Ghost Of Tsushima: The Art of the Samurai
I finally got the chance to sit down and beat Ghost Of Tsushima: The Directors Cut, which included the base game and the Iki Island DLC. Ghost Of Tsushima was a wonderfully curated game with intricate and beautiful levels that showed the brilliance of Sucker Punch as a studio. A studio that is known mainly for working on the Sly Cooper and Infamous series they really outshined themselves and flexed their creativity with Ghost Of Tsushima.
Sony IPs do a great job of making great single-player games and Ghost Of Tsushima is no different. Based on a fantasy element towards 13th century Japan it does a great job creating a vast explorable world that lets the player explore the beauties of Japan. Now, while this is all fictional work Sucker Punch uses a great color palette within this world to show just how beautiful their work is.
Following the character Jin Sakai, we go through his journey on how he was a Samurai and how he had to adjust his way of living to ward off the invaders of Tsushima - The Mongols led by Kublai Khan. The story is amazing in the way it leads up to Jin's decisions as a character and how he must broaden his scope in order to face an enemy where their normal tactics do not work against the Japanese.
The map of Tsushima is large, divided in 3 ways for 3 acts, and each piece of land is a new area that is different from the previous. As you go through Tsushima it makes you want to explore the map, see what's there. Bamboo strikes, hot springs, Haiku locations, etc. The map is filled with countless things to do and often will take a 45-60 hour playthrough if you try and do everything. It's vast and beautiful filled with forests and mountain ranges as well so there's plenty to go through and do.
Ghost of Tsushima made me often want more as I progressed throughout the story, it was honestly a really beautiful experience playing from the beginning all the way to the end. It gets very emotional towards the latter half of the game and if you're anything like me where you delve into the game and are so enamored with what's going on in the world, you'll love everything this game has to offer you.
While the story itself is pretty short, there are side quests available to you, with people you befriend along your journey into Tsushima. When you play these you often feel a sense of attachment towards Jin and the relationships he made along the way. It doesn't stop with the Iki Island DLC which goes deeper into Jin's past and him coming to terms with his identity as the Ghost. Iki Island adds so much more into the game as well, with new side quests, events, and a new explorable map which is huge.
Suckerpunch and Sony got it right when it came to this game because it is true in every sense of the words - playable art. Its storytelling is phenomenal in the sense of being able to grasp the severity of the situation and come to an understanding of someone going off their original path and going towards a new one for the betterment of themselves and those around them, even if it means some sacrifices along the way. Ghost of Tsushima was a very fun game to go through, the world, storytelling, voice-acting, just love in general that this game has received from the developers and fans alike make this one of the funniest games I have played in a long time.
