A step-up from Tsushima in *almost* every way.
By Ameer Ammar
Ghost of Tsushima was my GOTY 2020, I absolutely adored that game and Jin's journey from start to finish but it had many obvious flaws that the sequel could improve upon and I am so glad to confirm that it doesn't just improve on Tsushima's worst aspects, it elevates them to such a level that they became the highlight of the entire experience, but it fumbles the landing with the story by the end.
Gameplay wise, Ghost of Yotei fundamentally is extremely similar to Ghost of Tsushima, it controls the same, there aren't many new mechanics at first glance but once I got into it, I realized quickly that Ghost of Yotei has vastly improved everything around that core gameplay, starting first with the biggest of which being the open world exploration.
Ghost of Yotei's exploration is master class, gone is the repetitive nature of Tsushima's open world where you always knew what you could find, and everything was already marked for you on the map with question marks and instead Yotei takes a page out of Breath of the Wild and Red Dead 2's open world design by first off, not marking things on the map without having to engage with it first, whether that's hearing a tip from a random NPC, chasing a bird, seeing smoke from a distance or my favorite, Random encounters in the open world that can lead to full-on side quests when you're just riding around, very similarly to Red Dead 2's style of handing out side content.
This jump in the quality of the open world makes Ghost of Yotei outside the main quest leagues more interesting and fun than Tsushima's rather formuliac open world was, that's not to say stuff like fox dens and bamboo strikes aren't back, they are back but they simply aren't the main thing that you find in the world anymore, One of my favorite encounters was when I was going to do a standard shrine and then realizing that this is tied to a mini-side quest that's not even marked to unlock it when I got there, there's a lot of moments where you expect to get one piece of side content but it actually crosses with another type of content.
Bounties are a new type of side content and this takes the exact same approach that Red Dead 2 does, each bounty is a dedicated side mission and they vary from simple hunts to real emotional quests that take explore themes and conflicts that you just don't expect at times, I did almost every single bounty because they simply are all THAT good, best addition they've done in terms of side quests.
I couldn't get enough of this open world and obviously you can't talk about Ghost of Yotei without mentioning its visuals, Sucker Punch has absolutely mastered this almost painting artstyle, very often I feel like I am exploring an actual canvas, masterfully designed by deeply passionate artists. Each area of the map has a distinct color tone and feel, its very easy to tell where you are on the map just by the color of the grass around you, there are constant moments of big wide shots as the camera zooms out or moments where the camera zooms in and really makes you feel the size of everything around you, mountains, rivers, lakes, vast grasslands, it is a gorgeous open world and way more complex than Tsushima's more flat design, there are real mountains here, valleys that take you to new areas, going from one region to another feels like a proper journey.
Ghost of Yotei's combat at a glance is extremely similar to Tsushima, it has the exact same controls, pretty much the same tools as Tsushima with a couple new ones and the stances have been swapped out by switching different weapons instead, it doesn't make as vast of a difference as you'd expect from just stances but each weapon does have its own special moves and ranges that add extra depth, plus there's a fifth stance this time. What actually makes this combat different is the difficulty, Tsushima was frankly a cake walk on all difficulties, there was barely any challenge in that game even on hard, Yotei's normal is much harder than even Tsushima's lethal difficulty, this is mainly due to the fact that the enemies this time are ridiculously aggressive, they are relentless with some long combos and a much larger health pool, boss fights are also much harder because of how fast some of these attacks are and they take away half your health in a single hit at times. This makes Yotei so much more interesting to play because you actively have to consider enemy patterns now and learn which types to target first. The only issue with this is that it does lose some of that "cool" factor that Tsushima had where you'd clear out a horde of Mongols in a couple minutes with no sweat, but the added challenge results in a more fun game.
Story wise is unfortunately the one aspect I felt that Ghost of Yotei couldn't match up to Ghost of Tsushima. To start off with the good parts however, the pacing here is fantastic for most of the game with constant big moments happening, even though the story seems like its taking an Assassin's Creed Shadows approach early-on by being non-linear, thankfully the developers were smart enough to realize non-linearity can hurt the story fundamentally which Shadows suffered from, So Ghost of Yotei is still largely a linear game, I'd alike it to GTA where you can tackle certain missions before others at a few points in the story but overall things will always progress the same, the only real choice you get is in Chapter 1 on choosing which between two targets, and I appreciate this a lot because it gives you freedom without sacrificing the story in the process.
Atsu as a character is deeply compelling and she has a strong cast of supporting characters, I think the side characters here especially outshine the ones in Tsushima, they are all great and especially the weapon masters all have side story arcs that you can get get into that feel like main missions with how much depth they have.
Unfortunately my problems with the story start with the revenge theme, revenge stories have become extremely cliche and we have seen far too many at this point to count. Leading up to chapter 3 I was really enjoying Yotei's take on the revenge tale but towards the final act, Yotei completely loses its focus, rushes the ending and relies on tropes that have become so tired and boring in this type of story that I felt the ending fell completely flat, it is a far cry from Tsushima's final act and ending which had me in actual tears. I was enjoying Ghost of Yotei's story a ton but Chapter 3 felt rushed, unsatisfying and cliche. it is a massive shame that the story overall missed the landing as I'd argue chapter 1 and chapter 2 are vastly superior to Tsushima first two acts, things are always rolling forward but it felt like the writers ran out of ideas for the final arc and decided to simply follow the usual revenge story tropes instead. I was disappointed by the final and I really wish they went a different direction, however that doesn't take away from the fact that the other 90% of the story was fantastic and frankly never had a boring moment.
I can't finish off this review without mentioning the soundtrack, Ghost of Yotei has a fantastic soundtrack that evokes real emotion throughout the story and while also out in the world exploring, I especially loved using Atsu's shamisen to play music while out taking in the scenery, "The Way of the Shamisen" track is my personal favorite and I also love Atsu's theme, this is definitely an OST that I will be listening to from time to time on its own, and there are several points in the story where songs get played, these are all incredible and make the story much more impactful.
Overall, Ghost of Yotei is a better game than Tsushima in every way except story, where Tsushima delievered an incredible story but formuliac, often subpar side content and open world, Ghost of Yotei delivers a good story but a fantastic open world filled with incredible side content and a ton of gameplay. if Ghost of Tsushima's story was a 9/10 and Gameplay was a 8/10, Yotei's story is an 8/10 and gameplay a 10/10.
FINAL VERDICT
Ghost of Yotei - 9/10 - MUST-BUY
Ghost of Yotei is obviously a must-buy for fans of Tsushima and PS5 owners, and PC eventually when its there as well, a fantastic sequel that delivers in almost every single way.