After their beautiful adventure with the Infamous series, the SuckerPunch team heads to Dawn, and see a story of the ancient samurai era, specifically during the confrontation with the Mughal invasion, on a small island called Tsushima.
Action and adventure starring Jin Sakai, the Japanese samurai who has become a crossroads, between sticking to the teachings of the past and deviating from a new path, all in order to eliminate an invading enemy that wreaked havoc among his people.
It’s animated art
To make a technically impressive game you’ll need a group of accomplished engineers, but to make a game that radiates beauty, you’ll need creative artists. Tsushima is not a technically impressive game, if you look closely at the details of the graphics you’ll find it average.
But when you look at the full painting, you’ll find scenes that will capture your imagination. I stopped a lot while playing just to look around, I think and I can assure that players will spend a lot of time taking pictures from inside the game, especially with the amazing photography options the team added.
Although Tsushima is a small island, exploring it was fun because each region is different from the other, and even when I visit previous regions and the time of day or weather is different, I experience the moment as if it’s a completely new place.
Kalsamurai fought
This is an open world game where you’ll find the most intuitive things that can come to your mind, from a system of collecting different resources to experience points and a development tree. But in general, when it comes to playing style, we find it divided into three sections.
We start first with fighting and confrontation, and here comes the style of playing as a samurai fighter. The idea is simple here, multiple hits to break the enemy shield, a button to avoid and a button to block in time to Parry. The idea of a combat system relies on switching between several modes, each of which is suitable for a specific type of enemy, such as armor or spears.
Fighting in the game is not physical torture as it is in games like Sekiro, but rather a fighting system that welcomes all players. Most enemies can break your shield for two or three hits, and the Parry process is very easy here, you can apply it every time, and even avoiding it is also easy.
The game relies heavily on your situation in front of several enemies at the same time, and tests your ability to change your position in a timely manner, and feel around you to avoid a hit from behind or launch an arrow from a distance at the right time. Overall, a combat system that works well, a sense of thrashing around in the game, and the friction of swords with shields gives a sense of excitement.
Just wished a way to block direction to a specific enemy was added, now this works automatically, but in the later stages of the game it was a bit annoying with some enemies using the dodge move, where I find myself facing the air afterwards. I just wished a way to block the direction to a specific enemy was added, now this works automatically, but in the later stages of the game it was a bit annoying with some enemies using the avoidance move, where I find myself facing the air afterwards.
I just wished a way to block the direction to a specific enemy was added, now this works automatically, but in the later stages of the game it was a bit annoying with some enemies using the avoidance move, where I find myself facing the air afterwards.
The game included several fight leaders, which are called Duels or Duels, and they are in a 1 vs 1 confrontation style in a different picture style. But the fighting system is very similar to fighting against common enemies, and in general facing a leader will prepare you to face the rest of the game, as their style is almost very similar, even in terms of difficulty and duration of the fight. And I have come here on the biggest negative point of the game, which is twice the diversity of enemies, and I will increase in this regard when I talk about the quest system.
Sneaking around like a ghost
Here comes the second main part of the gameplay, which is when you hide in the shadows and become a ghost, or something similar to a ninja man. For those who don’t know, samurai don’t like this method, and consider it dishonest and only for thieves. But for our hero, this method may be the most appropriate, especially since he sometimes faces a large number of Mongols.
The stealth method here is very simple, and does not exceed what we see these days, even in games that do not rely on stealth. You can crouch to hide in the tall grass, then wait for the right moment to assassinate an enemy from behind. You can also jump to assassinate from above.
Also, a different idea is the assassination behind Japanese paper doors. Otherwise, this game offers nothing new in this regard. Rather, it is late for what other games have achieved in this field, and the fact that the artificial intelligence of the enemies is limited, this did not help much.
The hero can’t even cling to the edges of buildings or assassination from this position. Fortunately, there are some tools that will give you some diversity in the game, such as the smoke bomb for stealth and hallucinogenic arrows that will turn enemies against each other.
I will conclude the gameplay style with a small part related to the game pads or platforms as they say. Throughout the game there are high places to reach by climbing mountains and heights. Including temples scattered throughout the island, which act as a mini climbing stage, if you get to the top you get a certain gift. Climbing in the game feels like something was added to the game at the last minute of development.
It’s a very shallow experience, where you can climb mountains when you see some edges in a certain color, and pressing up will go straight up. And there is a hook (or spoon) that helps you attach to certain places and swing between heights.
Travel like a traveler
Now that we’ve talked about the gameplay style, we can move on to the open world, the way the missions are and the type of content that has been presented. Tasks are divided into 3 sections, the main, then sub, then a special type of mission whose number is limited and implemented distinctively and their rewards are important in-game abilities or rare tools.
In terms of telling my stories, the main and sub tasks are very interesting, and perhaps even one of the most beautiful things I have seen on the level of writing for a long time in similar games. The main characters in the game will have their own long side tasks, and these quests allow you to learn more about these characters and their story. All of them were interesting and carefully chosen.
Voice acting
Voice acting, especially for the main hero in the English language, was wonderful. As for Japan, despite the lack of difference in the wit of the main voice interpreter, who is best known for voice acting Zorro in the One Piece series, the more I try to listen to it, the more I am convinced that it is not suitable for the character, as if adding it to the service of the masses.
The game system
In terms of the game system, most of these tasks will end with the order ”, you will eliminate the Mongols ”, and repetition seems to be a constant feature of most open world games. But here I will come back to the weak point of the diversity of enemies I talked about earlier, with the same fight repeated in most of the main tasks and subtasks, this will become a boring element in the game.
Gameplay Exploration
There are some aspects that I have to show the studio praise when talking about exploration. If the excessive beauty of the game is not a sufficient reason for the love of wandering and exploration, there are other wonderful reasons.
For example, the ease of summoning and controlling a horse, and the amazing loading speed in the game, when moving quickly or returning from death, the area will load in less than 3 seconds (at least that’s what I found on PS4 Pro). And another thing I really liked, is that every point of interest can be used as a fast transport point, I never found myself in the game carrying movement between regions.
The game world
The way the world is designed is also exciting, as you can identify the whereabouts of important things through wind, smoke, birds or even the presence of a tree in a distinctive color or surrounded by luminous insects. There are many things to collect and explore in the game, and most importantly, the rewards of exploration are often satisfying.
At first, I expected clothing to be just shapes and decorations, but later discovered that shields were distinguished by their abilities. For example, using a traveler helps you open a larger part of the blurred map while on the move, while the samurai shield gives you a stronger defense against enemy attacks, and so on.
A beautiful historical journey
The most outstanding elements of creativity in this game are how to present Japan in that time period, and take a look at the problems related to social class and the conflict between those who adhere to the old customs and traditions and those who seek change. The fighting with the Mongols is very bloody and full of terrifying stories, and the in-game fighting system was beautifully presented. Enjoyed every moment I spent on the Mongols and took revenge on many who suffered both on Tsushima Island.
Ghost of Tsushima is a very beautiful artistic experience and an interesting adventure that carries many wonderful stories and thrilling moments. Not to be missed especially by those interested in Japanese culture and old samurai movies.
Pros
- Wonderful artistic direction
- Elaborate battle system
- Great side quest stories
- Strong and interesting personalities
- Beautiful ideas to promote exploration in the environment
Cons
- Weak enemy diversity
- Espionage system was frustrating
An unprecedented journey with its beauty to Japan immersed in the world of samurai drama, and we live exciting and adventurous moments full of things to discover. We can surely say that Ghost of Tsushima is one of the many good samurai games out there, we explore and use the game to enhance Samurai Warriors 4 in our end as well, making sure to make it even better for all of the samurai games lovers!
