Ghost of Tsushima sure caused a sensation in 2020. An open-world game set in feudal Japan, it answered the prayers of many gamers who were looking to play an open-world game set in the Land of the Rising Sun.
The game had protagonist Jin Sakai fighting the Mongols who had invaded his home island of Tsushima, and was set in the 13th century.
Ghost of Tsushima was one of the fastest-selling games on PS4 at launch, and has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide, so many suspected it was only a matter of time before a sequel was announced.
And Sony has done just that at its most recent State of Play show, were a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima titled Ghost of Yotei was revealed, as was recently covered on GameSpot.
This new game by studio Sucker Punch Productions is set hundreds of years after Ghost of Tsushima, and in a new geographical area: the island of Hokkaido, which wasn’t under Japanese rule at the time.
There’s also a new protagonist named Atsu, a female warrior looking to survive the dangerous valleys and mountainous territory of feudal Hokkaido. So the game isn’t a continuation of the first game given the change of protagonist, time and location, although Sucker Punch seems to be creating a “Ghost of …” series of games all set in Japan.
“We looked beyond Jin Sakai’s story and the island of Tsushima, and shifted our focus to the idea of the Ghost instead. At Sucker Punch we love origin stories, and we wanted to explore what it could mean to have a new hero wearing a Ghost mask, and uncovering a new legend”, said Andrew Goldfarb of Sucker Punch on the PlayStation blog.
“Our story is set in the lands surrounding Mount Yōtei, a towering peak in the heart of Ezo, an area of Japan known as Hokkaido in present day”, added Goldfarb on Sony’s blog.
Mount Yotei is one of the most impressive landmarks in Hokkaido, Japan.
One thing most players can agree on is that Ghost of Tsushima was a beautiful looking game, and it seems studio Sucker Punch will be taking full advantage of the PlayStation 5’s hardware to make Ghost of Yotei look great, as it said on the PlayStation blog.
“We’re excited to build on the visual foundation we established in Ghost of Tsushima by making the world feel even more real. We have massive sightlines that let you look far across the environment, whole new skies featuring twinkling stars and auroras, even more believable movement from wind on grass and vegetation”, said Sucker Punch on Sony’s blog.
As stated earlier, this will be a PS5 exclusive when it launches sometime in 2025. The original game landed on PS4 in the summer of 2020, and a Director’s Cut version of the game for PS5 (and also PS4) arrived later. It took advantage of the newer console’s capabilities to deliver enhanced graphics and delivered haptic feedback via the DualSense controller. A PC version of Ghost of Tsushima only came out this year, though, meaning it could be years before PC gamers can play the game on their platform of choice…
Also, Ghost of Tsushima releasing on PS5 means it will be clashing swords with Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows, as both are set in feudal Japan, given that the latter has been postponed and is now releasing on 2025 (Ubisoft’s game was previously slated to hit shelves this November).
But given that Ghost of Tsushima is one of the top PlayStation exclusives, its unlikely that any other game will steal Ghost of Yotei’s thunder next year. This is especially true if Sucker Punch can deliver a gaming experience as great as Tsushima was with its upcoming game, one which millions of players will be looking forward to playing next year no doubt.
Ghost of Yotei (Sucker Punch Productions)
Mount Yotei (link) [Creative Commons (link)]