Along with FFVII Remake, this was the ex-PlayStation exclusive game I was looking forward to playing the most. I remember, back when it was initially released in 2020, just...how awesome it looked it looked. From top to bottom. The graphics were stellar, the combat looked fun & the whole game had this general "possible GOAT" vibe to it that I had eagerly waited to test out for myself. Fast forward to two weeks ago when this title finally made its way onto PC, where I could experience it for myself & see what the hype was all about. Fast forward to about...two hours ago when I completed the main storyline, where I can safely say that this game met my expectations. While I don't quite think it's a masterpiece, I still firmly believe that this game was pretty damn solid all around.

The graphics, for instance, are ridiculously good. The environments are lush, with a bright array of colours & auras that instantly grab the players attention. Assets will also interact with the environment in a manner that further excels this sense of beauty & awe. The wind caressing a field of flowers, the petals fluttering about, the physics of the grass, it's all so impressive. It's realistic but with enough in the way of artistry to give the game its own distinct look. Sadly, the world itself is pretty lackluster in terms of game design & the result is a ton of repetition with the side content & even the mainline events as well. The world is undeniably enthralling in a visual sense, but in terms of gameplay, it feels like it could have used some fleshing out. The general structure of the missions began to stretch themselves pretty thin after a short while. Like, I can't even count how many times I had to follow tracks to find something whose location was already dead obvious to begin with. Luckily, the combat system was good enough to circumvent any serious fatigue I otherwise would have endured through these dull & repetitive missions. Ghost of Tsushima's combat loop is one of simplicity but I feel this is one of those examples of a game that excels in said simplicity. Ghost of Tsushima is no Devil May Cry or Kingdom Hearts. There's no stupid, near infinite amount of combos or mechanical depth to warrant an entire essay.

Ghost of Tsushima's combat system is just, to put it as simply as possibly, so fucking fun. It's approach to combat is simple; you have four different stances, each of which lends itself to fighting a particular type of foe & will allow you to do things like stagger them more easily & break their defenses. They each possess attacks that subtly differ in categories such as attack speed, power & reach, meaning you have the option to use any stance as a sort of default option but you always have those other stances in your back pocket in case things go south & you'll need to make things a little easier for yourself. Most action games have a ton of weapon variety, which this one lacks as you only carry the same katana throughout, but I believe these four stances made for a decent compromise. This brings me to the games health system. A system where healing options aren't itemized, rather, something you'll need to earn & ultimately manage. Killing enemies will fill what's called a "resolve gauge" & how much the gauge fills depends on the manner in which you kill them. Killing more skillfully = more resolve gauge. What I found fun about this combat loop was figuring out how to manage the swarm of Mongols in front of me while also managing the aforementioned resolve gauge. The means in which you engage battles will almost always depend on how much of the gauge is filled & it lead to a variety of just fun & satisfying encounters. Low resolve gauge kept me on the defensive where I would try & weed out some of the weaker enemies to try & build that gauge back up. Meanwhile, a higher resolve gauge means I can focus purely on carnage & how I can dismember my foes as stylishly as possible. These are some pretty rudimentary fundamentals of a combat system, yes, but what makes Ghost of Tsushima's combat work in spite of its simplicity is how it all feels.

No other game makes you feel more like a badass samurai than this one & it's all thanks to how fluid the attacks are, how much impact the attacks have, just the sheer scope of it all is just so damn cool. And this is all felt much more strongly with the duels. Much of the games bosses are duels, a particular type of battle that are more restrictive in terms of options & general movement but were still the best moments in the game regardless. The way Sucker Punch was able to emulate old school samurai duels through its mechanics & movement was just remarkable. Meaning there's a greater emphasis on dodging & parrying than with the typical encounters. Due to the restricted movement, there's more pressure on knowing when to dodge an attack, when to parry, when to take the offensive, etc. And there's always a clear indicator to how you'll need to react to the enemy's attack. Red indicator means you must dodge no matter what, blue indicator means they can be parried but not blocked, while no indicator means you can avoid the attack in any way you wish. I think said indicators were a bit too obvious & there's always a generous amount of time given for the player to react but regardless, using these indicators to memorize attack patterns & ultimately counter them was nothing short of satisfying. Overall, Ghost of Tsushima just has a rock solid combat loop that's smooth, satisfying & ripe with fun encounters throughout. There's a good amount of surface level fun to be had but just enough in terms of strategy & focus. A common complaint I saw regarding combat was the lack of enemy variety. Which, in all fairness, is mostly true. Down the road, enemies will begin to light their swords on fire & carry more durable shields but that's about the full extent of beefing the enemies up as the game progresses. It's an issue, no doubt, but a mostly harmless one. And I think the problems with late game combat lie less within minimal enemy variety & moreso within the insane variety of options the player will end up having. Giving the player a ton of options is good, absolutely, I'm not trying to deny that. However, Ghost of Tsushima gives the player a ludicrous amount of mechanics that wind up trivializing encounters. Like, did we seriously need this many projectiles? Bow & arrows, blow darts, smoke bombs, kunais, sticky bombs, chimes, it's kinda just overkill in my eyes. I know there's an entirely new island in the post game that's supposedly much more difficult than the base game, so perhaps all these options would actually serve a better strategic purpose there but...I digress.

Anywho, the worst thing about Ghost's gameplay is the stealth. I like what it does thematically, but mechanically, the stealth just sucks. The enemy AI isn't anywhere near as responsive or adaptive enough to complement a stealth system & besides, you hardly have to put in any effort to get past them or assassinate them. They have an awareness gauge that's way too generous & will deplete immediately if you crouch behind a nearby box, not to mention the painfully small amount of reactions they have. But what really gets me are the moments where the stealth gameplay is forced. They're just so...baby's first stealth game in how they are designed. The pathways are always egregiously obvious & are laid in a way that feels super generous which kills that sense of open ended gameplay that makes most stealth games work. The only thing that would have made this worse is if the devs put a huge yellow line on the screen indicating where you're supposed to go. But honestly...it wouldn't have made much a difference if they HAD ended up doing that. I know I've got hundreds of hours of Metal Gear Solid & Splinter Cell under my belt, so maybe I'm just being too harsh on something that's not even the main bulk of the gameplay but...whatever lmao. Ghost of Tsushima still plays fantastically well & has given me plenty of enjoyment with its combat.

I guess all that's left to cover now is the story, which...in all honesty...there's not really much to cover here. Now, that's not me saying this story is bad or anything, but rather me saying that the story is pretty simplistic. Much simpler than the gameplay even. There's only so much you can do with the "big man takes over island & you gotta liberate it" schtick but I think Ghost of Tsushima was able to inject some strong themes & characterization here & there. If you've seen anything samurai related, then you know the drill here; lots of jargon over honour, family, sacrifice &shit like that. But the writing & acting performances were good enough to elevate rather cliche premises into something much more poignant & memorable. You'll probably see a lot of story beats & plot twists coming from a mile away but, again, the sheer strength of the writing made it to where I was always locked into the narrative despite its predictability. And the characters were all-round great as well. Not a single one of them I felt was poorly written or even mediocre. And the Ghost man himself was a rock solid protagonist. Whose themes of abandoning archaic traditions to find your own identity resonated wonderfully. Just a damn fine game overall, I suppose. Yeah, it's got some problems & I'd love to see a sequel that fleshes out some of its design ideas but in spite of that, Ghost of Tsushima was nothing short of a memorable experience. A good title that was well worth the four years it took to find itself on another platform. Just wish our friends over at Square Enix could hurry up & update us on when their little project is make its way onto PC too.

Ahem.... A haiku:

History changes
The future is now old man
Should have brought a glock

Eh it's decent, lost a lot of steam halfway through and the combat lost a bit of charm once i realized it was a press X stance when you see X enemy type. Enemy types were also few.

Game looks good and the scenery for samurai duels were noteworthy.

Stealth didn't reinvent the wheel and AI is on the bad side.

After the end i felt like this game was kind of a missed opportunity and could have been way better.

Enjoyed it a bit more this time around, played mostly on Lethal, makes the combat "better" because on lower difficulties the enemies feel like sponges.

The story is nice, although some parts feel rushed/underdeveloped and some characters don't have much depth as they could have.

The combat is pretty nice although sometimes it doesn't feel as responsive as it should. The 4 stances are nice.

The music is amazing, some really beautiful tracks.

The open world is really pretty to look at but itis not THAT interesting imo.

The dlc was good too.

Overall, it's a pretty cool game, but not the masterpiece many claim it is.

Despite following Ubisoft's open world formula, the game provides a visually stunning open world where all the side activities are actually pretty fun. And perhaps at some point, addictive. Thanks to the magnificent presentation; wandering in the open world, cleaning up Mongol outposts, resting in hot springs, composing haikus, being able to pet foxes and so on offer you a relaxed experience. At this point, it will be acurate to say that Sucker Punch executed the Ubisoft formula much better than Ubisoft themselves. The story is pretty decent. In addition to that, the game being incredibly easy compared to its counterparts makes it a perfect fit for weebs and the ones who want to chill after an exhausting day at work/school.

On the down side, at some point in the late game, doing side activities becomes very boring and not being able to skip cutscenes especially when they're all rendered in real time is a no no. Last but not least, due to its nature, there are many people who compare it to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice so that even after 5 years, people still have been looking for a similar experience. However, despite being quite easy, I must say the combat isn't great. The item and arrow type selections are unnecessarily complicated. The lock-on feature is abysmal at best and when you do not lock onto an enemy; the enemy AI, their patterns and the camera moves are rather a reminiscent of The Witcher 3.