More Ghost of Tsushima! I really like what it adds to the game's story and how it generally wraps up a lot of the threads relating to Jin's past, and how it serves as a completion of his arc. The gameplay is more GoT, and that's a mix of good and bad, as my playthrough was about 86 hours total and I completed just about every tale and side tale, and every objective on the map, and the repetition does start to settle in a bit. This is only really something I think you'd experience going for near full completion like I was. Also I loved the island itself was really fun to explore, I liked it way more than the final portion of the island in the main game.

Fantastic, indispensable expansion, with more of the main game's open world gameplay loop, added a little variance.

Just short of perfect because it should've been more integraded into the main game; also, the story of what Jin's clan did on the island should have been referenced on the main campaingn.
In general, the expansion explores some of the protagonist's character facets, with him reflecting on his past and legacy, adding to his internal arc on the main plot.

If you liked the main game, this one is good too.
Played it in a continuous journey between one of the final chapter transitions of the main story.

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!

Iki Island addressed none of the problems GOT had, and in fact made the game worse. Starting with exploration, the game has a very limited set of walls and cliffs you can jump from or maneuver around. If you try to jump on a rock that the game doesn't think you should climb, the character will glitch in a jump motion and kind of slide off the surface. This was annoying in the base game, it is even worse here. Specially with me coming from TOTK, a game that puts this to shambles.

The boss is honestly annoying and just bad. The last battle is way too difficult for no good reason and the story is just bad as well. The game will throw some throwbacks at you where instead of a cutscene, you just walk around with young Jin for a while, following a character from point A to B. Then, the game starts a cutscene. Why not just put a cutscene to begin with and avoid all this unnecessary walking that adds nothing?

The psychosis every five minutes gets old super fast. You're in the middle of a fight, trying to get into the rhythm of it, and this bs immediately breaks that with repetitive dialogue that's more annoying than anything else.

I played this because it was included in the PS5 version. If not, it's not worth the money.

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