I can't really say anything about the setting of this game; I've heard mixed things on how accurate things are, but I simply don't know enough/pretty much anything about Japan's history and culture to say. But I can say that I love how this game plays. Starting out, I was playing defensively, focusing on parrying and dodging. About halfway through, I instead switched to be aggressive, attacking my opponents first or interrupting their advances. While I prefer the latter approach, the fact that both of them, along with other approaches, are fun and intuitive playstyles tells me that the combat here is very well made.
What's not quite so well made are the collectibles. I feel like they tried to make things varied, but most of the collectibles are either annoyingly time consuming with not enough reward to be worth it (my completionist ass went for it all, though), or are boring. I enjoyed traversing obstacle courses for the Shinto Shrines, the bamboo strikes were brief but satisfying challenges, and the onsets were good ways to break the pace while providing insight into Jin's mind and giving the most consistently fruitful reward of the collectibles. All the others, though? Not very fun, and I only really did them to see funny number go up.
This is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. It's realistic without sacrificing color and the natural beauty of the setting. I found myself feasting my eyes enough that I would often just sprint to my destinations instead of riding horseback, just to see the world for longer. Music didn't really stick out to me, but it did the job; I enjoyed the more tranquil music that would play in moments of peace.
Characters are a mixed bag. I love Lady Masako, Yuna, and Jin himself, but many of the others are negligible or even bad. Not helping matters is the story is rather basic, only getting dynamic near the end, so the focus really is on the characters.
Overall, when it comes to the general combat and gameplay, This is pretty much a straight 5/5 for me, but it's bogged down by the extracurriculars and middling characters and story. Really hope to see more of Ghost of Tsushima. Um, in the form of video games. This really doesn't need to be a movie.
Note: This was written before playing the Iki Island DLC. Doesn't really affect this review, but just know it wasn't in consideration with this review.
What's not quite so well made are the collectibles. I feel like they tried to make things varied, but most of the collectibles are either annoyingly time consuming with not enough reward to be worth it (my completionist ass went for it all, though), or are boring. I enjoyed traversing obstacle courses for the Shinto Shrines, the bamboo strikes were brief but satisfying challenges, and the onsets were good ways to break the pace while providing insight into Jin's mind and giving the most consistently fruitful reward of the collectibles. All the others, though? Not very fun, and I only really did them to see funny number go up.
This is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. It's realistic without sacrificing color and the natural beauty of the setting. I found myself feasting my eyes enough that I would often just sprint to my destinations instead of riding horseback, just to see the world for longer. Music didn't really stick out to me, but it did the job; I enjoyed the more tranquil music that would play in moments of peace.
Characters are a mixed bag. I love Lady Masako, Yuna, and Jin himself, but many of the others are negligible or even bad. Not helping matters is the story is rather basic, only getting dynamic near the end, so the focus really is on the characters.
Overall, when it comes to the general combat and gameplay, This is pretty much a straight 5/5 for me, but it's bogged down by the extracurriculars and middling characters and story. Really hope to see more of Ghost of Tsushima. Um, in the form of video games. This really doesn't need to be a movie.
Note: This was written before playing the Iki Island DLC. Doesn't really affect this review, but just know it wasn't in consideration with this review.