While I'm still early on the PC port, I've played through the game already on my PlayStation, and Ghost of Tsushima is easily one of my favourite new AAA titles to come out of a major publisher in a long while.

It might present as a Samurai/Ninja game, but functionally it's, intentional or not, a spiritual successor to the Arkham series. While Rocksteady went in a different direction (and Warner....well, you know), Ghost of Tsushima embraces Arkham's DNA of multifaceted gameplay systems and encounter states seamlessly, organically blending together and, by and large, at the behest of the player's agency. What I mean by this is that the Arkham series' highs were that the stealth, combat, and traversal were all tight, fun, and exciting by their own merits. All made use if various gadgets, tools, and abilities to enhance the moment-to-moment experience. And, more importantly, the game actively encouraged you to transition between gameplay states at your own behest. In a single stretch of short play in Arkham you could go from soaring over Gotham, diving into a perch, beating up dudes, smoke bomb, escape, transition to stealth, and use tools to methodically take down the pack. All without the game disconnecting to a cutscene or forcing you to play a particular way.

Ghost of Tsushima is exactly that. The combat is fun. The stealth is fun. The traversal is fun. And the game routinely lets you play however you want, and swap in and out of encounter types and gameplay states however you wish. This is further supplemented by controls, input response time, and feedback that seems, for most part, to be function-first over animation priority. While I love games like Red Dead Redemption 2, these titles emphasise immersion through meticulous, realistic animations for every little thing you do. Ghost of Tsushima is still animated very well, but puts responsiveness first at the cost of long, self indulgent animation chains, resulting in controls and feedback that is punchy, satisfying, and instantly gratifying. And a lot of this feeds into basic Quality of Life stuff, like how exactly you pick up objects with a a tap of the trigger, or how you interact with and navigate environments.

The end result is a game that's just perfectly buttery and friendly to play. You can play for 10 minutes or 10 hours and most of your time spent in either scenario feels earned and valued. Don't get me wrong, the map collectables do get repetitive, and the last area is oddly thin in content compared to the first two. But a lot of this stuff is just like...easy-to-improve-in-a-sequel and still very good for a first outing in a new series. It's just a damn fun game to play.

And I really like the story. I think Jin Sakai is one of the most earnest, wholesome, positive male protagonists in video games. He is soft, gentle, and caring, but not at a compromise to his own independence and confidence. Instead, this is a foundational theme of the story, that challenges Jin to confront his past failings and self doubt, with an uncertain future that challenges his preconceived notions of honour and duty. He must break the cycle of tradition and norms that are holding Japan back, in order for Japan to triumph, and in doing so must face criticism from traditionalists without losing the earnest, honest part of himself and his genuine care for others.

Also it's gorgeous and the soundtrack is amazing and it's loaded with smart audio and visual cues that guide gameplay systems instead of obnoxious menu icons and pop-ups. It's weirdly zen and relaxing while thrilling and exciting at the same time. Peaceful and visceral. It's a gem across the board.

My short time with the PC build so far has dug up a couple of annoying bugs. Framegen introduces weird edge smearing whenever the depth of field kicks in, often during cutscenes (I think the smearing might be from the black letterbox bars). And there's a bug that can fudge the "hold Y" during standoffs. But it otherwise seems to be a really solid port.

Not much else to say. Ghost of Tsushima is just one of those games that hit a magical sweet spot for me on the PS4, where I was a little jaded at how hard Sony has doubled down on cinematic-first bootleg-HBO games, and then along comes this that is tight, lean, and gameplay first in all the ways it probably didn't need to be and would have gotten away with it. And I admire Sucker Punch for sticking to their convictions and making a game that is, first and foremost, an absolute blast to ~play~, and then wrapping great presentation around that.

While I'm still early on the PC port, I've played through the game already on my PlayStation, and Ghost of Tsushima is easily one of my favourite new AAA titles to come out of a major publisher in a long while. It might present as a Samurai/Ninja game, but functionally it's, intentional or not, a spiritual successor to the Arkham series. While Rocksteady went in a different direction (and Warner....well, you know), Ghost of Tsushima embraces Arkham's DNA of multifaceted gameplay systems and encounter states seamlessly, organically blending together and, by and large, at the behest of the player's agency. What I mean by this is that the Arkham series' highs were that the stealth, combat, and traversal were all tight, fun, and exciting by their own merits. All made use if various gadgets, tools, and abilities to enhance the moment-to-moment experience. And, more importantly, the game actively encouraged you to transition between gameplay states at your own behest. In a single stretch of short play in Arkham you could go from soaring over Gotham, diving into a perch, beating up dudes, smoke bomb, escape, transition to stealth, and use tools to methodically take down the pack. All without the game disconnecting to a cutscene or forcing you to play a particular way. Ghost of Tsushima is exactly that. The combat is fun. The stealth is fun. The traversal is fun. And the game routinely lets you play however you want, and swap in and out of encounter types and gameplay states however you wish. This is further supplemented by controls, input response time, and feedback that seems, for most part, to be function-first over animation priority. While I love games like Red Dead Redemption 2, these titles emphasise immersion through meticulous, realistic animations for every little thing you do. Ghost of Tsushima is still animated very well, but puts responsiveness first at the cost of long, self indulgent animation chains, resulting in controls and feedback that is punchy, satisfying, and instantly gratifying. And a lot of this feeds into basic Quality of Life stuff, like how exactly you pick up objects with a a tap of the trigger, or how you interact with and navigate environments. The end result is a game that's just perfectly buttery and friendly to play. You can play for 10 minutes or 10 hours and most of your time spent in either scenario feels earned and valued. Don't get me wrong, the map collectables do get repetitive, and the last area is oddly thin in content compared to the first two. But a lot of this stuff is just like...easy-to-improve-in-a-sequel and still very good for a first outing in a new series. It's just a damn fun game to play. And I really like the story. I think Jin Sakai is one of the most earnest, wholesome, positive male protagonists in video games. He is soft, gentle, and caring, but not at a compromise to his own independence and confidence. Instead, this is a foundational theme of the story, that challenges Jin to confront his past failings and self doubt, with an uncertain future that challenges his preconceived notions of honour and duty. He must break the cycle of tradition and norms that are holding Japan back, in order for Japan to triumph, and in doing so must face criticism from traditionalists without losing the earnest, honest part of himself and his genuine care for others. Also it's gorgeous and the soundtrack is amazing and it's loaded with smart audio and visual cues that guide gameplay systems instead of obnoxious menu icons and pop-ups. It's weirdly zen and relaxing while thrilling and exciting at the same time. Peaceful and visceral. It's a gem across the board. My short time with the PC build so far has dug up a couple of annoying bugs. Framegen introduces weird edge smearing whenever the depth of field kicks in, often during cutscenes (I think the smearing might be from the black letterbox bars). And there's a bug that can fudge the "hold Y" during standoffs. But it otherwise seems to be a really solid port. Not much else to say. Ghost of Tsushima is just one of those games that hit a magical sweet spot for me on the PS4, where I was a little jaded at how hard Sony has doubled down on cinematic-first bootleg-HBO games, and then along comes this that is tight, lean, and gameplay first in all the ways it probably didn't need to be and would have gotten away with it. And I admire Sucker Punch for sticking to their convictions and making a game that is, first and foremost, an absolute blast to ~play~, and then wrapping great presentation around that.