The game Ghost of Tsushima got released on the 17th July 2020 for the PS4 by Sucker Punch Productions.

At first, I didn’t know much about the game but I have read many good things about it. After watching a few videos about the game play I thought: ” Wow, an Assassins Creed in a Samurai Dress”. As I like Japan and also its culture I gave the game a chance. I bought it eventually on the release day.

Now, more or less two weeks later and a Platin trophy more in my collection, I want to give a small review about the game.

The story itself takes place on the Japanese island Tsushima which is located in the sea between the main land Japan and Corea. At the time of the samurai, Mongols tries to conquer Japan and here is where the tragic story of our protagonist and hero Jin Sakai begins.

One of the game major features is the Kurosawa Mode, a Cinema mode which should remind on old samurai movies from the movie producer Akira Kurosawa. This mode gives the game a black & white color filter, which I actually haven’t used once and I don’t really know why, lol!
Another feature is the photo mode, in which you can actually take astonishing pictures, which I actually only used once for a trophy.

Speaking of taking pictures, the Island is really beautiful and well designed. Many times, when I climbed on top of a mountain, I really enjoyed the panorama view. I think the graphics are not 100% on that level which we got promised but nevertheless they are still awesome!

Game play wise, I keep it short. As I said before, the game is quite Assassins Creed oriented. Dodging, parrying and counter attacking against a horde of Mongols is the main part of the fights. Or if you like to sneak, you can also do it ninja style, killing the enemy silently. The duels are actually nice, in which you have to study your enemy to take the right actions against him.
The leveling system in its core idea is nice but in the end you get your experiences as usual through battles and quests.

Conclusion

In the end I can say that Sucker Punch did a great job with this game, I had a lot of fun. But there were a few things which could have been improved. For example, the story. The story hasn’t really a depth and is quite straight forward and also the development of Jin’s allies is quite questioning.
Exploring the whole island was a pleasure. There are many spots to discover but not to many to get overwhelmed and the size of the island is also acceptable. It doesn’t feel like an endless world map.
Some battles can be sometimes painful, specially when the camera angle is on the wrong spot. The general difficulty for this game on normal mode is ok and shouldn’t be too frustrating for casual players.
Beside the few weak spots the games has, I still really enjoyed it. The beauty of the nature and the great OST are harmonious. And as a Japanese producer said: If you don’t know from where the game come from you will think it comes from an Japanese developer.
I can only agree with that!

How did you like the game? Have you already tried it out? Let me know!

Trailer: