Ghost Of Tsushima is a perfect example of how style, ambience, staging and fighting feedback are. The story is good but nothing special. It is your typical revenge story. Although the graphics are awesome and the whole island is stunningly designed, textures are popping up, clipping errors, jumping onto edges look off and hacky and then there are some minor bugs like an eagle kept sitting on an enemy's shoulder while fighting. So it is not a perfect game. But as soon as you get into your first real fight - oh man that is awesome.
On a gameplay level, it is attacking, blocking and parading. But it looks so goddamn good that with a few buttons presses you feel like you are really that super-skilled samurai slashing through hordes of Mongols. Over time of the game, you get new fighting styles for different enemy types and a small set of gadgets and other weapons. Some are more or less useful. You can take a silent approach as well, sneaking through camps, slaughtering everyone in there with a sound.
Exploring the world is also fun. First of all because as I already mentioned it looks stunning. Tsushima is full of mountains, dense forests, beautiful beaches, war-ridden and burnt battlefields, wonderfully detailed temples and small villages and castles. You get a map with your classic quest markers and points of interest. Careful! There are indeed "Question Marks" involved but thank god not like in The Witcher 3. And you can even ignore them most of the time Because Ghost of Tsushima has two little features that elevate the whole game to a fantastic immersing experience. First of all the missing mini-map. If the game needs you to go somewhere or you set a marker the wind will rustle through trees and fields leading you there. Since Mafia Definitive Edition I haven't seen such a cool navigation system. The second little feature is a golden bird that can appear when you are near a "question mark" even when it isn't visible on the map yet. This way, you naturally collect power-ups and more while exploring the island with no need to farm every spot. A relief from the other games that make exploration a chore.
Most of the side-quests are fun as well. They never reach the quality of... well Witcher 3 (again?) but they keep you invested and interested. Especially the side-quests of your allies with cool and mysterious characters, terrible fates and fun shenanigans. With haikus to write about events and topics to reflect on, your character Jin Sakai also gets a lot of depth. He is struggling. Struggling about defending his land, the strength to stick to the code or to have to break it, family, loss and new friends. Unfortunately you never really have the possibility to choose your own decision. There was one or another point in the story where I would have gone another way or answered differently. But in the end, the story is good as it is.
This is definitely a superb game with a few technical flaws that should be a PS5 must-buy. A game that breaks the chains from former Assassin's Creeds and more, that just feel overfilled with their content. You can still spend 40-50 hours with Ghost Of Tsushima, but it's more forward and stream-lined and takes you through a fantastic Samura story.
On a gameplay level, it is attacking, blocking and parading. But it looks so goddamn good that with a few buttons presses you feel like you are really that super-skilled samurai slashing through hordes of Mongols. Over time of the game, you get new fighting styles for different enemy types and a small set of gadgets and other weapons. Some are more or less useful. You can take a silent approach as well, sneaking through camps, slaughtering everyone in there with a sound.
Exploring the world is also fun. First of all because as I already mentioned it looks stunning. Tsushima is full of mountains, dense forests, beautiful beaches, war-ridden and burnt battlefields, wonderfully detailed temples and small villages and castles. You get a map with your classic quest markers and points of interest. Careful! There are indeed "Question Marks" involved but thank god not like in The Witcher 3. And you can even ignore them most of the time Because Ghost of Tsushima has two little features that elevate the whole game to a fantastic immersing experience. First of all the missing mini-map. If the game needs you to go somewhere or you set a marker the wind will rustle through trees and fields leading you there. Since Mafia Definitive Edition I haven't seen such a cool navigation system. The second little feature is a golden bird that can appear when you are near a "question mark" even when it isn't visible on the map yet. This way, you naturally collect power-ups and more while exploring the island with no need to farm every spot. A relief from the other games that make exploration a chore.
Most of the side-quests are fun as well. They never reach the quality of... well Witcher 3 (again?) but they keep you invested and interested. Especially the side-quests of your allies with cool and mysterious characters, terrible fates and fun shenanigans. With haikus to write about events and topics to reflect on, your character Jin Sakai also gets a lot of depth. He is struggling. Struggling about defending his land, the strength to stick to the code or to have to break it, family, loss and new friends. Unfortunately you never really have the possibility to choose your own decision. There was one or another point in the story where I would have gone another way or answered differently. But in the end, the story is good as it is.
This is definitely a superb game with a few technical flaws that should be a PS5 must-buy. A game that breaks the chains from former Assassin's Creeds and more, that just feel overfilled with their content. You can still spend 40-50 hours with Ghost Of Tsushima, but it's more forward and stream-lined and takes you through a fantastic Samura story.