Since its first trailer in the Paris Games Week press conference in 2017, Ghost of Tsushima has been on the radars of the PS4 owners. An open-world action-adventure in feudal Japan developed by Sucker Punch, the makers of the Sly Cooper and inFamous series, seemed like a promising idea. After the Ghost of Tsushima release, it is safe to say that we were right. Ghost of Tsushima is an all-around fun, gritty, and meaningful experience.
Ghost of Tsushima is set in 13th century Japan during the Mongol invasion of the Tsushima Island. You are in control of a Samurai named Jin Sakai, who gets quickly defeated and nearly killed by the invader forces at the beginning. Thus, your journey begins as a fallen Samurai who quickly discovers that the honorable way of the Samurai may not be enough to beat Mongols.
In your quest to reclaim your land, you will have to break away from the Samurai traditions and constantly adapt to the various and formidable weaponry of the Mongols. While battling with this inner conflict, you will progress in your quest for revenge, learn new skills and tactics, and gain access to new tools; thus, slowly becoming the legend who is known as The Ghost, The Ghost of Tsushima.
Ghost of Tsushima Review
Graphics-wise, Ghost of Tsushima is easily one of the best-looking games on PS4. While it isn’t as breath-taking as Ghost of Tsushima gameplay trailer from E3 2018, its draw distance, dense foliage, lively colors, and expressive facial animations come together to form one of the most immersive action-adventures to date. Though Ghost of Tsushima PC is very unlikely to happen since it’s a PS4 exclusive, it looks great enough on PS4 Pro to not make you want a PC release.
The limited HUD also adds to the immersion, which is a breath of fresh air during a time which most action-adventure games have tons of HUD elements on the screen at all times. Ghost of Tsushima Reddit was concerned that the game would be downgraded significantly graphics-wise, but with the coming of the Ghost of Tsushima release date, we finally found out that the concerns were wrong, thankfully.
The main focus of Ghost of Tsushima is its combat. It is fluid, satisfying, and skill-based. It seems simple on the surface: You can do a light attack, a heavy attack, dodge, and block. But the addition of different stances diversifies the combat immensely, adding entirely new movesets that are meant to counter different types of enemies. It takes practice to get used to, but once you do, switching between stances mid-combat and slaying your enemies efficiently one-by-one becomes extremely satisfying.
You can also parry and riposte certain enemy attacks if you time your block properly. On top of these, you will gain access to new tools like bows, darts, and different types of bombs throughout your playthrough, though your katana will be your main weapon during the entire game, just like how a Samurai game on PS4 should be.
There is no level-based progression in Ghost of Tsushima. The way you progress is by unlocking new techniques that give you new ways of dealing with various situations. This feels much more realistic and rewarding than the traditional level-based stat progression.
The only real negative about the gameplay is the shallow stealth system. While it is functional, the fact that the enemy AI drops to single-digit IQ levels once you enter stealth is hard to miss. Even if they spot you, they don’t know how to respond if you decide to climb to a higher platform or just hide again. The new stealth tools you gain access to throughout the game makes stealth better, but never good enough to be an alternative to the nearly-perfect sword combat.
Ghost of Tsushima is the perfect closure to the era of PS4 exclusives. While Ghost of Tsushima PS5 will probably be a thing thanks to the backwards compatibility of PS5, you have to experience this spectacular action-adventure game as soon as possible if you have a PS4. Even though it doesn’t have any form of multiplayer, its 40-50 hours’ worth of content is densely packed with excellent combat, compelling story, and gorgeous visuals.
The fluid melee combat works flawlessly with the addition of stances, and both you and your character will progressively get better throughout the game, creating one of the most natural and rewarding progression systems in an action-adventure title to date.
Jin’s inner conflict with his need to turn away from his Samurai traditions in his quest to defeat the charismatic villain Khotun Khan makes for a compelling and riveting story. On top of the engrossing main storyline, the Mythic Tales sidequests are some of the best-designed sidequests in any action-adventure game.
All in all, Ghost of Tsushima is among the PS4 Pro best games at the moment. If you like action games like Nioh, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Assassin’s Creed, Ghost of Tsushima PS4 should be right up your alley.
As a Triple-A title, Ghost of Tsushima price, at the time of publishing this article, looks like a great buy. You can buy the game here.
