Ghost of Tsushima is a very special game to me. It is my favorite open world game of all time, and romantic elegance of the game's design, art direction, and music won me over easily. Coming into this expansion, I was just excited to be given a chance to spend more time in the game's beautiful setting. By the end, that desire has been fully satisfied, and I can't help but fall in love with Ghost of Tsushima all over again.

Before we start, I would like to disclose that I played the Director's Cut on PS5, and the game pretty much looks and performs like a true next-gen title.

Let's start with the story. It is a personal tale about Jin Sakai's self-discovery and redemption, as he seeks to not only save his people from the Eagle Tribe's dangerous plans, but also understand the perspective of a group of people that he has indirectly wronged in the past. The new cast of characters that Jin meets are pretty good overall. I particularly like Tenzo and how his relationship with Jin progresses as the game goes. I also enjoy seeing the Eagle's constant threatening presence, thanks to her hallucinogenic-driven psychological warfare against Jin. While the story can feel a bit rushed pacing-wise, it still manages to resonate with you like the main game did, and it is very much a story worth telling.

From a level design perspective, Iki Island is as engaging as Tsushima, with nearly the exact same open world structure, but it feels more dense due to the island's relatively small size. Thankfully it has many landscapes that feel unique to the island, like the Senjo Gorge and the Thunderhead Cliffs.

The familiarity of the expansion will feel like a warm blanket to anyone like myself, but it has quite a few new tricks up its sleeves. Some of them you might even miss quite easily. The new enemy type, Shamans, adds an extra sense of urgency to the combat. There is a new ability introduced early on, which enables you to ram through enemies with your horse in a violently satisfying fashion. The island is filled with new kinds of side activites, like the addictingly simple yet challenging archery mini game, and the spiritually appeasing animal sanctuaries (which also helps in building Jin's character). The new armor set and the variety of charms that are introduced here are not only fun to play with on their own, but also enables older armor sets to achieve new heights of capabilities. The hallucinations that Jin experience makes for some very interesting moments, many of which are optional. Finally, there are secret events/rewards you can get, either by solving riddles or stumbling on a place unmarked on the map, and it is perhaps one of my favorite parts of this DLC.

To put it simply, the Iki Island expansion is the kind of DLC that doesn't happen very often. It has a story that is meaningful and important to the plot of the main game. It has polished many aspects of the main game while putting it all in a very digestable package. It also introduces new gameplay aspects, which it uses to spice up the mostly familiar base ingredients. And most of all, it does all of it effortlessly, giving you the impression that Sucker Punch was still holding back when they made the main game. I think that is the best part of this expansion. It lets you imagine what a possible sequel will be like, and it reminds you once again that Sucker Punch will not rest on their laurels.

Good because the gameplay of the main game is really awesome.

I liked the story but it was very short.

Overall was a bit underwhelming and I didn't feel motivated to explore outside of the main quest.

It took me a while to get around to this after playing the base game, but here we are. Iki island is a side story that further explores the protagonist's backstory through the memories of his fathers death long ago. It's a touching narrative in terms of how their strained relationship slowly unravels through flashbacks and visions, which bring Jin's unresolved inner turmoils to the surface. It doesn't really change much in terms of his character going forward, but it's a nice layer for the sake of depth. It's all about perspective in this story, and I liked it.

Iki island is nothing you haven't already seen in the base game, it's essentially a new island filled with more of the same content, and tougher enemies to fight who are able to switch combat styles on the fly, forcing you to adapt your fighting style in a moments notice.

It's fun that they gave your horse some upgrades, but in terms of new abilities.. that's all your getting, I mean Ghost of Tsushima is already an awesome game, and one I was happy to revisit with the PS5 upgrade, upping the FPS to 60 and improving the lighting, this island is beautiful to track in... though I will critique them for making the upgrade and the island separate purchases...

Honestly that's really all I have to say, Iki island provides a decent challenge and some new areas to explore, but offers very little in what I consider fresh and unique content, it's just more of the same.

It's a decent length though and side activities will only further extend your game time. This was a good time overall - 7/10

Fantastic addition to the main game. I played this after completing the base game storyline but you could play this before the final credits. It does add background to Jin's character and the events that haunt him in the main story.

Again, the world is a blast to explore. It's fun and rewarding. The environment is beautiful. The storyline on Iki Island was interesting to play. Very cool to explore after a certain point in the story because Jin will have more unique interactions to things around him.

To add on this and the base game, Ghost of Tsushima does a very great job with detail. When you run in mud, your clothes will be muddy. You can leave footprints. Blood splatter, of course, after a fight.

Overall, great experience.

Played on PS5 via PS Plus
Also Available on PS4
Playtime: 9 Hours
Completion Date: July 17 2022
No Spoilers For the DLC or Main Game

Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island is the first and most likely the only story expansion to Ghost of Tsushima. It's an action/adventure open world game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Our story begins in the island of Tsushima. Jin Sakai, our main character, sees a village in need of help. He goes and investigates what happened. A new tribe of Mongols called The Eagle Tribe started capturing Iki Island. Jin thinks it's dangerous to let them capture Iki Island because they may come to Tsushima afterwards. So Jin decides to travel to Iki Island and stop The Eagle Tribe. Though unfortunately, Jin and Iki has a dark past.

The story is pretty good. Interestingly, we get a lot more about Jin's past in the DLC. Both in the main story and the side content. This does not feel like a side story at all. It feels it is required content to understand the world of this game going forward. Which is definitely a good feeling.

Because there is a new island, there are also new characters. I tried to find the english voice cast for the DLC characters but couldn't find them unfortunately. But all of them did a great job. Especially the villain, Eagle. Let's start with her.

Eagle is definitely better than Khotun Khan in the main game. You don't see her too much but you hear her. Don't want to give any spoilers so will leave it at that. She knows a lot about Jin which makes her terrifying. We have also 2 important new allies. Tenzo and Fune.

Both are great. But we see Tenzo a lot more and he definitely has a more important role to play. He and Jin doesn't trust each other first. And their relationship is dynamic. When someone does something, the other gets hurt or likes it. It's a relationship that goes up and down, just like how it is in the real life. It's not a straight line going from enemy to friend.

One final thing about the story is it's place in the timeline. I think it depends on the player. Because while you can travel to Iki starting with the Act 2 of the main game, i travelled it after i finished the whole main game and characters talked about the ending. So i am not sure. But i highly recommend you to play this after you finish the main story. Because it's harder and i think this being after the main story makes much more sense.

So story and characters are great. That's a good start. What about the gameplay? Well, it's actually the same. For better and worse. Let's talk about that difficulty thing. The Eagle Tribe definitely includes the hardest enemies of the game. And the final boss, oh my god. That was really hard. Took many attempts.

There is a new enemy type. Shaman. These should be your first target when you enter combat because they buff the other enemies, and they buff them hard. Without taking out the shamans, you don't deal much damage to other enemies and all of the enemies does that red, unblockable attack.

But as a player who got all of the skills and did everything in Tsushima, it wasn't that hard. Still, far from Souls difficulty. There is also a new skill. It's horse charge and it can be useful sometimes.

The combat is pretty much the same except the things i discussed. There is nothing new in stealth or ranged combat. Let's look at missions. There are 9 new main missions. Main story is short but sweet. Very sweet. There are many side missions. They are good but i have one key problem with them.

I don't know why but all of the side missions does not appear on your map or your mission log. There are 5 unwritten tales and some of the written tales, aren't written at all. If you will go for the trophy, you will 100% need to use a guide to finish all side missions. It was ridiculous.

There are 2 new mythic tales. They were definitely the best side content of the main game. And these 2 are great as well. One of them is a great story about Jin's past. That one has lots of platforming. While the other one is a standalone story, focusing on exploration and combat. Had a great duel at the end as well.

Question marks are back. No fox dens, that was great. More bamboo, more hot springs, lighthouses, enemy camps and i think there was only 1 new shrine. These are the returning activities. But on top of this, there are 3 new activity types.

One of them is called animal sanctuary. It's a new, nice mini game. You need to tilt your controller to follow a path which will create a music. This will make the surrounding animals happy and you will be able to pet them. There are cats, deers and monkeys. These also gives some background about Jin's mother.

There are archery challenges. Nothing special, it's what it is. Though it's tough, it's also fun. And there is the third one. I don't want to spoil anything, they are really good. Let me just say this. They will give more background about Jin's father.

The game looks and sounds great. It also plays great. I played it on PS5, 60 FPS from start to finish. Did not feel any frame drops. And it was definitely less buggy then the main game. Which was great. For trophy hunters, it's a short, sweet list, just like the DLC itself. But like i said, some side missions not showing in the map causes problems. You will need to use a guide. It took me 9 hours to get both the story trophies and the exploration trophies.

Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island is more Ghost of Tsushima. The story and characters are great. The gameplay is good too but i definitely started getting bored towards the end. Because while the main game constantly gave you new skills and enemy types, Iki Island just throws more enemies at you. New side missions and activities are also great.

In the end, it's a DLC. It does the job. It's more of what you got in the main game. Is it worth the price? I am not sure. But i'm sure that you at least need to experience the main story. It expands on Jin in great ways.

'Ghost of Tsushima' was my favorite game of last year, and this is an excellent expansion of the story, the game systems (horse combat!), and the world. I really like Jin as a character and enjoyed learning more about his past. I didn't love that you're trapped on Iki Island until you finish the expansion quests. And if you're a stealthy player of the original, know that you'll need to be more aggressive here. There are very few hiding spots on Iki Island. On PS5, the game is stunningly beautiful. All told, this is an excellent expansion of an excellent game.

As compared to the base game, this expansion just misses a step for me, but it is still really great and if you like the base game then it is worth giving this the time. It is a quick playthrough with some interesting aspects to it.

The combat itself is still very compelling, with the minor additions doing more to detract than bolster it.
The basics are a new enemy type that buffs all the enemies in an encounter. They are super weak, so it effectively just means you kill them first, which mixes things up only slightly and isn't that compelling. Another minor addition is that enemies now swap stances, forcing you to swap to effectively combat them. I found the stances to be the least interesting part of Ghost of Tsushima's combat and bringing more attention to them doesn't do the game any favors. It is even more apparent that the actual differences between the stances are pretty unnoticeable and entering the correct stance doesn't have enough obvious benefit to really work as a mechanic I care about.
An additional non-combat mechanic of a grappling hook doesn't add a ton of new gameplay -- just some new movement challenges/interactions that are just lock/key for the most part. I would have liked if there was more opportunity for the grappling hook to switch up how I approached areas or dealt with enemies during combat.

Environments are incredibly beautiful, just like in the base game, this is the most visually compelling open world game I have played.

The new archery challenges were satisfying and fun and I like that they gave me a reward that enabled me to complete them all, it was a quick, fun diversion.
The animal sanctuaries were less impressive. Though narratively interesting (they flesh out a bit about Jin's mother), the presentation and gameplay just feels fairly janky and unsatisfying.

The narrative here is a high point. Iki Island is a place harmed by the Samurai of Tsushima in much the same way the Mongols are invading in the base game. It is cool to see Jin dealing with his memories of this place and his father, how his father died here, and what he owes or doesn't owe to these people. I liked seeing Jin struggle with this, though the mind-altering poison conceit felt unnecessary and ineffective to me.
There are a couple of cool side quests that feed directly into this narrative as well. One that stood out for me has Jin recovering his father's horse armor as he does for legendary heroes/villains in the main game. It has taken on a mythical and demonic status with the people of the island, which is a great lens through which to see all of these quests you have already completed. You know both sides and it is clear that it isn't quite as simple as Sakai being either a hero or a villain.

This is a great expansion. Worth giving a try if you enjoyed the main game!

An expansion that checks the boxes for what bonus story content can provide. We get satisfying backstory on Jin and his relationship with his father that doesn't do anything unexpected, but is still good for the narrative. It's also more outright critical of Samurai culture than the main game which is good to see. A couple new enemy types add wrinkles to the combat without destroying its flow (FUCK those brutes with the dual-bladed swords) and a solid final boss make this a worthy final boss make this a great experience for anyone who liked the base game. Playing the flute for cats and monkeys is the best open world "checklist-marking" objective I've seen in a game like this in a long time.
A shame about the weird Far Cry hallucination sequences, though.

Nice to know about Sakai's backstory.

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เนื้อเรื่องเสริมของ Ghost of Tsushima ทำได้ดี เล่นเพลินและสนุกแบบไม่ยืดเยื้อ เนื้อหาดี ประเด็นดี แต่ไม่บีบใจเท่าเนื้อเรื่องหลักที่กินขาดกว่ามาก ถือว่ามาเสริมตัวเอกให้แน่นขึ้น

คาดว่าที่โดนถล่มตอนออกคงเพราะความยาวเทียบกับราคาที่ต้องจ่าย ส่วนตัวเราที่ซื้อมาดองนานแล้วเลยลืมราคาไปแล้ว ความยาวก็ถือว่าสั้นจริง

เนื้อเรื่องควรไปเล่นเอง จะไม่สปอย นอกเหนือจากนั้น
- วิวสวยเหมือนเดิม แต่ฟ้าฝนแปรปรวนบ่อยจากเนื้อเรื่อง ฉากจะหมองค่อนข้างถี่ แต่เวลาที่สวยก็สวยจับใจ ช่วยให้จำได้ว่าเล่นเกมนี้ครั้งแรกประทับใจกราฟิกขนาดไหน
- มีกิจกรรมให้ทำเยอะกำลังดี ไม่จำเจ เป็นกิจกรรมใหม่ปนเก่า
- เพลงเพราะ ชุบชูใจ
- มีชุด ดาบ สีชุดใหม่ ๆ ให้เก็บ
- มี Easter Eggs
- มีอะไรเพิ่มเติมในโหมดถ่ายรูป
- ศัตรูตึงมือขึ้น พอท้าทายแบบหัวอุ่น ๆ (สำหรับโหมดธรรมดา/ผู้เล่นทั่วไปแบบเราที่ไม่ได้เทพ)
- การประดาบน้อยไปหน่อย แต่! สามารถกลับมาเล่นเควสท์เดิมซ้ำได้ อันนี้ไม่รู้มากับ DLC หรืออัพเดตนะ พูดรวม ๆ
- มีไอเท็มสำหรับม้าและเทคนิคใหม่ของม้านิดหน่อย
- แผนที่ไม่ใหญ่ เล่นวน ๆ เปิดแม็พสองสามวันบวกเนื้อเรื่องหลักก็จบแล้ว เนื้อเรื่องหลักแค่ 5 ชม. เอง สั้นมาก ๆ ก็คือแก้เหงาคิดถึงเกมน่ะแหละ
- เริ่มเล่นแล้วจะกลับสึชิมะไม่ได้ ต้องอยู่จนจบ DLC
- เควสท์รองมีหยิบมือพอหอมปากหอมคอ

โดยรวมสรุปคือ ถ้าเอาคุ้มเงินอาจจะปัจเจก มองว่าไม่คุ้มได้ถ้าเทียบกับปริมาณเนื้อหาที่เพิ่มเข้ามา แต่ถ้าตัดสินจากตัวเนื้อหาล้วน ๆ ถือว่าเป็น DLC เล็ก ๆ ที่ดีอยู่ ใครเล่นภาคหลักแล้วอยากรู้จักจินมากขึ้นและไม่ติดขัดเรื่องราคาก็สมควรเล่น