Ghost of Tsushima: Katana and Shadow Review

Ghost of Tsushima an open-world game that uses Japanese culture as the basis, anticipation of Ghost of Tsushima is indeed high. Moreover, as far as the eye can see, through the various screenshots and trailers released, Sucker Punch seems to be doing a good job. Not only ensuring that the katana battle which is the essence of a Samurai is well presented, they also adapt the concept of stealth which is then clashed with Bushido values, which incidentally appears to be a heartbeat for the warriors from the land of cherry blossoms. Everything is more interesting when homage in old samurai films will also be offered via a special mode called Kurosawa Mode.

Plot

At the end of the 13th century, the Samurai living on Tsushima Island must face the greatest threat ever. Their peaceful island was suddenly the arrival of so many large Mongol ships which now, began to land on their shores. Bushido's passion is burning with no qualms about sacrificing his life to defend Tsushima. Among the troops led by the samurai named Shimura, there was Jin Sakai - the nephew who was also preparing to lift the katana. But with more lethal weapons and troop numbers, Tsushima ended up having to submit to the Mongol forces led by Khotun Khan.

With most of the samurai ending up dying, Jin Sakai became one of the few samurai who managed to survive. Saved by a thief named Yuna, Jin who managed to get all his war equipment back is now on a new mission – rescuing his uncle, Shimura who is said to have been held captive by Khotun Khan in a castle. Jin believed that his uncle's presence would help his efforts to repel the Mongols become a more rational endeavor. During the trip, Jin also met several other characters who also wanted to fight for the same thing, but came with personal problems that they wanted to solve first. So, what kind of struggle must a Jin Sakai go through? Can he save his uncle - Shimura? What kind of companion characters did he find along the way? Will he succeed in driving the Mongols out of Tsushima? You'll of course have to play Ghost of Tsushima to get the answers to these questions.

Beauty

Giving the label "Beauty" is not an easy matter and only a few games deserve it. But to be honest, it's not an exaggeration of praise when we talk about what Sucker Punch managed to do with Ghost of Tsushima. That they managed to make the experience of circling this outermost island of Japan like a most beautiful dream you will ever have, like entering into an untouched past, but on the other hand – maintaining the sensation that it is a fantasy-based game. Why? Because it is impossible for you to go to Tsushima Island in Japan now and find that the same beautiful terrain you will find. When we talk about “Beauty”, we talk about quality that sounds impossible for a console that is 7 years old to handle. Everything is designed as dramatic as possible, it even feels taken to a higher level if we talk about creative media based on samurai stories such as movies or anime though. Tall grass, brightly colored flower fields, bamboo forests with small paths that are easy to mislead, swamps with wood snapping that divide them, high mountains filled with dense trees, fallen leaves, to various religious symbols such as Buddha statues, Shinto gods, until the pagoda bursts out. Every corner where you explore Tsushima will be an eye-pleasing experience. It's going to be one of the most beautiful games you'll ever taste, and we're not exaggerating for that.

The appreciation of the character model carried by Ghost of Tsushima will depend on whether you have tasted The Last of Us Part II before or not. Because this is what happened to us. There is a sensation that the prologue that he carried felt weak after departing from The Last of Us Part II because the visualization and animation of the character movements still felt like a "video game" instead of a film. But fortunately, after the prologue ends and the open-world exploration process opens, you will get used to it and start seeing it with a more fair, non-comparative lens. Appreciation will grow on efforts to make these characters, supporters or antagonists, still rooted in Tsushima's condition at that time and not desperately trying to present characters that are too "excessive" in terms of design or personality. The variety will also keep you entertained, especially for a badass character like Masako who lives for revenge.

The rest is the presentation side to ensure that the Samurai experience you should also get from the gameplay side. Jin Sakai will have a fighting stance, each of which is opened with a different sword-holding action. Although we can't confirm whether this stance animation is accurate and does reflect real-world style, the same motion expression has been seen in older samurai films such as Harakiri (1962) for example. The animation of the attacks that come from each stance is also simple, fast, and looks deadly, which of course is followed by blood splatters that will also stick to Jin's clothes and katana. For some moves, you'll even get a small portion of mutilation here. Fortunately, the beauty of the visual presentation side is also followed by the stunning audio side. Voice Acting for both English and Japanese, which you can choose from early in the game, works well. We ourselves still recommend the Japanese VA for a more authentic sensation although the fact that some of the character's lip movements are still based on English is quite disappointing. However, the performance of each character's voice acting, both main and supporting, managed to push the story in a natural motion with proper emotion. As for music? There's nothing to doubt. Your journey will be accompanied by music that is ready to ignite and stir your emotions when these moments arrive.

Shadow and Samurai

If you follow the information regarding Ghost of Tsushima, especially the details shared at the State of Play event some time ago, then you are likely to be familiar with the roles of Samurai and Ghost that Sucker Punch had showcased. Samurai are seen fighting openly while Ghost, like ninjas, focuses more on stealth action and uses a variety of unique tools to achieve these missions with less risk. So, how does this system actually work? The good news? There is no “exclusive” role system in Ghost of Tsushima. That what Sucker Punch did via the State of Play event yesterday only provided a highlight for certain playing styles that you can try out. You can always play as a Samurai and a Ghost whenever you want, without any special Armor sets that will "limit" a certain function, and a moral system that might end up locking you up. You have to choose from the start which style of play you want to run. The words “Samurai” and “Ghost” that appear here are nothing more than superficial definitions to explain what exactly you are doing. Are you running the action following the Bushido path? You are playing like a Samurai. You sneak up and finish off the enemy from behind? You are playing like a ghost. These options are unlocked, do not limit gameplay, and have absolutely no effect on the story side.

This definition of Samurai and Ghost is used by Sucker Punch to simply push the narrative and is one of the main story elements of a Jin Sakai. That we are dealing with a Samurai who slowly but surely, begins to shed the Bushido codes that have always been embedded in the brain as an honorable knight path, focuses on trying to subdue the Mongols at all costs, and then adopts the persona of a "Ghost" who not honorable at all in the eyes of the Samurai - regardless of whatever mission and ultimate vision he wants to achieve. The duality of Samurai and Ghost is only limited to the composition of the story that Sucker Punch wants to encourage and nothing more. You don't have to worry too much about the style of play you choose because there is always the freedom to change and adapt to the situation that you think is best. If you prefer to fight openly and swing your katana freely, then Ghost of Tsushima offers quite a challenge for that. Satisfying melee combat will be the essence of the main gameplay you get. Just like 3-4 slashes you can execute to finish off a single enemy, enemies can also do the same if you're not careful. This equally vulnerable condition makes the fight always intense.

Ghost of Tsushima's combat system is actually simple. You will be provided with a regular attack button and a powerful attack button – which can be used to destroy enemy blocks if used multiple times. Together with it, you will also be provided with a block / parry button with a fairly wide execution window. With a blue light (as a sign the attack can be parried) and red (the attack can't be parried), you will be able to master the course of the fight as long as you are aware. Parry at perfect timing will open a counter-attack gap with big damage, while parry at less than perfect timing will make the enemy move a little nervous which you can then follow up with a follow-up attack. The battle in Ghost of Tsushima is certainly not easy. During the journey, Jin will meet many variants of enemies with different weapon preferences. Broadly speaking, there will be at least 4 enemies that you will meet – armed with swords, spears, swords + shields, and Brutes with bigger weapons. To deal with each of them, Jin will also be equipped with 4 different Stances, each of which will be more effective to use for certain types of enemies. If you use a stance that matches the enemy you are facing, it will be easier for you to destroy their defensive action which in fact ends up with an easier katana attack. The good news? This real-time change process is also followed by a slight time-stopping effect to minimize panic if you have to deal with many enemy variants at once.

Moreover, to simulate the supposed Samurai sensation, especially when referring to the old Samurai films so far, you also have the opportunity to trigger a movement called "Standoff". Standoff will make Jin scream to attract the attention of nearby enemies, which will then lead to the opportunity to finish off several enemies with just one slash. The system is simple – you are asked to hold down the triangle button and release it when the enemy is in an attack animation, which can be followed by the same 1-hit-kill attack for up to 5 enemies in a row. A quick solution to reduce the number of enemies significantly. Even though it sounds like an imbalance, Standoff comes with no less fatal consequences. Several types of enemies will issue "fake" attack animations with some of them coming with surprising fast animations,

If you are lazy to fight openly, then the option to pass the path as a Ghost is also open. With a focus on stealth, this will be a much less risky gameplay option. Especially considering there is no limit to the gameplay style, you always have room to "return to the way of the Samurai" every time your action is caught and open combat is again the best solution. Your efforts to kill the Mongols in secret will function like a stealth game as usual. Jin will be equipped with the ability "radar" to find out the enemy's position for extra information that you can use to move without problems. There is also a higher grass position that you can use to hide if needed, as well as a level design full of gaps like under a house or a gap in the back of a tent for you to sneak in for an extra strategic advantage. The rest? Use various tools such as Kunai or Smoke Bomb if you feel you really need it.

Regardless of whether you are more dominant in playing as a Samurai or a Ghost, Ghost of Tsushima still provides an opportunity for you to strengthen each of these aspects through the available Skill Tree system. With points that you will get every time you level up from completing various missions and subjugating existing enemies, you can allocate them to make some aspects stronger. You, for example, can make your Ghost side now able to execute Chain-Assassination which allows you to kill several enemies stealthly at once. Or simply make your "radar" able to capture enemy positions in a wider scope for extra convenience for the exploration and looting process. Because slowly but surely, you will start to regularly check whether every region you visit does have loot worth pursuing or not. Adopting a few RPG elements in it, you can strengthen your katana, bow, and armor to get stronger damage or attack effects. There's no RPG-style number-based attribute system, but most of the Armor you can get will offer certain buffs, which makes them sometimes more suitable for specific playstyles. As an example? There are armors that make your Stealth action more difficult for the enemy to fill, there are also those that make your melee attack damage spike drastically. Your Katana, Armor, and Bow will be upgradeable as long as you have enough materials and supplies.

What's interesting, in addition to the upgrade system and the opportunity to get armor that affects what type of buff Jin can use, you can also chase and look for various amulet accessories called Charm which will usually be locked in Shrines scattered in many locations. The Shrine, which is usually located in a crumbling infrastructure, requires you to do a little platforming action to get to it, which is usually also closed with a super beautiful landscape at the end. There is also an opportunity to catch up with other equipment items such as masks, katana holsters, and helmets, which here function as cosmetic items only. You can get items by performing several actions, from finding a specific location called the Place of Honor, looking for a specific location to contemplate and write haiku poetry, to simply looking for the flags of the Samurai clan scattered along the island of Tsushima. Take it easy, your vehicle's horse also gets a little extra modification through the choice of saddles that you can embed.

Side Mission

Ghost of Tsushima combines these two concepts in a fairly balanced way and is more towards a modern open-world game approach that emphasizes exploration. You will indeed still meet various icons that will suddenly appear on the map, but all of them will lead to a question mark which incidentally will not provide any details about the location or missions like what he has saved. These question mark icons will not automatically appear just like that. Only those within a certain radius of your location, even when you are riding a horse from one location to another, will reveal themselves. You always have the freedom to visit these locations or not. Jin's action to free Tsushima is also helped by a little spiritual element in it. Don't worry, you won't be dealing with a variety of Japanese demons or supernatural creatures here. There is a tendency that you will feel that the island of Tsushima, through an inexplicable mysterious power, is trying to help you to achieve the mission at hand. It appears through the presence of ferrets and birds that will help you achieve certain objectives when approached, Guiding Wind in the form of a blowing wind that functions like a "GPS" to go to any mission or location you choose, to a flute that can change the weather when played. . This spiritual element will help you explore the island of Tsushima in a more structured and organized format beyond the presence of question marks on the map.

One fantastic way Ghost of Tsushima handles this exploration side is by linking the various random events you can encounter with more open locations on the map. The NPCs you meet while traveling, who may be being held captive or attacked by the Mongols, will usually provide vital information about any interesting locations for your attention. They can open their mouths about the village which is currently being controlled by the Mongols or just a matter of a small camp that is placed to guard certain locations, for example. This information will usually immediately reveal the location of the camp or related village on the map, which again leaves you with the absolute decision to immediately subdue or not. Execution like this makes the open-world concept of Ghost of Tsushima more interesting.

Of course you can't talk about an open-world game without discussing what kind of side missions it carries. There are several types of “side” missions that you can try in Ghost of Tsushima. There are side missions that are tied to supporting characters who have a big role in the story, such as the figure of Masako or Ishikawa who has their own conflict. He will have a larger portion of the story which is also followed by various cut-scenes full of cut-scenes with conflict movements that will be divided into several parts of the mission. You don't have to complete these missions, but they will give you a stronger background story about the characters involved. He will present a side story that strengthens the story of Jin Sakai and his loyal companions.

In addition to these large-scale “side” missions, you'll also encounter smaller side missions that function like side missions in other open-world games. This means that you will meet random NPCs in one location who may have a specific problem that you are involved in solving. The good news? Sucker Punch manages to offer a side mission design with a scale that is almost similar to what CD Projekt Red offers in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This means that each of them has a strong conflict and story, with objectives that won't always end by asking you to simply collect, pick up, or deliver certain items. There is a process of investigation and conclusion here, some of which are also rooted in strong Japanese cultural values. One of our favourites, a father of two who was asked by the Mongols to choose one of the two sons he had. Whichever child he chooses will be killed, while the other children will remain alive but will be taken and imprisoned in a nearby camp. The father could not help but mention one child's name. But who would have thought that the Mongols were "lying". They decided to let the name of the child called the father to live and kill the one he did not mention. Jin gets into this chaotic situation with a strong request from the father to save the captive child. Will this story have a happy ending? You have to play Ghost of Tsushima to get the answer.

Kurosawa Mode

Through a mode which in the past was called "Samurai Cinema" and now officially bears the name "Kurosawa Mode", Sucker Punch tries to offer something similar in Ghost of Tsushima, especially for those of you who are familiar with and love old samurai films. This mode will automatically switch voice acting to Japanese and then inject a black-and-white filter just like that. But it's not just color, you'll see a little grain effect and small artifacts that make you feel like you're enjoying an old 1950s film. But the most significant, of course, comes from the change in sound from stereo to mono which simulates the quality of old television, with a clear muting effect for all sounds outside of the dialogue between characters. You will feel the difference immediately.

Apart from the charm that he stretches, we ourselves would not recommend you directly play Ghost of Tsushima from the beginning using Kurosawa Mode, from start to finish. This mode does produce the required old visual effects, but it must be admitted, it takes an appreciation for the island of Tsushima that has been formulated by Sucker Punch. Enjoying this game in black and white is like “throwing away” the pleasure of enjoying the bright color contrasts that are the foundation of the world of Ghost of Tsushima. Therefore, we recommend that you start enjoying Kurosawa Mode in the second playthrough or when you are just having fun exploring the world. The good news? You can always access the option to turn Kurosawa Mode on and off whenever you want. Best moment to take advantage of it? When you engage in a 1vs1 duel with another samurai.

After all, apart from the changes that on the surface seem just a matter of aesthetics, Kurosawa Mode will also slightly affect your gameplay. What's the article? Because this black and white filter is really applied thoroughly, which makes all the indicator colors that should be conspicuous for you to pay attention to now end up blending together with the same tone. You will now find it difficult to distinguish the blue and red indicators on enemy attacks, which should show parry timings as well as which types of attacks can be parried and which can't. This color fusion also makes it difficult for you to notice, for example, the advanced objective icons that are now just part of the background.

Conclusion

Regardless of what they've accomplished with Infamous and Sly Cooper in the past, we don't seem to hesitate to call Ghost of Tsushima the best game that Sucker Punch has produced so far. The decision to inject the foundations of fiction and fantasy for a historical piece that actually happened gave this developer plenty of room to experiment both from the story, visual presentation, to gameplay, which I admit blended very well. With a combination of a world that delights the eye in every corner, katana combat that feels so satisfying in the hand, a story that focuses on the concept of Bushido's value as a Samurai, and evocative music, Ghost of Tsushima manages to prove itself to be a fantastic open-world game. That all the hype and anticipation that had surfaced, paid off nicely.

In the end, Ghost of Tsushima remains an open-world game that is ready to amaze you from a visual perspective, satisfying in terms of gameplay, evocative in terms of story and music, and charming when everything is combined in the same space. He will demand that you lift your katana and drop blood on the heavenly ground.