Genuinely this game would be a perfect 5 stars if the "true endgame" didnt exist. Boring running around dependant on how many ferrystones you've saved, unless youd are to go outside a town where every monster feels like a make-a-wish little leaguer taking on the Green Bay Packera. Not to mention getting to this true ending is already confusing enough, but figuring out the stupid rules it has within the time limit is virtually impossible first try (which is all you get because of the ironman save system in this). Tldr it feels heavily bogged down by TRYING to be way more complicated than needed on a 1 save style game.

This review will contain spoilers

I came back to this version of the game to play the Iki island expansion and decided to play the main story again for the first time since 2020. This remains as one of my favourite games of all time, a mix of a powerful story, amazing combat and breath-taking visuals from start to finish.

To start with the story, the game is set in the late 13th century on the island of Tsushima off the coast of Japan during the Mongol invasion. You play as Jin Sakai, a Samurai who has to grapple with sticking to the Samurai code or breaking it to defeat the invaders. The main game was a lot shorter than I remember it being, with 24 main missions, 25 if you include the prologue. From the second this game starts, you are hit with everything that it has to offer, The Battle of Komoda Beach is probably the best opening in any game I personally have played, the sheer hopelessness as the Mongol army cuts down every Samurai fills you with dread. From here on the game has Jin gathering allies in order to defeat the Mongol invaders and their leader Khotun Khan. During this, Jin deviates from the Samurai code and becomes "The Ghost" in order to safe his people. This is the backbone of the games story, having Jin put in places where he has to break his code to get one over on the enemy whilst being stuck between his allies and his uncle, Lord Shimura. There are a few notable missions but most do feel quite similar but are made better by the combat, My favourite missions is the battle in Yarikawa and the scene where Jin unlocks the ghost stance. I really like how they portray "The Ghost" part of Jin's story as while he thinks he is doing the right thing, it isn't as clean cut as that. In particular the scene where he poisons the Mongol troops in Castle Shimura, he ends up giving the Mongols the ability to make his poison, I like how there are both good and bad sides to what Jin is doing and it isn't as clean cut as Jin good, Samurai bad. One complaint I have is that Jin very easily breaks the Samurai code and I wish they had spent more time having him grapple with the decisions he makes. I also think that they could have maybe made the game a few missions longer as Act 3 ends very quickly only being like 5 missions long. The final missions however, where Jin duels Lord Shimura is so perfectly crafted, similarly to the prologue mission, it has everything that makes this game amazing present. Powerful story, amazing combat, breath taking visuals and a sensational score.

Jin is a really interesting protagonist, considering the whole game revolves around him, he is great in the leading role. Daisuke Tsuji gives an amazing lead performance. Khotun Khan is a very imposing villain, appearing very few times but his presence is felt throughout. Lord Shimura is a great side character, his relationship with Jin is a main focus of the story and is hit out the park. I also really liked Yuna and Lady Masako both being very good side characters and Masakos side quest was my favourite of them.

This game also has my favourite combat system, I think that the sword combat in this game is amazing and it makes the bordering on repetitive missions fun regardless. Jin has 4 stances he can use that are effective on specific enemies, those enemies being regular swordsmen, shield users, spearmen and brutes. The stances are obtained by killing a certain number of Mongol generals, I like that they arent locked behind story progression and effectively you could unlock every stance as soon as you finish the first act. There are also a number of other weapons/items like bows, kunai's, powder bombs and dart guns , providing you with enough weapons to make every encounter unique. I like the horse traversal but half the time it is unnecessary as the fast travel in this game is absolutely insane. Taking seconds to travel from one side of the map to the other, rivalling spiderman 2 for quickest fast travel, and this game game out 3 years before it. I like the way the boss battles are done in a duelling way. Playing on normal, I found most of them quite challenging. I do wish there was a bit more mission variety as most consisted of attacking bases of enemies or tracking someone, It does get a bit repetitive near the end.

Visually this game is stunning, full of vibrant colours and beautiful landscapes. If not for The Last of Us Part 2, this would probably be the best looking game on last gen consoles. Im not sure how accurate the map is to real life, but I think SuckerPunch managed to capture the beauty of Japan really well. The score is equally as amazing, each track fits the moment perfectly, especially in boss fights.

The PS5 directors cut adds enough content to satisfy the price. The Iki island DLC is a good story experience with Jin travelling to the island where his father was killed. He is faced with "The Eagle" who poisons him and forces him to face the guilt he feels over his fathers death. Jin also comes face to face with the man who killed his father and has to overcome his desire for revenge and help the people of Iki island defeat the Mongol invaders. It also adds a couple new side quests, new collectables and minigames to play whilst travelling the island. Very fun experience.

Ghost of Tsushima still sits high on my list of favourite games, it is enjoyable from the minute you turn it on. 100% recommend

Unfortunately held back by the inherent flaws seen in any other roguelike, where level design kinda has to accomodate for every single possible weapon, so you don't see a lot of unique layouts because of that, rather only seeing stages where some weapons are superior and other weapons are annoying at worst, but never impossible; definitely makes this DLC stand out less than Octo Expansion in my eyes, where every level was deliberately designed around a strict set of challenges best achieved by a selection of a few different weapons

Of course another classic roguelike paradigm is having a run live or die on your luck with upgrades, or level setups, or what have you; a problem that could boil down to "skill issues" but also doesn't feel very satisfying when you can't learn anything from a run where bad luck made you lose or a run where good luck made you win

Another issue is how repetitive the game feels in objectives, having only like 4 different ones to choose from and then only a whopping 4 bosses (2 of which are randomly picked for each run, and the final boss doesn't change); for something that was hyped up for over a year I don't think it really lived up to it

That said, as a person who both likes roguelikes and loves Splatoon, this is still a very fun campaign, and they absolutely deliver on giving us more gay cephalopod content; despite all the words I wrote that would lead people to believe I hated this expansion, I found myself having a lot of fun with the synergies you can accomplish with the color chips

If you either A: hate roguelikes, B: hate Splatoon, C: are homophobic, or D: are a combination of the three choices, don't bother with this


EDIT: Beat the game with every palette, my main complaints still stand but Agent 8's palette offers a really unique challenge, especially if you pair it up with the risky rewards upgrade; definitely worth giving challenge runs a shot for this I think
Also gonna dock points for having just so little interesting lore bits, we really only get characterization for Acht and Off The Hook; Agent 8 gets very little, Agent 4 gets even less, and Cipher is just a dude

They didn't top Octo Expansion, but let's be real: will they ever?