It's hard to deny the impact that legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa had on the entertainment world. His classic tales of vengeance, betrayal, and loyalty with the backdrop of feudal Japan often paved the way for storytelling to flourish in unique and introspective ways. In addition to his contributions in the narrative department, his skills as a visual auteur were unparalleled, even by today's standards. I bring this up because Kurosawa's style is baked into the core of Sucker Punch's phenomenal open world action title, Ghost of Tsushima - the result of developers who all shared a burning passion for films like Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, The Hidden Fortress, and samurai cinema of old and new. Ghost of Tsushima feels like a fitting love letter to that era of film, but most importantly, has set a new bar for all thematic samurai video games to come.

Note: This review is spoiler-free.



Ghost of Tsushima takes place in the 13th century during the Mongolian invasion of Japan. Standing firm between Japan's mainland and the Mongols is the island of Tsushima, populated by the working class and a group of honourable samurai who take a stand against Genghis Khan's grandson, the tyrannical Khotun Khan. We follow the story of the noble house of Sakai and its heir, Jin, who - through a series of unfortunate events - finds himself battling the Mongols while struggling to honour the code of the samurai and build his new legacy as the dishonourable but highly influential symbol of vengeance, the Ghost.

The external battle of Tsushima's few remaining samurai against the invading Mongols beautifully contrasts with Jin's internal fight as both the samurai and the Ghost.

Ghost of Tsushima's story feels like it leaped straight out of a traditional samurai film. The external battle of Tsushima's few remaining samurai against the invading Mongols beautifully contrasts with Jin's internal fight as both the samurai and the Ghost. Most of all, it has serious ramifications for where the story eventually goes, and how it manages to hook you through subtle but ingenious character building and story pacing. That said, the pace can be deceptively slow in Act 1, but it's a necessary winding of suspense that masterfully escalates with each big story beat that inevitably leads us to terrific narrative twists and turns. Some of these twists are understandably predictable, but it comes from a place of honouring its cinematic influences that ultimately makes the experience emotionally and nostalgically rewarding.



Ghost of Tsushima's exploration begins with its astonishing world building and attention to detail. The island of Tsushima is broken into three enormous areas, each littered with an abundance of quests, activities, points of interest, and architecture wonderfully recreated from the real-world shrines, temples and farmlands of Tsushima's various prefectures. Once the world opens up following its tense prologue chapter, you're given the option to choose a horse companion and are, quite literally, taken by the wind as you explore all that Tsushima has to offer - and there's a lot. How the game achieves this immersion is by cleverly removing a mini-map and forcing players to rely on the wind as your guiding tool. Simply pull up the map and set a waypoint, and the wind will point you in that direction. You control the wind by swiping up on the controller's touchpad, and as simple as that sounds, the visual splendor of performing this sweeping motion is truly magnificent. The world realistically reacts to the wind as trees dance back and forth, rolling grasslands sway in a hypnotic rhythm, and particle effects kick up to create an immersive weather effect.

There are plenty of diverse and downright stunning locations such as grasslands, forests, swamps, icy mountain peaks, farmsteads and more that are a joy to explore.

If you're familiar with open world tropes taken from games like Assassin's Creed and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you should feel at home with the way Sucker Punch designed Ghost of Tsushima's world objectives. What sets it apart from its counterparts in the genre is the stunning visuals constantly bombarding your senses. There are plenty of diverse and downright stunning locations such as grasslands, forests, swamps, icy mountain peaks, farmsteads and more that are a joy to explore. Given the immaculate detail of the world, I was taken aback by how well it performed - and how it was even able to run on a PlayStation 4 Pro. I only came across one or two glitches in my total playtime of around 65 hours, but for the most part, the game is pristine, polished and ran at a consistent, buttery smooth framerate.



You'll devote most of your time to unlocking hidden misty portions of the map by exploration on horseback, and there's plenty of unique points of interest to find. The game utilizes its wildlife in impressive ways too. For example, birds will often fly in your field of vision to guide you to new locations, while finding fox dens sees you chasing your furry friends to shrines that offer charm upgrades. It's all remarkably well-integrated and never breaks the immersion. The Mongols have taken residence in plenty of camps and forts scattered around Tsushima. Liberating these forts unlocks significant chunks of the map, with only some high-level forts locked off for side or main quests.

Yuna and Masako are standout characters...

Speaking of quests, outside of the two dozen main story missions, there's individual character missions (often consisting of a handful of standalone quests) that help flesh out the wide cast of interesting characters. Yuna and Masako are standout characters motivated by revenge, and the camaraderie - and relationships - that Jin develops with them anchors our emotional attachment to their plights. As much as they're simply side quests, they're incredibly important character arcs to tackle in between doing the main missions - to the point where I consider them a necessity to enjoy the story to its fullest.



In many open world games, the side quests can often feel like remedial padding, but in Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch wisely chose to follow in the footsteps of CD Projekt Red. While you still stumble on the odd annoying or uninspired fetch quest, most side stories are terrifically fleshed out and add so much contextual world-building. For example, you'll start a quest about a man trying to locate his missing family, which then spirals into deeper conspiracy narratives that can sometimes even rival the impact of the main quests. It never felt arbitrary because of how well-written these side quests are, and that's an incredible accomplishment given the nature of open-world design these days.

You're given the option between two distinctive general playstyles: the samurai and the Ghost.

Combat is where Ghost of Tsushima really shines, with tight, responsive controls ensuring you're always reflexive. You're given the option between two distinctive general playstyles: the samurai and the Ghost. As the samurai, you're often a tanked up suit of intimidation that's able to confidently walk into fortified camps and challenge enemies, while the Ghost favours the more stealthy, silent approach to dealing with camps and thinning the herd, masked in shadows. Each playstyle is accommodated by an assortment of tools at your disposal. The stealthy kunai's are able to break enemy posture so you can swoop in for a deathblow, while smoke bombs, chimes, and of course, the trusty bow and arrow all give you a significant edge in combat. For the most part, your main weapon becomes the katana, which is also upgradable along with every tool in your arsenal. Combat is a dance of blocking, parrying, and dodging, not too dissimilar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Successfully timed counters can result in stylish, one-hit executions, while careless players are punished for not being attentive.



That said, Ghost of Tsushima's difficulty can often fluctuate depending on how well-equipped you are, and how often you depend on your tools to get through skirmishes. Even on normal, there are encounters that I'm not afraid to say absolutely destroyed me for being careless. Thankfully, the demanding difficulty is off-set by the range of one-hit kill options. Assassinations, chain assassinations, poison blow darts, and clean headshots with a bow can help you deal with large mobs of Mongols. Of course, there is the option to take them head-on, but your reflexes, deflects and timing have to be on-point if you want to come out of brawls in one piece. The game never bottlenecks you into one specific playstyle either, except for certain missions that require one style or the other, but they're few and far between. The combat is challenging, but never to the degrees of From Software. It's perfectly manageable, satisfying when done right, and quite rewarding.

Thankfully, the demanding difficulty is off-set by the range of one-hit kill options.

Taking a few cues from Nioh, Ghost of Tsushima gives players four combat stances, each with their own individual move sets depending on the enemy. Larger enemy types require the heavier, slower but hard-hitting rock stance, while spear-wielding enemies are easier parried with the water stance, for example. The stances are extremely flexible and can be switched on the fly, meaning you're always prepared to deal with many enemy types at once without feeling overwhelmed. Of course, you'll unlock greater abilities like the Heavenly Strike and Ghost Stance as you progress, but I'd rather not spoil their ultra-stylish flare because it's something you simply have to experience.



Finally, the greatest addition to Ghost of Tsushima's combat is the inclusion of stand-offs. Lifted straight out of Kurosawa's library, you can initiate a stand-off before engaging in combat with the Mongols. Holding triangle keeps your sword sheathed, and you have to determine when the enemy lunges for an attack (by simply letting go of triangle) in order to initiate a flashy, anime-esque killing strike that results in an explosion of blood. It's gloriously over-the-top and makes for some of the best showdowns in the entire game. Naturally, there are more traditional one-on-one confrontations where the camera perspective shifts closer behind Jin and you're locked into duels with individual, more powerful warriors that technically count as boss and mini-boss fights. They're frequent enough to be exciting, but never overstay their welcome.

[Kurosawa Mode] never detracted from the astonishing beauty of the game, but rather added something quite nostalgic and almost poetic...

Ghost of Tsushima is one of the most cinematic gaming experiences I've ever had, and it's clear that Sucker Punch wanted it to play out like an interactive Kurosawa film. This is helped by the fantastic Kurosawa Mode, which places a grainy black and white filter over the game to emulate an old film. Best of all, it never detracted from the astonishing beauty of the game, but rather added something quite nostalgic and almost poetic to its grittier elements. A minor nitpick, though, is the counter flashes which are colour-coded. Kurosawa Mode removes your ability to distinguish what's a parryable attack and what isn't, thus I only recommend switching to this mode once you got the hang of combat and can read your opponent like a book. The additional Photo Mode also provides some awe-inspiring opportunities to capture the lively essence of the game, including a still video frame that can be manipulated with particle effects, weather and wind patterns, time of day, and more great features.



The cherry on top is the level of customization. While not the deepest, it does give players ample chances to tailor the look of Jin with dyes (picked from dye flowers around the world) that change the colour of armor, and even weapons. There's an abundance of different weapon and armor variations too, all with their own skill perks and advantages, that pay homage to the designs of classic samurai and ronin films. Customization goes deeper with the ability to assign charms, each granting specific abilities catered to offense, defense, ranged, and stealth playstyles. They provide fantastic opportunities for a range of potential builds.

The game takes its time setting up not only Jin as a strong, relatable protagonist, but almost every side character too.

My only minor gripe really has to do with how Ghost of Tsushima's narrative progresses, and how it treats particular characters. Jin, for example, starts off as a bit of a blank slate and you never quite get a clear grasp on his motivations until a little further into the story when you uncover more about his backstory through flashbacks, and his interactions with other characters. The game takes its time setting up not only Jin as a strong, relatable protagonist, but almost every side character too. However, when you do get to the core of who these characters are and how they fit into the unfolding events, it's incredibly easy to get behind their struggles.



Before you start the game, you're given the option to play in the regular mode or Kurosawa Mode, along with changing the English and Japanese voice settings. On both ends of the voice acting pool, the acting is superb. I personally chose to stick with the Japanese audio, though, which did pose a slight problem as lip movements are synced to the English audio. Nonetheless, it actually added an old-school quality to the animation that made it seem like a reverse dubbed classic Japanese film. The standout performance in the Japanese cast is Kazuya Nakai as Jin, who lends his gruff talents as playing the lovable Zoro from One Piece to the game well. However, Daisuke Tsuji, who also plays Jin in the English dub, is fantastic too, with both actors perfectly capturing the character's subtleties and subdued emotions.

Sucker Punch is able to inject their own unique style into the game that makes it feel more like a successor to the Infamous series...

Finally, I'd like to clear the air about its resemblance to other games like Assassin's Creed and The Witcher (or any open world game of a similar nature). In some instances, it's easy to draw parallels to those franchises. You're still out in a vast world exploring key points, liberating villages and outposts, and finding an absurd amount of collectibles. However, Sucker Punch is able to inject their own unique style into the game that makes it feel more like a successor to the Infamous series, and the developer's strengths in building a compelling world with richly detailed environments and characters is unmistakable here. This is where the game might make or break players, though, depending on how forgiving they are to some of Ghost of Tsushima's retreaded open world features and mechanics. What keeps that familiarity feeling fresh is the visuals and gorgeous world design. Even through some of its more copy-and-pasted moments, it never felt tedious to play because of how immersive the experience was.



Ghost of Tsushima is a fitting swan song for the PS4, and ends this generation of PlayStation on a triumphant note. Sucker Punch have to be applauded for once again creating a jaw-dropping open world with strong visual fidelity and some of the best art direction they've ever achieved. With only a couple of minor open world and character grievances holding it back from reaching that coveted status, it's a near-masterpiece, and the rest of the experience more than makes up for its few, inconsequential shortcomings. The passion, care, and attention that went into crafting this heartfelt tribute to the samurai genre can't be understated. If this was a love letter to classic samurai cinema and to the late, great Akira Kurosawa, rest assured, Sucker Punch. You've done his legacy proud.

*Review code provided by PlayStation