This is a very polished open world game that feels like it does the smoothest and prettiest versions of plenty of things that we've seen before, but does very little that is actually new. A game does not necessarily need to be filled with tons of new things in order to prove it's validity, but there are some things that were added here that can feel unneeded if anything.
Ghost of Tsushima tackles the Assassin's Creed type formula of giving players a large map with tons of points of interests to check out. These can lead to the typical side quest or enemy camp, or it could also lead to something like a fox den or a shrine. These activities can be fun for a while, but there are so many scattered throughout the map(s) that it can begin to feel like a slog to do the same tasks again and again. Thankfully, these tasks are largely optional and the game will let you know upfront what your rewards will be for tackling them - GoT is a game that feels like it respects your time.
The combat is very satisfying. The impact of the swords feels heavy, and some of the attacks you can pull off are devastating. There is not much challenge here, the game walks in the area of giving players a power trip to experience. This can be very fun for a while, especially when combined with different abilities and items, but there are ultimately just four or five enemy types and these can all largely be faced with the same tactic. The only thing is that changing your stance is practically required to cause a dent to any enemy, and each enemy has just one stance they are weak against. This essentially boils down to just remembering to set a specific stance when facing a type of enemy. To me, it felt like a false way of adding depth to the shallow combat.
Stealth was similar - there is little to account for outside of crouching in tall grass and reaching an enemy from behind. Felt very satisfying, but was not incredibly built upon.
The writing was good enough, I felt. The main story, and the most important side quests, hovered around the idea of honor a lot. Which makes sense, it is a core idea behind many of the things that occur in this game, but it can make several of the missions seems samey. Objectives were the same many times as well. I really enjoy Jin as a character, I like his "take no BS," attitude. He immediately takes against anyone who wrongs him, and that was pretty refreshing to see when many characters are wise cracking and blindly optimistic.
The world is very beautiful, there's a fantastic use of color, and many of the settings have such a gorgeous blend of nature and wonderful architecture. You can tell the look of the world was a big thing for them, since there are many moments where there will be no UI on the screen at all.
I feel that Ghost of Tsushima has some issues - mainly that the gameplay can get tedious after a while, there is an overabundance of things to do for completionists, and the writing could have been better. But all of this is supplemented by a gorgeous world, satisfying albeit simple combat, and a buttery smooth way of connecting everything together. I only began to feel bored towards the very tail end of my lengthy playthrough. This is a great game for living out your Samurai fantasies and an easy recommendation, though I feel it falls just short of being something truly great.
Ghost of Tsushima tackles the Assassin's Creed type formula of giving players a large map with tons of points of interests to check out. These can lead to the typical side quest or enemy camp, or it could also lead to something like a fox den or a shrine. These activities can be fun for a while, but there are so many scattered throughout the map(s) that it can begin to feel like a slog to do the same tasks again and again. Thankfully, these tasks are largely optional and the game will let you know upfront what your rewards will be for tackling them - GoT is a game that feels like it respects your time.
The combat is very satisfying. The impact of the swords feels heavy, and some of the attacks you can pull off are devastating. There is not much challenge here, the game walks in the area of giving players a power trip to experience. This can be very fun for a while, especially when combined with different abilities and items, but there are ultimately just four or five enemy types and these can all largely be faced with the same tactic. The only thing is that changing your stance is practically required to cause a dent to any enemy, and each enemy has just one stance they are weak against. This essentially boils down to just remembering to set a specific stance when facing a type of enemy. To me, it felt like a false way of adding depth to the shallow combat.
Stealth was similar - there is little to account for outside of crouching in tall grass and reaching an enemy from behind. Felt very satisfying, but was not incredibly built upon.
The writing was good enough, I felt. The main story, and the most important side quests, hovered around the idea of honor a lot. Which makes sense, it is a core idea behind many of the things that occur in this game, but it can make several of the missions seems samey. Objectives were the same many times as well. I really enjoy Jin as a character, I like his "take no BS," attitude. He immediately takes against anyone who wrongs him, and that was pretty refreshing to see when many characters are wise cracking and blindly optimistic.
The world is very beautiful, there's a fantastic use of color, and many of the settings have such a gorgeous blend of nature and wonderful architecture. You can tell the look of the world was a big thing for them, since there are many moments where there will be no UI on the screen at all.
I feel that Ghost of Tsushima has some issues - mainly that the gameplay can get tedious after a while, there is an overabundance of things to do for completionists, and the writing could have been better. But all of this is supplemented by a gorgeous world, satisfying albeit simple combat, and a buttery smooth way of connecting everything together. I only began to feel bored towards the very tail end of my lengthy playthrough. This is a great game for living out your Samurai fantasies and an easy recommendation, though I feel it falls just short of being something truly great.