Samurai are cool. Controversial statement, I know. They have cool swords, cool armor, and a cool moral code. They are pretty well-treaded territory for video games, especially those that come out of Japan. So it was interesting to see a western developer take on the setting and more or less nail it.
Ghost of Tsushima
Developer: Sucker Punch
Price: $60
Platform:PS4
Set on the island of Tsushima during the first Mongol invasion of Japan, you play as Jin the lone samurai survivor of a massive battle that sets off the game. It’s pretty standard fare; side missions, collectibles, and a big huge map to explore. What sets it apart immediately is just how absolutely beautiful the world of Tsushima is. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this game’s map is one of the most varied and beautiful open worlds I’ve ever seen. Every few minutes you find something new and interesting and it’s hard not to explore. From open fields full of flowers to bamboo forests, to Buddhist temples, there’s just so much to see and do. Towards the end of the game, I kept pushing myself to finish the story, but I’d always find a new fox den, or farm in need of help, or cool pair of swords just off in the distance and I would just end up on another 3-hour samurai adventure.
Stylistically the game borrows heavily from the older Samurai films of the 50’s-60’s. To the point where they literally have a black and white mode called “Kurosawa Mode.” I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this because others have touched on it in various other articles but the game pulls a lot from these films, especially when it comes to cinematography and the general feeling of you being a traveling samurai solving peoples problems. The issue is that the game doesn’t seem to always understand the messaging behind these movies, especially their usually pretty negative commentary on the myth of the samurai, and how the Japanese government used them as propaganda post-WWII. That said if you enjoy those movies for just cool samurai stuff, the game absolutely nails that. You’ll occasionally get in duels with other samurai, and they’re just beautiful. Sometimes they’re on a beach during a thunderstorm, or in a field of poppies, or my personal favorite: in a pond surrounded by floating paper lanterns and red maple leaves. Just absolutely breathtaking.
Another place where Ghost of Tsushima really shines is in the combat. Usually a second thought in most open-world games, it’s incredibly well crafted here. It’s based on quick parries and strikes as well as a balancing act of switching through 4 stances to best deal with whatever opponent you’re currently fighting. You start out with a single stance, which is good for dealing with swordsmen, and as the game goes on you get the other three to deal with shields, spears, etc. There’s also a standoff mechanic, pulling from classic Samurai films where you engage in a standoff and quickly take down your opponent in a single strike, and let me tell you even after 50 hours it never gets old. The combat just perfectly captures that stylish samurai fantasy we’ve all had since we were kids.
What isn’t nearly as good is the stealth mechanics. It’s not bad per say, just safe and boring. It’s basic hide in the bushes and sneak around stabbing guys in the back. The enemies range on either having amazing or terrible vision, and it makes sneaking just feel like a chore, rather than feeling like some unstoppable ninja. Up until a certain point I rarely snuck around, opting to just call out everyone and fight them head-on.
Which kind of leads to one of the bigger problems with the game: the story. Much like the stealth, it isn’t bad, it’s just basically non-existent until the third act. The crux of the game is Jin’s struggle between facing his opponents with honor or acting stealthily, and after he does his first backstab, Jin’s just kind of okay with it. I get why from a gameplay perspective, but it just feels odd that he goes from “Attacking from behind is cowardly” to “Teach me to make a poison, so I can liquify Mongol guts from the shadows” in no time really. Ghost of Tsushima never gives a real reason for this shift in demeanor narratively, there’s never really a point where stealth feels like the only option, and generally, every character is just okay with it, until they’re not. When characters actually start caring, the story really picks up. Alliances fall apart, things start going sideways in interesting ways, and some of the paths you and the side characters go down reach depressing ends.
That said, from just the world and combat alone it’s hard not to recommend this game. It just captures such a specific itch that no other game, samurai, or otherwise has managed to capture. The main story is not as deep as you would hope, but the world of Tsushima and all the little stories within make up for that. The combat is tight and varied enough that it never gets stale. It’s not a perfect samurai simulator or anything, but it perfectly captures that cool samurai feeling, which is all I ever wanted from it.
The Final Word
Every duel starts with you pushing up the katana with your thumb and it’s freaking rad.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
