Somewhat mixed on this. When it works, the exploration aspect of the game is incredible and filled my heart with a wonder I hadn't felt since Breath of the Wild. However, those moments are soured somewhat when the character acts like he hasn't done a haiku before or taken a bath in a hot spring, despite the fact I had been doing just that for the past couple hours, and the horrible realisation creeps in that exploration isn't really the design intention of Ghost of Tsushima. This kinda sucks because the world Sucker Punch is gorgeous and full of mysteries, but the game's missions can't help but reinforce just how little control you actually have on your character's progression and actions.

The story, despite some great individual moments, fails to amaze, as the ending rolled around and I was left with a distinct sense of dissatisfaction with how the themes and plotlines ended up coalescing. I know it's kind of wanky to pull out ludonarrative dissonance in a review, but never have I felt it as hard as I did here. The game allows for two gameplay styles: samurai and ghost (or in video game speak, combat and stealth), and these two methods of assault are tied heavily to the story and its characters. The game presents these two styles as a way for the player to express themselves uniquely, but after seeing a cutscene that condemned the ghost route, I decided to stick to the samurai code as possible, assuming it would affect the story somehow. However, as the game carried on, the protagonist continued to be scolded for breaking that code and using the tactics of a thief which, might I remind you, I avoided whenever possible. That irritating feeling of powerlessness came creeping back into my brain as I realised despite having options and choice at the core of its gameplay design, Ghost of Tsushima does very little with it narratively. This is a flaw I discovered through a combination of personal taste and expectations, but I found it immensely frustrating that the path Jin ultimately takes between samurai and ghost is dictated not by the gameplay of the past 30 hours, but instead through a binary choice right at the very end.

That being said, this is still a really entertaining and polished experience and I can tell Sucker Punch poured all their love into the project. There's a clear enthusiasm injected into every aspect of this game and I couldn't help but enjoy my time immensely, flaws and all. I wish there was more room for player expression in all areas but regardless, this is a very strong release for Sucker Punch and I hope a sequel can focus more on exploration.