The last great exclusive release of the PS4 era, the moniker being given to Ghost of Tsushima. Does it deserve that title, though? Let's be honest, this has been a banner year for the Playstation, made even more important with the imminent rise of the next generation. Microsoft was scoring a lot of points to the build up of the next gen with backwards compatibility, connectivity, and cross-play features that were backing Sony into a tight corner. Lo and behold, though, Sony's proving that the most important factor is, after all, games.
With currently exclusive releases like Final Fantasy VII remake, Nioh 2, Last of Us Part 2, and now Ghost of Tsushima, the PS4 is really flexing its muscles one last time this generation. Honestly this is a good thing for gamers.
On to the game itself, though, as GoT (Really does anybody want to try and defend that acronym belonging to show or book series anymore? If Martin releases the next book in the series I'll rescind my comment, but until then I've officially moved on from anything to do with games and thrones) is the thing we really want to look at here.
The story follows Jin Sakai, nephew to Lord Shimura head of Tsushima island, and his exploits following the sudden mongol invasion lead by Khotun Khan, voiced and performance captured by the wonderful Patrick Gallagher. For the first, but decidedly not the last, time I'm going to draw parrallels to the Assassin's Creed series, as like Odyssey the game thrusts you into the game world in the midst of a major conflict where victory is impossible.
After giving you some basic controls through this first conflict, you are finally given a glimpse of the meat of this game through a series of stealth tutorials that guide you through escaping a mongol controlled village. As you progress through the game planning out your path through any mongol controlled territory feels very much like planning through a take down in the last few Assassin's Creed games. Careful planning is by no means required, but boy does it make the game easier, and it's really satisfying when something you planned works really well.
That said, the progress of the game is a lot loss Assassin's Creed, and a lot more God of War. Getting weapons and armor in Tsushima are typically linked to epic quests, themselves hidden behind other precursor side quests. They're not very easy to aquire, and upgrading them is even more time consuming (though it is of course worth every effort). Instead, the majority of your progress is done through unlocking skills and abilities.
Your gameplay style will very much dictate what you want to unlock first to help you get through the first part of the island. Do you want to expand your assassination skills with wind chime decoys and the ability to kill more than one enemy through assassination? Perhaps, like me, you're more of a run in ask questions later sort of fighter, being able to kill more than one enemy through a duel is probably your route, as well as more blade skills.
You'll also be given options for sword fighting styles that are strong against specific opponent types, and a brilliantly simple quick style switch to combat multiple enemy types in succession. There are also abilities and charms you can unlock and acquire that give you bonuses based on play style, healing for killing enemies certain ways, or....well here's the thing, there's a lot of depth to explore. I feel the best part of all this is that despite the depth of options available to you to grow your Jin, the system stays out of your way for the most part during actual combat. Yes you can spend ten minutes tracking enemies, planning smoke bombs, assassinations, bow kills, and hostage rescuse. Once you start enacting your plan, though, the game really stays out of your way with smooth combat (which is very much unlike my experience with Assassin's Creed).
Exploration is fun in this game, combat is a blast, the story is a little...well derivative but that was literally their goal in making a Kurosawa like game, and all of it is beautiful.
And I do mean spectacularly beautiful. I don't even understand how they pulled it off. Some of the textures are lacking (the horses can sometimes look pretty ugly, strange considering how big a part your horse plays in the game), and you will see about 8,000 (slight exageration) of the same home as you venture through the first parts of Tsushima, but every single thing in this game is beautiful.
The lighting is bar none the best I've seen using the PS4 Pro. When you travel to some of the souther portions of the Tsushima, and the lightning booms and flashes in the distance, rain coming down in torrents, your horses' every footfall squealching loudly through the mud as deer howl and birds cry at your passing, you really feal fully drawn into this game. The only thing that's really removed me from the full imersion has been the assassination deaths. They always feel so loud and gurgly (done on purpose I assume), that I can't imagine the entire village hasn't heard me just brutally murder one of their comrades.
Very much like my early time with Red Dead Redemption 2, before you hit Saint Denis, I really got lost in my exploration of the island of Tsushima. Each area on the island is distinct and beautiful. The iconic Golden Forest is only one of many areas that will take your breath away. The first time I light a brazer in a lighthouse, looked east, and saw Castle Kaneda, where my uncle was being held prisoner, off in the distance, with mongol ships dotting the sea all around, I was floored.
Most impressive of all, though, has been the load times. From game start-up from the PS4 main menu, to being in game and running around clocked in at about 4 minutes. There's a wonderful quick travel system that allows you to travel back to unlocked areas, and areas that you've liberated from the mongols. Selecting an area across the island from where you just were takes you to your destination in seconds. I don't know why they even bothered with load screen tips, I've yet to see one long enough to read much less cycle through any additional hints.
Not just the game world is beautiful, it looks to me that the team even took care in designing the menu elements. It has this strange mixture of old DVD menus, searching through select special features, and ancient maps and scrolls. It all works well together to keep you in the world. Though I did use the map frequently, particularly when trying to quick travel, I found myself surprised at how well the ghost wind tracking worked.
Generally I've found any usage of the PS4 controller's speaker or touch pad to be annoying at best, and intrusive in most situations. Here swiping on the pad gives a feel of gently requesting assisstance. Swipe up to have the winds blow and guide me, left to pull out my flute and play, right to sheath my sword. It all feels gentle, and almost gentlemanly. Very on point with the Japanese Samurai theme. I did turn off the controller's speaker, as all it did was emit a blowing wind midi (I'm sorry that speaker just sounds like a crackly old midi player), but I was pleased to find the option to turn it off was given.
In terms of getting more play out of what could be a very short game, the collectables deliver in spades, at least they did for me. Composing haikus to receive bandanas with those compositions on them. Completing specific side quests to unlock hats, weapons, armor, and more. Following insanely adorable foxes to unlock charm slots. Traversing up, down, and around complex jumping puzzles to acquire powerful charms to slot in to. Timed button pressing memory games to display your sword cutting skills.
These side quests feel a part of the world, a very real part of your Jin's journey. They're each distinct enough to not feel too repetative, and for the most part unlock some truly useful things for your journey. For instance contemplations in a hot springs are fun interludes to a bloody crusade, but they also increase your maximum health. Other unlocks are just cosmetic, but still joyful, like the Pathwork Straw Hat here.
In all, I think Ghost of Tsushima caps off one of the best swansongs for a generation we've seen ever. It delivers on so many levels; epic gameplay with fun simple controls and mechanics that grow in complexity as you play. A wonderfully lush and vivid world, lovingly designed by people who clearly cared about the source material. A masterfully scored soundtrack, and oodles of extras to give the game so much extra value. It's also done this while having the quickest to load times I have ever experience, through what I can only imagine is some sort of demonic witchcraft (though I'm hoping this is a preview of what we can expect on the PS5).
In short, if you have the time and the money you should get this game. If you have a great 4k TV, booming sound system, and the PS4 Pro, prepare yourself for a spectacular treat.
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