach it end and not in the preferred result. In other words, Jin will have to start killing with backstabs, long range 'blind hitsd' hits and assassinations. The samurai way failed them and thus a new legend should be born. One capable of moving in the shadows and taking lives with any means necessary.
In other words Tsushima needs a ghost , someone who hides his identity and kills his enemies. By doing so words will spread and people will rebel and follow this ghost to the end.
The ghost of Tsushima proves to be infact what the people needed, a legend capable of bringing freedom, however this bloodthirsty warrior is not what the samurai choose and thus another conflict is bound to spark new enemies excluding the already established Mongols.
Thoughs on the Story
Honestly the story of the game is extremely good. It keeps the player interested and invested to the character of Jin and also his plan to liberate Tsushima. Furthermore the side characters of the story are as interesting and well developed as Jin. The entire story is fully voice acted and it comes in the form of in game cutscenes.
The music is extremely good and it successfully captures the magic of the world and sets the mood with everything that currenlty happens. Action moments are more impactfull than before sad scenes are very melancholic and rewarding scenes do place a smile on the face when triggered. The plot although it seems simple in the essence of , Jin needing to
liberate tsushima is very effective only because free Tsushima is easier said than done. There are people who re willing to follow Jin but there are also people spying on Jin making the whole mood feel more realistic. Furtermore as mentioned, the Mongols are only one part of the tale as Jin struggles to make his path between the honorable and fair in combat
samurai and the backstabber assassin Ghost. This struggle not only affects himself but also his surrounders. The people of tsushima themselves are in a smilar state, where they believe in the Ghost that wins fights and frees small villages, but also very similar to some mongols they come to fear the ghost as they re unaware of it's identity, its physical existence
and whether or not it is actually on their side or simply fights for them with it's own goal in background.
General Gameplay and abilities.
Gameplay
Ghost of tsushima is an opne world action role playing game that places the player in the shoes of Jin Sakai, a Samurai survivor from the Mongol's invasion. Jin's goal is to liberate his homeland no matter the cause even if it means forgetting the rules of the Samurai and imbrace the spirit of the backstabber, 'dirty playing' Assassin. Jin can move around tsushima on foot or by riding his
horse in order to move fast around the land. The players re free to move around the land and climb as many areas as they like given that they are marked with white shades. Moving around is smooth and never gets old. The combat of the game is fast pace action where the player has to use his blade and tools to terminate his opponents. In close combat, the player will have to pay attention to the enemy
they re phasing. To elaborate. Jin can master 4 different stances. Each stance is capable of dealing with a certain type of enemy. It goes without saying that all stance can kill an enemy but certain ones are more effective as they can stunn the enemy faster and are tougher to be countered by the enemy. To further elaborate the player should see what weapon the enemy is holding and then
change their battle stance on the fly:
Fighting enemies with a sword
In order to fight these enemies off, the player will have to use the Stone stance. These are piercing attacks that are very effective againts these enemies
Fighting enemies with Spears
Enemies with spear are capable of attacking Jin from safe distance and thus piercing will most likely be dodged or parried and thus the player need to swap to the wind stance. A spinning attack capable od dodging and attack enemies
Fighting enemies with shields
Enemies with shield will block many of hits and thus the player needs to use the water stance. The water stance is a perfect counter that swings the blade in various hits to break their guard
Fighting buffed enemies
Muscular enemies AKA Heavies are enemis who carry heavy weapons. The best way to counter them is through the use of the moon stance. A stance capable of combining kicks and blade swings in order to force the enemis to lose their balance.
Each stance has three attacks, normal attacks, stance attacks and heavy hit attacks that require charging. The heavy hits are the hits used to stun the enemies whereas the normal hits are what the player should proceed to use when an enemy is stunned. Skills and combo extentions are pbtain when the player spents legend points in a certain Samurai stance. For defence the player can dodge by rolling away from the enemy upcomming hits and
by blocking their attacks. Furthermore, if the block button is perfectly timed with the hit, Jin will parry the enemy leaving them open for an attack. However attacks flashing white or red are attacks that the player is forced to dodge/parry. Another weapon that Jin posseses is the Bow and arrow. Honeslty, bow and arrow feel so good and fun to use. The player can shoot arrows on the enemies in different body parts. Shooting on
the head is a critical hit. There are certain type of arrows that are used in long range, explosive arrows causing explosions and close range arrows. Arrows thrown at Jin can be dodged by moving away when the enemy Mongols yell. The yelling represents them calling out to their fellow warriors to dodge which also allows the player to know when an arrow is thrown. last but not least, Jin is capable of calling out enemies for a stand off. In stand offs
time moves slow and its up to the player to draw the sword at perfect time and slice the enemy. When upgraded a stance can go up to 5 times. These skills are skills left to Jin by his Samurai past.
In Tsushima though, the ghost is born. The ghost gameplay is focussing is literally the same in terms of using sword and bow, however more weapons become available for Jin which he can use to gain the upper hand. The first weapon given to him is the Kunais. Jin can throw kunais whilst fighting enemies which will stunn the opponents allowing the player to punish them. Furthermore another weapon given to Jin is smoke bombs which Jin can drop in
order to create a smoke cloud around him. Whilst under the cover of smoke, the player is given quick commands that can assassinate the enemies. Assassinations are instant kills that as the name suggest kill the enemies with one swift. Before endolging into battle the ghost has to more weapons to use. The first weapon to use is the bell bombs. These bombs when thrown, create a ring sound that will draw the attention away from the hero or from his group in
order to check what caused it. By doing so they become vonurable for Jin to sneek behind them and assassinate them. A second way to attack enemis from the distance is using a blowgun filled with poissonous darts that temporarily make the Mongols go berserk and attack anyone on plain sight. The same blowgun is also capable of shooting poisonous darts slowly killing the enemies. When things become bad for Jin the hero is capable of using bombs, both sticky
bombs and normal bombs that cause major AoE damage.
The game also has plenty of passive abilities that the player can use to boost Jin's skills. When dealing damage focus is build above the health bar which the player can use in multiple ways. First things first, there's plenty of skills earned from side quests and legends that can be used when a certain amount of focus is gained. Different attacks need different ammount of focus. Focus can also be spent in order to heal Jins wounds. The story also builds the
legend of ghost through it's story but eventually it adds a new gameplay mechanic. To elaborate when the player obtains a certain ammount of kills without receiving a single strike he can access ghost mode. By tapping into the Ghost stance the Mongols start to run away from him and he is capable of killing any enemy with a single strike despite their status. A great detail in the game is that when the player kills enemies with ghost tricks, the weather becomes
rainy and stormy, where as when killing enemies in a samurai way the weather is sunny and clean. Last thing in combat is boss battles where the player and his opponent phase each other in a 1vs 1 duel. Ninja tools and the bow become useless as the player wont be able to use them. In 1vs1 the player can barely heal or move away from the enemy.
Outside of combat, the player can use the winds to manuver around the world. By accessing the map, the player can choose a location and then follow the winds in order to reach the location. The combat is fun and there is plenty of things that make the battle more enjoyable. For example the game offers moments where the player and his army run left and right defending areas or charge straight towards a location
The Open World (collectables and Post game content)
The world of Ghost of Tsushima is Massive and as mentioned before it is filled with 'Life'. The entire land of Tsushima is seperated in three smaller areas which all consist of plenty off things for the player to do. The map is filled with various of items that Jin can use in order to craft weapons, collect erbs and overall resources for his gear/ currency. To start things first despite of the main story the players
can spent plenty of time doing Side quests. These side quests are small stories that took place during Jin Sakai's adventure. The majority of them are also related to the NPC characters that help Jin during his Quest. This can be the story of thief Yuna, the merchant Kenji and others. Each side quest can be seperated in many parts such as Kenji (N/8). Some sidequest are also in the form of myths. Around the
lands there's a few musician who will invite Jin in order to tell him a legend, of a fallen warrior, a demon, a cursed skill or even weapon. Once the musicians end their tale, they ll tell Jin where the legend was first spawn or when was last heard of and Jin will head over there to start collecting clues. These legends usually have many tasks such as fights, puzzles and others. They usually reward armor, skills and blades.
Moreover the land is filled with hot springs where Jin can rest his body and reflect of facts that happened before or during the game. This is agreat opportunity to get some character development from an optional event and also each ime Jin rests in a newly found sping his HP bar is increased. Furthermore, in the land people think of Foxes are animals send by the Gods and thus they re thought as sacred beasts. If the players spot
a fox, they should follow it, as they will lead Jin towards an Inari Shrine where Jin will pay his respects. Other animals also receive Jin respect, if he come across any of the Hidden Altars. These are statues that the player won't know its something special unless they bow infront of them. Fallen warriors are also respected by the hero if he chooses to visit and honor any of the pillars of honour
Enemy Mongols can be found freelancing but they can also be found in captured bases. Each time Jin locates a Mongol Base he is given small tasks such as assassinate people, kill from range etc. The goal is simply to liberate the area, or rescue the captives before killing the enemies. Furthermore, Mongols are also placed in Lighthouses which once again require Jin to eliminate them and then proceed to light the lighthouse
indicating that this are is now free. Certain people will also chase Jin and challenge him in a 1 vs 1 Duel. This is where the player will have to fight for survival in a ring fight. In order to test his blade Jin can excersise his skills by cuuting down babmboo near Bamboo strikes. This is a small minigame which showcases a button combination that the player needs to press fast. On the other hand, Jin also takes his time
relaxing in various location writting down Haikus. A healthy body and a healthy mind makes for a powerfull warrioir. Last but not least, there are Shrines around tsushima build to honor the gods. However these are old shrines and all of them had their paths broken and thus nobody visited them in ages. the player can try to parkopur around in order to make their up the shrine.
All the things mentioned above are completely optional and its up to the player to tackle the tasks. If they choose to do so, they ll be rewarded with lore, skills, customizations and build up the legend. Building a legend is rewarding the player with skill points which they can then spent on more skills on the skill tree. The game also has a few more stuff that can be found lying around such as records of the past, artefacts
from various locations and singing crickets found in cells. The player can locate their location by following the yellow bird which will fly low to the player and start singing. Following the bird will get the player near the area needed to discover. Completing any of the items mentioned above will allow the hero to then use fast travel to that discovered location.
Ghost Of tsushima Legends
Ghost of Tsushima Legends is the previously mentioned free DLC, which is also being sold seperately for those who do not own any of Ghost of Tsushima (Ps4,Ps5). This is an online mode that allows the players to work together towards a common goal or compete againts each pther basd on the game mode that was selected. The players do not control Jin Sakai but instead they get control of
the Ghost warriors. There are four different classes, these are:
Hunter: Hunter's can use their blade to defend themselves and kill people but they are expert bow users.
Assassin: The Assassin is capable of dealing blows from the shadows. All his skills are related to stealth and fast kills
Ronin: Ronin use their blade for defence as their main focus is to heal their group. Ronin attacks are mainly support such as rez and heal
Samurai: Samurais are strong warrior that attack enemies head on. they re the closest to Jin's playstyle.
The classes are all perfectly balance as eny hero can take down opponents and also play similar. For example all the classes can use bow as it is not exclusive to the Hunter class, however the Hunter can obtain skills such as stay more focus when aiming, zoom better to aim etc. In a very similar way all the heroes can use smoke bombs to hide themselves or even use Kunais tostagger the enemies. If a hero
falls in compat any class can help by picking them up, however they wont be as fast as the Ronin class etc etc. The Ghosts can all be customised with items obtain by simply playing legends and even with items obtain from the main story such as armors, banners, masks and colour patterns. NOTE: the abilities of each mask weapon etc do not transfer over to legends. Each ghost can be equiped with 1 blade
1 bow and two tools. A blade can have up to two stands ( which as mentioned above counter certain type of enemies). The Bows differ between their critical hits, range length and zoom-in capability. The ninja tools on the other hand can be smoke bombs (each with unique abilities such as poison effects, longer duration, less cooldowns etc,) kunai knives ( again with different status applied), healling bottle which
can restore a small amount of HP and others. Heroes can obtain passive abilities such as deal more damage when an opponent is under a certain effect (such as fire/freeze), better cool downs for specials and others. As of now (Early 2022) there are 3 different game modes which can be played in teams or solo.
Legend Tales
This game mode teams up two ghost together as they embark on a legend. The heroes have to venture around and reach the end goal, where they ll have to complete a certain task or eliminate a certain foe. Game over is obtained when both the ghost fall in combat. Each tale has unique boss encounters and optional encounters which unlock further weapons and items upon completion
Wave Mode
Four ghosts are given the task to defend various areas around the maps as waves of enemies are comming from various locations of the maps. Game over is obtained if all four ghost fall in compat or if all the defensive areas are captured by the enemies. In the maps there's plenty of items that the players can use to aid them in battle. For example, the players can place various of exploding barrels in a base,
defend a different one and when the base is attacked they can shoot the barrels which will cause a chain of explotions. Furthermore, each map has shrine that the heroes can use to restore arrows, as the game only refills the arrows after a certain wave stamp (Eg.5-10-15-20). Moreover, the game has a few giant healing barrels which restore HP when being hit. Similar to the shrines, hitting a barrel will make it
unsuable for a fair ammount of rounds.Last but not least, the game offers blessings, where the players can spent their points to obtain special powers such as, summon spirit wolves, heal the party and others. In order to get a blessing the players have to spent their points obtained by killing enemies, defending bases and surviving waves. A ghost that fell and wasnt ressurected by a teammate will auto spawn when
a wave is done.
PVP
This game mode was added a year later after the initial release of legends and once again brought new life to the game. the previous game in general had people phasing the AI in different scenarios. This time they play againts Ai againts another team which is more challenging .
In this mode 2 teams are spawn in a map seperated with a giant cliff. Both teams are given the same tasks and they compete on who will be able to clear their mission first. The two will never phase each other face to face but they are capable of sabotaging each other by using their points to spawn enemy bosses on the other teams field. Enemies such as Onis, wizards and others. Both teams are given the same ammount of points
when they succeed on a mission or kill enemies and lose the same ammount when a ghost fells. The team that wins is the one which either manage to clear the entire mission before the other OR the team that was ahead of the other when the timer reached zero. The team's progress can be found top center to keep track of both teams progress.
Overall the online experience is a very nice treat that is capable of keeping the players attract to the game long after they clear the story.The decision to make the pvp experience available seperately for the game was also a great addition, as there were people who were interested in the pvp but didnt want to buy the entire Game. The pvp upon release was the 1/3rd the price of the actual game.
DLC Expanshion Iki Island
The episode of the Iki island is only available for the director's cut version of the game which is the Ps5 one. The expansion follows the liberation of the iki island located right outside of Tsushima. Jin notices people who behave very weird and others who re sick and end up dead as they have no way to cure themselves. He decides to do a small investigation in order to find out what is happenning. He comes to know that Mongols still
rule over the Iki island and thus he sets on his journey to Iki. Iki island holds a special dark place in Jin's heart as this was the island the Samurai clan Sakai lead by his father attacked and slaughter in the past as the people were consider dangerous, thieves and murderers. This was also the island where his dad passed away. The enemy Mongols lead by Eagle capture Jin and their leader force him
to drink her special poison that drives everyone mad. When drank the poison reawakens various ghost of the past and force people to relive certain events. For Jin, it's the death of his father but also some things from the Tsushima events. The solution given to him was to accept the Eagle as his leader and she would then cure him. Jin escapes her fortress and wonders around Iki. He then makes new allies to whom he hides
his identity, but not everything can be that easy. Can Jin survive his haunted memories, join allies with the Iki inhabitants and clear the island from the Mongols? Find out for yourselves.
The story promises to show people why the game was loved by plenty. It includes, stealth sections, base defends, charge attacks on fortresses, strategical attacks and defence around areas and overall greatness. Gameplay wise the game added a few new mechanicks, weapons and attacks. Furthermore more NPC became available in the game and also allowed the enemy Mongols to be capable of changing between two stances very similar to
how the ghost in the pvp can. This add a new challenge to the game and makes each encounter harder and more fun. Last but not least a new enemy joins the fields called shamans. Very similar to the shamans in Legends they sing a song which boost their troops. The game has plenty of post game content very similar to the actual game with small alterations. For example the bamboo cutting is replaced with archery tasks and the foxes are replaced
with various animals that the player will have to play a melody on his flute in order to befriend. Iki island is as equaly lenghty and filled with items as each area found in the game. To elaborate
Tsushima's map was seperated in three parts, Iki is equal in length and content as one of the three.
Overall
Overall, Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best playstation 4/5 entires from Sony's exclusives. The game is an open world action game that requires the player to free tsushima from the Mongol invasion. The player can fight from long range but also in close combat in a very clever and gameplay benefitial way. The game's open world is filled with plenty of side activities and side tracks that can keep the player on comming back and playing the game.
None of the side activities are very good and easy to attract the players in order to complete them. Furthermore, the game has a DLC and standalone game Ghost Of Tsushima Legends, an expansion that groups hero together in a common goal or againts each other in order to complete certain tasks. The expansion also allowed the players to return to the game and play with a friend or with strangers. Moreover, more cosmeticks can be unlocked by revisiting
the open world or by completing tasks in the Legends missions. Last but not least the Iki Island expansion also introduced plenty of new activities and minigames as well as a new interesting story that further proceeds to develop the character of Jin Sakai. The expansion also managed to change gameplay mechanicks that allowed the mongols themselves to change their stance againts the player making it more difficult for the player.
Showcases of the Game
This is a video of me reviewing the game
Showcases of the DLC
This is a video of me reviewing the DLC of Iki island
