When Ghost of Tsushima released I was a little skeptical about how great it might be. Sure, Sucker Punch made some open world games, but this was ambitious. Well, it caught me off guard how excellent that game was, and so going into their new release, Ghost of Yōtei, I had some damn high expectations. By some miracle, they managed to meet them!
Meet Atsu
You take the role of Atsu, a chippy young woman who has had a fantastic life. Her whole family was slaughtered as a child, and she got to watch her mother get burnt by a murderous Lord Saito. Lord Saito leads a bunch of psychotic warriors known as the Yōtei Six who are taking control of the whole area of Ezo.
Wait, sorry did I say fantastic life? The poor woman has spent her life getting stronger so she can return to Ezo and strike vengeance on the Yōtei Six and Lord Saito.
The game kicks off with Atsu returning to Ezo, and she starts her journey to kill those who oppose her. Having had a hard vengeful life, she is much about the ends, justifying the means. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a heart, she will help out civilians, foxes, and wolves from those who occupy the land. But when it comes to anyone between her and her foes, well, blood will be spilled. So… much… blood.
Atsu is at times your generic vengeful hero, and at other times has some decent depth. A lot of the characters she meets along the way, from people in her past, to people who she helps out and becomes friends with are surprisingly well written. I was fully engaged with the story from start to finish, and there was the odd time it even got an out-loud laugh from me.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to Ghost of Tsushima. You will be riding around on your horse in a nice big open world, collecting equipment, helping out foxes, and taking baths in hot springs. The thing is, the gameplay of Ghost of Tsushima was exceptional, and so it being similar is a good thing.
Combat feels slick as hell. Hacking, slashing, and dodging feels fantastic. It’s so refined that there were never times I felt like an enemy killed me unfairly. To mix things up, you have a series of weapons, from the Katana, two Katanas, to an Ōdachi, which is a giant weapon with a huge blade. There are more, but you should enjoy discovering them as the game progresses.
When it comes to the wepons, they aren’t just for your style. The weapons have strengths and weaknesses that make combat a whole lot easier when using the right weapon for your opponents weapon. On easier modes you can just get by hacking at enemies with your katana, but as you ramp the diffculty up this becomes crucial to victory for Atsu.
Sucker Punch is also putting the Dual Sense controller to good use. There is the normal use of swipes on the touchpad to do different things like make the wind blow in the direction of your objective, but there is so much more. There are times you need to paint images which have you doing patterns on the controllers touchpad. Then there are times you need to move the controller up and down to bang a hammer on to a sword. To be honest, these two felt a touch gimmicky and got annoying fast. Where the gimmick excels is the minigame where you need to knock coins into other coins without any going off the table. Here you use the triggers to decide on the strength of your flick. I got hooked on this game so fast, and it was a perfect use of technology.
Not just any open world
One area that Sucker Punch has been excelling is this open world they have created. Everything about the world is exceptional, from the weather changes, to the subtle areas pointing you in directions, to the unsubtle ways it tells you where to go. I regularly found myself enjoying the sounds in the world, and being totally immersed in it. For me and my ADHD brain, this is actually rare as I usually watch TV as I play games, but Ezo had me, hook line and sinker.
As you ride around the map there is so much to do, from bounty hunting, hot springs to find, charms and upgrades to get, and so much more. I would regularly be planning to go to a story moment, and find myself sidetracked by being challenged to a fight or helping out a civilian. Next minute I am knee-deep in a side mission. I had no idea it was there. This game is so much fun to explore and so satisfying to help people out.
One thing that deserves a shout out is the diffculty options. You have the usual options of easy to hard, and then you have the choice to customise your diffculty. You can make certain bits harder and other bits easier, which is just exceptional.
Should you play Ghost of Yōtei?
In the shadow of Mt Yotei there is an exceptional world to be explored. Some minor annoyances don’t stop this from being one of the best games I have played this year, and a super fun action game to be enjoyed. Sit back, and soak in the fantastic game and story here!
While there isn't anything revolutionary here, what you get is a really refined game with a fantastic story. Join Atsu now and take down those pesky Yōtei Six!
