Ghost of Tshushima is one of the absolute best games from a decade ago. Seriously, if the Ubisoft formula wasn't so damn tired by now, this would have been a really special game. Instead, It's a very good one in a sea of contemporaries.
GoT especially excels in it's presentation. Everything that has to do with UI/UX is best in the industry shit. The way Sucker Punch uses the environment (wind, birds, fireflies) to direct the player is nothing short of genius and something I'd LOVE to see more devs attempt in the open world space. I'm also just a big sucker for weather effects in general. So I found the wind stuff really impressive graphically as well.
The way the game plays is not very inspired but functional. Most of the gameplay consists of riding your horse from one location to the next and basic parry-focused Assassin's Creed style combat. There are also a ton of "investigation" segments that I'm frankly just so tired of. All this involves is arriving to an area and interacting with a handful of intractable objects to advance whatever scenario the game places you in. It's just so uninspired and feels lifted off of games that do it better.
Narratively, the game has a few strong moments but is overall a letdown. Most of the characters are simply not interesting. I understand Sucker Punch wanted to have a more grounded take here, but I couldn't stop myself from comparing the wet blankets of Tsushima to the memorable cast of the Sly and Infamous games. You can make characters both realistic AND interesting, I promise it doesn't have to be one or the other. The main narrative feels more interested in storming forts over and over, rather than exploring Tsushima's cast of characters to their full potential. The side content does help make the story a little richer. But, it's ultimately inconsequential as well.
Ultimately, for a game that's all about breaking tradition, it's unfortunate how strongly Ghost of Tsushima clings on to the ideas of the past. It's a good game, but it could be so much better.
GoT especially excels in it's presentation. Everything that has to do with UI/UX is best in the industry shit. The way Sucker Punch uses the environment (wind, birds, fireflies) to direct the player is nothing short of genius and something I'd LOVE to see more devs attempt in the open world space. I'm also just a big sucker for weather effects in general. So I found the wind stuff really impressive graphically as well.
The way the game plays is not very inspired but functional. Most of the gameplay consists of riding your horse from one location to the next and basic parry-focused Assassin's Creed style combat. There are also a ton of "investigation" segments that I'm frankly just so tired of. All this involves is arriving to an area and interacting with a handful of intractable objects to advance whatever scenario the game places you in. It's just so uninspired and feels lifted off of games that do it better.
Narratively, the game has a few strong moments but is overall a letdown. Most of the characters are simply not interesting. I understand Sucker Punch wanted to have a more grounded take here, but I couldn't stop myself from comparing the wet blankets of Tsushima to the memorable cast of the Sly and Infamous games. You can make characters both realistic AND interesting, I promise it doesn't have to be one or the other. The main narrative feels more interested in storming forts over and over, rather than exploring Tsushima's cast of characters to their full potential. The side content does help make the story a little richer. But, it's ultimately inconsequential as well.
Ultimately, for a game that's all about breaking tradition, it's unfortunate how strongly Ghost of Tsushima clings on to the ideas of the past. It's a good game, but it could be so much better.
wingedarcher7
8 months ago