A game that doesn't reinvent the wheel, but instead polishes it to perfection.
Ghost of Tsushima does for open world games what Hollow Knight did for metroidvanias. Hollow Knight did not do anything new or innovative, instead it took everything good about the genre, and put it all together with incredible finesse and love.
The setting blew me away with its commitment to the era it is placed in. At night, it's dark and you run by moonlight. if you enter a dark building, there is a brief moment for the cameras "eyes" to adjust from the bright outside. All of the abilities never break the immersion of the era, and even more surprisingly, never feel limited by it either. Many of these abilities even have narrative implications as the story goes.
While the swordplay, terrain traversal, and abilities are incredible, what stuck out to me the most was the story. The tone of the game walks an incredible balance between blood pumping swordfights and serene haiku writing. Allowing for those moments of calm not only helped the gameplay loop for long play sessions, but it elevated an emotional story by giving you time to absorb and feel it. I loved how Jin was not another of a long line of self-insert rpg protagonists. This is the story of Jin, not you sitting on the couch. The linear narrative doesn't need to accommodate player choice (too much) and that allows the story beats to land and progress much more satisfyingly.
While the story rarely breaks any unspoken 'videogame rules', the mechanics are used to tell an effective story of a man forced to sacrifice his honor for the greater good of his people.
Honestly cannot recommend this game enough and I am kicking myself for thinking this was a "boring samurai game". Possibly the best PS4 original game to date.
Ghost of Tsushima does for open world games what Hollow Knight did for metroidvanias. Hollow Knight did not do anything new or innovative, instead it took everything good about the genre, and put it all together with incredible finesse and love.
The setting blew me away with its commitment to the era it is placed in. At night, it's dark and you run by moonlight. if you enter a dark building, there is a brief moment for the cameras "eyes" to adjust from the bright outside. All of the abilities never break the immersion of the era, and even more surprisingly, never feel limited by it either. Many of these abilities even have narrative implications as the story goes.
While the swordplay, terrain traversal, and abilities are incredible, what stuck out to me the most was the story. The tone of the game walks an incredible balance between blood pumping swordfights and serene haiku writing. Allowing for those moments of calm not only helped the gameplay loop for long play sessions, but it elevated an emotional story by giving you time to absorb and feel it. I loved how Jin was not another of a long line of self-insert rpg protagonists. This is the story of Jin, not you sitting on the couch. The linear narrative doesn't need to accommodate player choice (too much) and that allows the story beats to land and progress much more satisfyingly.
While the story rarely breaks any unspoken 'videogame rules', the mechanics are used to tell an effective story of a man forced to sacrifice his honor for the greater good of his people.
Honestly cannot recommend this game enough and I am kicking myself for thinking this was a "boring samurai game". Possibly the best PS4 original game to date.
Reviewed on Jan 19, 2022