As a gamer, once in a while, you come across a title you play to just enjoy. What started as a review gameplay soon became 20+ hours of intense Katana sparring, dual-wielding, Yari charging, and Odachi slashing till the PlayStation controller batteries gave up.
Ghost of Yotei is not just a proper PlayStation AAA exclusive title; it is a game that is all heart. A gamer’s game.
The successor of the infamous 2020 breakout hit Ghost of Tsushima from developer Sucker Punch not only lives up to its pedigree, it builds on the masterpiece, making it better.
This year has been a mixed bag of gamers. It gave us some misses and some hits. Hideo Kojima delivered his career-best with Death Stranding 2. But there hasn’t been a clear domination in the run for the Game of the Year (GOTY).
For me, Ghost of Yotei sits (or rather, gallops) comfortably as the forerunner to the GOTY title.
The gameplay is similar to Ghost of Tsushima, but Ghost of Yotei adds some interesting mechanics and better interaction. The performance mode shines through with 60fps action, but the ray tracing mode on the PS5 looks breathtaking.
Tinkering with controls
If you are more attuned to the traditional way of controller layouts, I would suggest heading to the Settings in the first run itself and toggling it to ‘Alternate Controls’, unless you want to slash your horse every time you instinctively hit the △ (triangle button)—you can thank me later.
Check out the Kurosawa Mode that gives you a black-and-white vibe of Akira Kurosawa. Other visual media legends Takashi Miike and Shinichirō Watanabe also get their own modes…
The Settings is where you get to explore these. It is intuitive and offers a one-stop location for your gameplay, maps, gear, progression, and the coveted Save function. Ghost of Yotei lets you camp almost anywhere as long as you are near a horse (or reach certain ‘special points’), and the Manual Save option lets you pick it up from any part of the map as long as you are not inside a major storyline (aka ‘Tale’).
And dare I say, this game features the best use of the PS controller trackpad since inFAMOUS: Second Son in the PS4 era.
Play the way you like
Sucker Punch has put a lot of thought into the development of the game. You can choose the straightforward story route or power up at hot springs (health), with bamboo strikes (spirit), fox dens (charms), wolf dens (wolf bonding), or altars (skills).
Or you can simply wander around the land of Ezo and around Mount Yōtei—all skillfully created.
Ghost of Yotei lets you play the way you like.
On the cover, it is a simple revenge tale. But as you go deeper into the story, the game takes you through different regions, different cultures (like the Ainu), the scars of conquests and war, and the trauma of death and destruction. Ainu is on the hunt for the Yōtei Six, a group of mercenaries led by renegade samurai Lord Saitō, who killed her family sixteen years ago. The seasoned Ainu returns to Ezo (modern-day Hokkaido), where she starts her hunt by killing one of them, called The Snake.
The entire event becomes a myth, with Ainu taking on the name of the onryō, a fabled Japanese ghost, among the commonfolk.
Ghost of Yotei is as open a world as they come. In fact, after defeating The Snake in the prologue, we get to choose in which order Atsu could pursue the remaining Yōtei Six, except for their leader, Saitō. They are The Oni, The Kitsune, The Spider, and The Dragon.
I, for one, went after the brute, The Oni (aka the demon). Halfway through, I decided to go after The Kitsune (aka the fox). See, that’s the beauty of it. Stop midway, go hunt a bear or defeat a bounty hunter, camp at random locations, finish side quests—it is all up to you!
Yotei vs Tsushima
The improved countering system makes for a much better flow rather than the various stances you had to do in Ghost of Tsushima. From a single Katana (Japanese longsword) to dual-wielding, then the Yari (spear), the Kusarigama (chain-sickle), the Odachi (two-handed greatsword), all of these have their own use.
I’m usually an archer-cum-stealth-assassin in most open-world games, and Sucker Punch gave me the gift of the Hankyu (shortbow) and the Yumi (longbow) from Ghost of Tsushima. Of course, I promptly upskilled all my bow and stealth-assassination skills, and boy, it was worth it!
The melee is more complex in Ghost of Yotei. You can disarm opponents with the right parry/attack, and even use their own weapon to finish them off. There is so much more, but at this point, it is always better to experience the game for yourself.
The good, the bad, the slashy
So far, 30-something hours in, I have yet to see any marked performance issues. There are some physics problems that pop up in performance mode, but those are not really a hindrance to the gameplay. Earlier this week, we got an update to the game, and after that, I have not noticed similar hiccups.
The jumping and on-foot traversal mechanics could be better, though, especially given the excellent horse riding experience and the godsend auto-direction while following a person from a cinematic to gameplay.
Music makes for a big part of the game, and it lets you play different songs Atsu learns on the shamisen, a string instrument that does not make progression painful.
Erika Ishii is a true revelation as the titular Atsu, bringing raw emotion into her portrayal. And the game? Exploration, combat, progress, skilling—all rewarding. Yes, the story is predictable at times, but which revenge plot isn’t? It is supposed to be personal. And if you are playing for the story alone, are you even gaming?
Game: Ghost of Yōtei
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions
Platform: PlayStation 5
Rating: 5 out of 5 | ★★★★★