Ever since the open-world stealth-action video game Assassin's Creed began hopping from ancient Jerusalem to Renaissance Italy to colonial America and beyond, there has been a persistent desire to see the series invade medieval Japan. Think of Ghost of Tsushima as having sufficiently satisfied that itch. The most recent game from Sucker Punch is an incredibly lovely journey through one of the most breathtakingly beautiful environments in recorded history, and it's made even more beautiful by one of the best blade-to-blade fighting systems in the open-world action genre. When it comes to stealth, enemy AI, and other small annoyances, Ghost of Tsushima occasionally slips, but for every instance in which it falters, there are many more in which it excels.

Although Ghost of Tsushima is a fictional story told with made-up characters, it is based on the Mongol Empire's invasion of Japan in 1274, which started on the Island of Tsushima. You take control of Jin Sakai, well played by Daisuke Tsuji from The Man in the High Castle. Jin Sakai was a samurai at first, but a terrible battle with the invaders soon made him realize that maybe the noble but limited ways of the samurai code might not be enough to deal with this new and existential threat.

Though it takes some time to really get going, Ghost of Tsushima centers on this internal struggle between Jin's urge to rescue his hometown at all costs and his formative lessons. It's an engaging struggle. Jin may not be the most charming of heroes, but Patrick Gallagher's character from Glee, Khotun Khan, is charismatic. Because of his subtle intensity, which is somehow soothing despite his horrific aims, he is one of the most memorable game villains of recent memory. Jin's 40–50-hour quest for vengeance is made possible in large part by his appearance as the “Big Bad,” who is incredibly smart and constantly one step ahead.

One of the most enduring antagonists in video games in recent memory is Khotun Khan.

Even if the English voice actor does a fantastic job, Sucker Punch should have found a means to match the Japanese voice acting in terms of performance capture. Because of this, if you decide to experiment with the superb Japanese audio track—which stars the amazing Kazuya Nakai as Jin—it sounds like a rather low-quality dub with wildly inconsistent lip flaps and expressions on the face that don't match the intensity in the voice. It's still very much worth playing in Japanese, so it's not a major problem. Moreover, you can activate the lovely Kurosawa Mode, which overlays a grainy black-and-white film image. everything in keeping with the aesthetic of the vintage Akira Kurosawa films to which Ghost of Tsushima so aptly pays homage. Although some objectives need color awareness, I wouldn't advise playing the entire campaign in Kurosawa mode. Still, it's a fantastic visual effect to occasionally activate.

The music, however, is always a positive thing. When the blades start to clash, the dynamic score smoothly transitions from ambient, peaceful Shakuhachi flutes to thundering taiko drums; tense interactions are further intensified by progressively faster strums of biwas and shamisens. In general, the music always fits and enhances the emotions that the gameplay and cinematics are attempting to convey, regardless of what you're doing.

Battle As a Samurai

The battle system in Ghost of Tsushima is akin to a witches' brew composed of elements from the Batman Arkham series, the Assassin's Creed games prior to Origins, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the complete collection of Kurosawa movies. Additionally, the outcome is magical, as witches' brews frequently are. Like all excellent combat systems, it's easy to pick up on the surface: there are heavy attacks that can breach enemy defenses and deal more damage, light attacks that can deal damage quickly and defeat slower strikes, a block button to prevent certain attacks, and a dodge button to avoid attacks that can't be guarded against.

All of it may sound similar, but the addition of switchable stances is what keeps this combat system cohesive and keeps it engaging from start to finish. Jin will be able to switch between different sword stances as he accomplishes objectives. These stances have unique movesets and, more crucially, unique advantages over different kinds of weapons. When facing swordsmen, the first Stone Stance is the best option because a single, well-charged stab attack can get past their defenses and do a significant amount of damage or even take their lives. You will eventually master the Water Stance, which employs slower but more potent blows that can penetrate foes that are shield-wielding.

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Combat requires you to balance the very real necessity to play defensively with the ability to recognize the largest threat at any given time and switch to the stance that is most appropriate to cope with it. There are four different stances in all. Ghost of Tsushima's battle is fast-paced, chaotic, tactical, and authentic to the feeling of being an outnumbered, hyper-skilled lone samurai when it works well.

The subtle details greatly contribute to the beautiful experience of combat.

In addition to adding a small amount of visual spectacle, the small details greatly contribute to the exquisite sensation of combat. Enemies have clear audio cues so you can know when to dodge or block even if you can't see them; fatal attacks frequently end with Jin spinning around to face the camera while your enemy stumbles around with blood spurting out before finally keeling over. The on-screen HUD is simple and the camera always stays really tight so you can get an up-close view of the action. Even more diminutive,In addition to wiping blood off your sword and bowing to show respect for your opponent, fallen adversaries will occasionally crawl aimlessly on the ground in an attempt to escape you.

The absence of the conventional level-based stat progression is, however, the best feature. In Ghost of Tsushima, increasing strength doesn't mean that your invisible numbers increased and you could now deliver more damage and take less damage from hits; rather, it means that as your techniques improved, you were able to cope with more formidable opponents in new and improved ways. It gives me so much satisfaction. You may select to block arrows so you can deal with scenarios where you're surrounded by archers, or you may invest a point to unlock the ability to block an enemy's previously unblockable assault when you level up. Or perhaps you'll get the ability to make opponents run screaming when you pull off a precisely timed parry a la Sekiro.

It's great since it guarantees that you won't come across a place crucially, this eliminates the issue of having to grind sidequests in order to reach a certain level minimum in order to advance in the story, which is something that certain other games are notorious for. Ghost of Tsushima is one of those games where you suddenly find yourself getting one-hit killed by archers that you'd previously brushed off, or having to spend a week chopping away at the sword equivalent of a bullet sponge just because they're arbitrarily several levels higher than you.

Remarkably, the level of complexity in Ghosts of Tsushima consistently felt suitable for my current campaign stage. The challenge always felt fair, even if enemies do get harder and you do need to level up your gear—sword, armor, and charms—to keep up with the difficulty curve. However, the stat boosts from gear never felt as important as the skills you would learn. My sword's lethality was unaffected even when I increased the difficulty to a hard level, which made foes more hostile.

In addition to all of this, there are the different tools and devices that you acquire throughout your journey. Jin's combat skills also greatly increase as he grows more at ease with stretching his samurai code and using weapons outside of his usual toolkit. He can use kunai in a similar way to how Batman uses bearings to quickly interrupt or eliminate weaker enemies; he can also use sticky bombs to confuse a sizable crowd; or he can use his reliable bow to take down a heavily armored opponent with a single blow, potentially ending the fight before it even starts. It's amazing how many different strategies there are for fighting in Ghost of Tsushima.

Sneaky Errors

Ghost of Tsushima's sword-to-blade fighting is excellent, which is fortunate because Jin's ninja-style stealth falls short of expectations. At its most basic, it functions as you might expect: you can kill enemies from above, you can stealthily sneak around enemy encampments by crouching through tall grass fields, and you can even purchase upgrades that allow you to eliminate multiple enemies at once if they're foolishly grouped together.

Enemies simply don't know how to deal with being spotted. For example, if you climb onto a rooftop, they don't follow you or hunt you—instead, they just sort of yell and throw shurikens. Similarly, if you suddenly break the line of sight and crouch into a nearby flower patch that they can still see clearly, they just turn around, look elsewhere for a little while, and then blow their little alarm horns.

Additionally, Jin's stealth capabilities are really basic and prevent you from using any kind of ingenuity that could add some excitement to stealth. With varying types of ammunition, they all essentially perform the same actions. A firework serves as a distraction for a group of attackers, whereas a wind chime can divert the attention of a solitary adversary. Then there's your longbow that kills foes wearing helmets silently, your bow that kills enemies silently, a dart that kills enemies silently and causes them to vomit blood, and another dart that causes enemies to try to kill each other. different. Additionally, there are a few required stealth sections that simply need you to locate the well-marked stealth route and occasionally use distractions to push adversaries aside. The stealth gameplay lacks all of the adaptability and versatility of melee combat.

By the end of the game, I was eliminating five opponents at the beginning of each battle, and it was always an amazing feeling.

Thankfully, Ghost of Tsushima provides a means of making going all out early on in the game just as beneficial as sneakily taking down a few opponents, and it achieves this in the greatest way possible: by adhering to its samurai film heritage. Most combat encounters start with the option to initiate a stand-off, which gives you the opportunity to single out an opponent for a traditional showdown in which you must wait for them to move before attacking in order to eliminate them in a single blow. When the fight breaks out, you won't have to deal with one more person if you time it well. However, that's just the start: you can create these By investing points in the stand-off technique and donning armor that enables you to chain many stand-off streaks together, you can make stand-offs a significant component of your fighting strategy. By the end of the game, I was eliminating five opponents at the beginning of each battle, and it was always an amazing feeling.

Naturally, there is a danger associated with stand-offs: the consequences of losing can be disastrous. You are nearly completely out of health and placed in a situation where all of the nearby foes who are still very much alive encircle you. Later on, when opponents begin to use feints to try to get you to swing early, that risk increases. It's a great mechanism all around that not only goes well with the samurai motif but also takes the enjoyable but usually unfavorable strategy of simply waltzing in through the front gate of an enemy encampment, which could be equally satisfying as sneaking around an encampment and killing a few guards in silence.

The Utsukushii

Some of the most exquisite virtual settings can be found in open-world games, and Ghost of Tsushima is right up there with the greatest of them. Despite not living up to the excitement of the gameplay reveal clip from 2018, this is still an incredibly beautiful game. Everywhere you look, there is an abundance of grass, trees, leaves, and flowers that are all softly blowing in the wind. Discovering the island of Tsushima is delightful, even if you don't have a specific destination in mind, due to its abundant natural beauty.