Played on PS5 via PS Plus
Also Available on PS4
Playtime: 9 Hours
Completion Date: July 17 2022
No Spoilers For the DLC or Main Game

Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island is the first and most likely the only story expansion to Ghost of Tsushima. It's an action/adventure open world game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Our story begins in the island of Tsushima. Jin Sakai, our main character, sees a village in need of help. He goes and investigates what happened. A new tribe of Mongols called The Eagle Tribe started capturing Iki Island. Jin thinks it's dangerous to let them capture Iki Island because they may come to Tsushima afterwards. So Jin decides to travel to Iki Island and stop The Eagle Tribe. Though unfortunately, Jin and Iki has a dark past.

The story is pretty good. Interestingly, we get a lot more about Jin's past in the DLC. Both in the main story and the side content. This does not feel like a side story at all. It feels it is required content to understand the world of this game going forward. Which is definitely a good feeling.

Because there is a new island, there are also new characters. I tried to find the english voice cast for the DLC characters but couldn't find them unfortunately. But all of them did a great job. Especially the villain, Eagle. Let's start with her.

Eagle is definitely better than Khotun Khan in the main game. You don't see her too much but you hear her. Don't want to give any spoilers so will leave it at that. She knows a lot about Jin which makes her terrifying. We have also 2 important new allies. Tenzo and Fune.

Both are great. But we see Tenzo a lot more and he definitely has a more important role to play. He and Jin doesn't trust each other first. And their relationship is dynamic. When someone does something, the other gets hurt or likes it. It's a relationship that goes up and down, just like how it is in the real life. It's not a straight line going from enemy to friend.

One final thing about the story is it's place in the timeline. I think it depends on the player. Because while you can travel to Iki starting with the Act 2 of the main game, i travelled it after i finished the whole main game and characters talked about the ending. So i am not sure. But i highly recommend you to play this after you finish the main story. Because it's harder and i think this being after the main story makes much more sense.

So story and characters are great. That's a good start. What about the gameplay? Well, it's actually the same. For better and worse. Let's talk about that difficulty thing. The Eagle Tribe definitely includes the hardest enemies of the game. And the final boss, oh my god. That was really hard. Took many attempts.

There is a new enemy type. Shaman. These should be your first target when you enter combat because they buff the other enemies, and they buff them hard. Without taking out the shamans, you don't deal much damage to other enemies and all of the enemies does that red, unblockable attack.

But as a player who got all of the skills and did everything in Tsushima, it wasn't that hard. Still, far from Souls difficulty. There is also a new skill. It's horse charge and it can be useful sometimes.

The combat is pretty much the same except the things i discussed. There is nothing new in stealth or ranged combat. Let's look at missions. There are 9 new main missions. Main story is short but sweet. Very sweet. There are many side missions. They are good but i have one key problem with them.

I don't know why but all of the side missions does not appear on your map or your mission log. There are 5 unwritten tales and some of the written tales, aren't written at all. If you will go for the trophy, you will 100% need to use a guide to finish all side missions. It was ridiculous.

There are 2 new mythic tales. They were definitely the best side content of the main game. And these 2 are great as well. One of them is a great story about Jin's past. That one has lots of platforming. While the other one is a standalone story, focusing on exploration and combat. Had a great duel at the end as well.

Question marks are back. No fox dens, that was great. More bamboo, more hot springs, lighthouses, enemy camps and i think there was only 1 new shrine. These are the returning activities. But on top of this, there are 3 new activity types.

One of them is called animal sanctuary. It's a new, nice mini game. You need to tilt your controller to follow a path which will create a music. This will make the surrounding animals happy and you will be able to pet them. There are cats, deers and monkeys. These also gives some background about Jin's mother.

There are archery challenges. Nothing special, it's what it is. Though it's tough, it's also fun. And there is the third one. I don't want to spoil anything, they are really good. Let me just say this. They will give more background about Jin's father.

The game looks and sounds great. It also plays great. I played it on PS5, 60 FPS from start to finish. Did not feel any frame drops. And it was definitely less buggy then the main game. Which was great. For trophy hunters, it's a short, sweet list, just like the DLC itself. But like i said, some side missions not showing in the map causes problems. You will need to use a guide. It took me 9 hours to get both the story trophies and the exploration trophies.

Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island is more Ghost of Tsushima. The story and characters are great. The gameplay is good too but i definitely started getting bored towards the end. Because while the main game constantly gave you new skills and enemy types, Iki Island just throws more enemies at you. New side missions and activities are also great.

In the end, it's a DLC. It does the job. It's more of what you got in the main game. Is it worth the price? I am not sure. But i'm sure that you at least need to experience the main story. It expands on Jin in great ways.

Iki Island is a much better expansion than the average open world DLC, which is often content to add more auto generated landscape or nodes on the same map. The new mechanics are great, new enemy types push and expand the already excellent combat system, and the landscape is still among the most gorgeous in games.

Unfortunately Sucker Punch is owner by Modern Sony, and that means that about a third of any given play session is spent watching long pointless walk n talks while semi human robots spit insipid dialogue at one another while the game desperately tries to convince you that a colonizing imperial force genociding people is a morally complex idea. Every cutscene is still unskippable, even incidental dialogue that's just shot in these incredibly awkward profile shots to hide how under animated they are, and then long stretches of "gameplay" are just holding a stick up while more pointless dialogue drones on and on and on, you can't even walk off the proscripted path, the game will autocorrect your movement to follow the story, why! This and Horizon and Days Gone and even GoW to an extent show just how shallow these modern open worlds are, the bulk of the game is still as tightly linear and controlled as Uncharted 2 (sans the tight pacing and well composed level and encounter design), if not more so, there's just also ten hours of side content where you Repeat The Loop if you care to. At least Odyssey in all its copy pasted glory let you try to approach missions in a slightly freeform way.

I don't like these types of angry reviews, I don't like to bitch about the hard work these devs put in, it's just so frustrating. I want to enjoy this game, I have enjoyed stuff like it, I even got over it for the main game, but when everything a company puts out has its pacing just pummelled to bits like this it's so tiring, Sucker Punch deserves better

I has been some time since i last played GoT, it took me some time to get back in the groove, i love the game when it release and this DLC expands more on the backstory of Jins dads death and how he blames himslef for not veing able to help his dad. If you like the main game you are going to love this DLC, is more of the same but they have added extra activities to comple, i was ok with the proce of yhe DLC, got it during the black sale, im removing a star as uou need to pay extra to get the PS5 upgrade. I hope we get to see another game like this in the future.

100% of trophies earned, complete playthrough, all tales completed, all gear upgrades, 100% of tracked collectibles obtained. An impressive expansion to an already excellent game, Iki Island sees protagonist Jin travelling to nearby Iki, overrun by an offshoot Mongol tribe led by enigmatic shaman, "the Eagle". With some interesting further exploration of Jin's earlier life, alongside expanded combat mechanics including enemies able to switch weapons and receive buffs via chants, there's plenty here to enjoy.

More of the same as the main game, but gives us a peek into Jin's past and introduces some cool characters. Feels just right length-wise, meaning doesn't feel too short and doesn't overstay its welcome.

Just like the base game's regions, the titular Iki Island is a pretty place and gives us a colorful tropical backdrop, and similarly to the base game, Iki made me stop at times just to admire the vistas.

A solid experience overall.

Ghost of Tsushima is a very special game to me. It is my favorite open world game of all time, and romantic elegance of the game's design, art direction, and music won me over easily. Coming into this expansion, I was just excited to be given a chance to spend more time in the game's beautiful setting. By the end, that desire has been fully satisfied, and I can't help but fall in love with Ghost of Tsushima all over again.

Before we start, I would like to disclose that I played the Director's Cut on PS5, and the game pretty much looks and performs like a true next-gen title.

Let's start with the story. It is a personal tale about Jin Sakai's self-discovery and redemption, as he seeks to not only save his people from the Eagle Tribe's dangerous plans, but also understand the perspective of a group of people that he has indirectly wronged in the past. The new cast of characters that Jin meets are pretty good overall. I particularly like Tenzo and how his relationship with Jin progresses as the game goes. I also enjoy seeing the Eagle's constant threatening presence, thanks to her hallucinogenic-driven psychological warfare against Jin. While the story can feel a bit rushed pacing-wise, it still manages to resonate with you like the main game did, and it is very much a story worth telling.

From a level design perspective, Iki Island is as engaging as Tsushima, with nearly the exact same open world structure, but it feels more dense due to the island's relatively small size. Thankfully it has many landscapes that feel unique to the island, like the Senjo Gorge and the Thunderhead Cliffs.

The familiarity of the expansion will feel like a warm blanket to anyone like myself, but it has quite a few new tricks up its sleeves. Some of them you might even miss quite easily. The new enemy type, Shamans, adds an extra sense of urgency to the combat. There is a new ability introduced early on, which enables you to ram through enemies with your horse in a violently satisfying fashion. The island is filled with new kinds of side activites, like the addictingly simple yet challenging archery mini game, and the spiritually appeasing animal sanctuaries (which also helps in building Jin's character). The new armor set and the variety of charms that are introduced here are not only fun to play with on their own, but also enables older armor sets to achieve new heights of capabilities. The hallucinations that Jin experience makes for some very interesting moments, many of which are optional. Finally, there are secret events/rewards you can get, either by solving riddles or stumbling on a place unmarked on the map, and it is perhaps one of my favorite parts of this DLC.

To put it simply, the Iki Island expansion is the kind of DLC that doesn't happen very often. It has a story that is meaningful and important to the plot of the main game. It has polished many aspects of the main game while putting it all in a very digestable package. It also introduces new gameplay aspects, which it uses to spice up the mostly familiar base ingredients. And most of all, it does all of it effortlessly, giving you the impression that Sucker Punch was still holding back when they made the main game. I think that is the best part of this expansion. It lets you imagine what a possible sequel will be like, and it reminds you once again that Sucker Punch will not rest on their laurels.

Iki Island improves on a lot of the content that the base game had which is exactly what you want from a DLC, that's why I think this DLC is even better than the base game. It has longer and more interesting side quests, a really interesting main story about Jin's father and his actions against the raiders of Iki Island. Jin tries to redeem the name of his clan and retake the island from the mongols. There are some new activities which are fun and not overused, the island is even prettier than Tsushima. 100% is a breeze and a joy, the combat is also more difficult which was really needed imo.

You will not be disappointed by this DLC so go ahead and play it. ;)

I'm focusing mainly on the Iki Island DLC here. For the strengths and weaknesses of the actual game, read this:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/pali/review/608138

This addon is a great addition to the main game. The environment and atmosphere are still fantastic and there are a few new mini-games and more optional collectables. Especially the shrines which give you armour reminiscing of other Playstation titles are neat. But the best thing is the story. Lowkey, it is just another island that is attacked by Mongols. But this time they bring some sort of poison with them trying to subdue the Iki inhabitants. Jin is struggling here even more with the loss and earlier actions of his father which happened on this very island. Will Jin follow in his father's footsteps or will he weave his own destiny? Another adventure of trust, strangers, old and new friends and blood-thirsty enemies is about to happen. If you liked the main game then Iki Island will expand your gaming experience greatly. It is more of the same and better.

Honestly, the quality of this DLC made me question if I just judged the main game too harshly. I really liked Ghost of Tsushima, but it read to me more like a good game and not a great one. Iki Island, though, was great.

There's definitely still some of the issues here I had with the main game. Controls for combat and platforming are still a bit clunky, and some visual elements don't look super great despite the fantastic art design.

Besides that though, I don't really have much to complain about here. The new story was awesome, giving us a new epic tale while also delving further into Jin's past. The new open world elements were a welcome breath of fresh air and were very fun to seek out and complete. We also got some returning favorites from the main game, and the sidequests, especially the Legendary Tales, were high quality as always. We even got a new mechanic with the horse charge which was super fun to use!

Overall, this is a sizable but not overwhelming expansion to Ghost of Tsushima. If you liked the base game, you really owe it to yourself to play this as it's pretty much everything you would ever want in an expansion. I would even say it takes a nice step forward for the game itself.