Ghost of Tsushima review

Intro

It took me about 40 hours to complete the main story but more than half of the island is still undiscovered. There’s a lot to see and do and in the beginning I investigated every point of interest and finished every side quest before continuing with the story. At some point, however, I lost some of my interest and left the game untouched for a while. I’ve been trying to figure out why this is because, honestly, I can only think of positive aspects of this game.

Story

First things first: Ghost of Tsushima takes place on the island Tsushima. Didn’t see that one coming, right? The story is based on the real life historical event where the Mongol army tried to capture Japan. The game starts at the point where the Mongols nearly kill the entire samurai army. You play as Jin Sakai, one of the sole survivors of this battle. Your quest is to expel the Mongols and free Tsushima.

Jin can’t do it alone, though, so he needs to gather some allies. These allies all have their own problems so you have to help them out as well. The nice thing here is that their stories run parallel to the main story. So if you want to finish the main story first, that’s cool. You can always go back to that character to continue their side quests.

Early on in the story, Jin realizes he must defy the honor of the samurai to have a fighting chance against the Mongols. This transformation from samurai to ghost is beautifully woven through the story. The way Jin struggles with this and the way your companions and environment react to this change really drags you into the game.

Story rating: 9

Gameplay

Traveling

You’ll be traveling a lot in this game. With a button press, your horse magically teleports somewhere behind you so you can always be assured of a fast way to travel. And there’s fast traveling in the way that you can fast travel to any point of interest you’ve discovered right from the map. And with very short loading screens too, so it really is fast traveling.

But before you’ve reached the point you can fast travel to any place in the world, you need to have visited all those places by foot or by horse. So certainly at the start of the game, you’d better make sure you’re comfy in your saddle.

And I think that’s what made me lose my interest. The constant traveling through a rather empty world felt like a chore at a certain point. Add the same foxes and dull collectibles and you’re done.

Of course I’m exaggerating a bit and I’m about to contradict myself some further in this review but that’s because I want to make my point. And frankly, these are the only flaws in this otherwise awesome game.

I’d like to mention that there is no mini map or compass. The wind literally guides you to your goal. The wind’s made visible through white gusts floating around you and will always blow in the direction you need to go. This can be your active mission or a custom marker on the map. If there’s no wind, you can summon it by swiping up on the track pad on your controller.

Things to do

There are literally hundreds of locations, collectibles and side quest to discover. Every few steps lead you to something new. Every time you’re near a point of interest, a yellow bird will appear leading you to that place so you never have to look far.

Some examples of collectibles are crickets, clan banners and Mongol artifacts. These can be found everywhere in the world. Next to collecting, you can visit hot springs to increase your health, chop bamboo to increase your focus and write haikus just because you can. There are much more things to see and collect, but I think I’ve made my point.

The weather

Ghost of Tsushima has a dynamic weather causing the weather to change all the time. Rain, sunshine, stormy, it’s all there. Combining that with a day and night cycle and you have a beautifully crafted lively world. More of that in the graphics section.

What’s special about the weather system is that your gameplay affects the current weather. As you progress through the story, Jin becomes more and more a silent assassin (a.k.a. The Ghost) working in the shadows. The more shadowy actions you perform, the more stormy the weather will be.

Combat

The core

The combat in Ghost of Tsushima is a bit like Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey. Blocking, parrying and countering are the core elements. You wait until an enemy attacks and at the last possible second you press the block button followed by an attack button. Heavy attacks can’t be blocked, though, so dodging is important, too.

Stances

This sounds easy, but this is just the basis of a much deeper battle system. With technique points you acquire by leveling up you can unlock up to four battle stances. Each stance has advantages over different types of enemies: swords, shield, spears and big baddies. Every stance has its own light and heavy attack combos and can be switched on the fly during combat.

Special attacks

During the game, you’ll learn several special attacks you can use during combat. These attacks cost “focus” which you also need for healing so you’ve got to use them wisely. I haven’t used them much because I kept forgetting the button combinations and frankly, I didn’t need them.

Items

When you need an extra advantage during a battle, there are multiple items at your disposal allowing you to turn the tide or make a quick escape. The Kunai are a great example. These are basically throwing knives which greatly damage or even kill an enemy. You can throw some explosive bombs and of course drop the classic smoke bomb.

Ranged

Longer ranged attacks are also present with two kinds of bows and a blowgun. Arrows can be set on fire or can be equipped with explosives. Blow darts can be poisonous or set to cause hallucination. The last one will make an enemy attack everyone around him and is very fun to watch.

Ghost stance

There is the ghost meter which fills when you kill multiple enemies in a row without taking damage. Taking damage resets the meter. When full, full rage mode (called Ghost stance) can be activated. The screen will turn black and white, dramatic music starts to play, an instant thunderstorm appears and enemies will cower away from you. You can kill up to three enemies during the Ghost stance. Your attacks can’t be blocked and will kill the enemy regardless of their strength.

Duels

Important battles (like boss battles) are fought in a one on one sword duel. It is said that these duels are set up like the old samurai movies, but I can’t judge that because I have never seen one. The fighting still is about parrying and counter attacking on the right moment, but more in the style of a fighting game.

Gameplay rating: 8.5

Graphics

If you’ve checked my Instagram page, you got an idea what the game looks like and what I think about it. Tsushima is wonderfully crafted and really breaths the setting of the samurai era. The villages, the people, the constant falling leaves and cherry blossoms, the beautiful purple sky when the sun rises. And the developers now this, because they have added an extensive photo mode which can be activated by a single button press on any moment in the game.

Graphics rating: 9

Audio

The audio that really stands out in this game is mostly environmental. The whistling of the wind, the cry of an elk, the trampling of your horse. It makes you feel like you are in the world. The fact that the sound of the wind also comes from your controller adds a bit to that experience. The English voice acting is great, too, but the volume was sometimes too low compared to the sounds of the environment.

Audio rating: 8

Memorable

The lush Japanese environments with Jin on his horse are the first to spring to mind when thinking of Ghost of Tsushima, followed by the compelling and dramatic story. This game is unique in its setting and does everything right. I won’t forget Jin and Tsushima soon.

Memorable rating: 8

Conclusion

There is so much to tell about this game and I still have the feeling I haven’t told everything yet. But maybe that’s a good thing so there are still some things left to discover. Ghost of Tsushima is an awesome game with beautiful graphics, smooth combat and a great story.

Just one piece of advise: unless you’re really into collecting stuff, try to focus more on the quests and only visit points of interests when you’re on your way to the next mission. When going after every point of interest from the start, the game loses some of its charm.