Ghost of Tsushima for PS4 is a brilliant masterpiece!

Sucker Punch Productions have created a vastly beautiful, intrinsic and captivating world for the player to enjoy, complete with a story arc that is essentially an evolution of the main character, Jin Sakai, from a Samurai in training to the feared Ghost of Tsushima which he becomes over the course of the game.

The game begins with the battle of Komoda Beach where the Mongol army invade from China where the Samurai are led into battle and subsequently beaten soundly by the Mongols. Jin is wounded in battle and only survives because a thief known as Yuna pulls him from the battlefield and nurses him back to health.

What follows is a mesmerising journey around Tsushima for the player, complete with new fighting stances, ghost, ranged and stealth weapons, technique tree upgrades, main tales, side tales, mythic tales, tons of collectables to find and much more.

One of the many pleasing things about Ghost of Tsushima’s open world format is that it allows the player to choose where they want to go and what they want to do in any order, barring the main quest line that moves the player to a different island portion from time to time. If the player wants to do every side quest in an area before moving on, they can. Exploring the areas in a level of detail brings advantages to the advancement of the character including unlocking different fighting stances.

The four fighting stances are:

• Stone
  • The Stone stance is the one the player begins with and is great for combat with other swordsmen. The player will use this stance a lot throughout the game, is the most common enemy type and also the stance that all duels are fought with.

• Water
  • This stance is great for breaking the blocking of shield men, either the big brute shield men that charge and bash at the player or the sword and shield enemy type. Parrying is key to using the Water stance effectively.

• Air
  • Spearmen are handled nicely with the Air stance as the player will go over the top of the spear and go for the head or lift the spear to parry and go for the quick attack over the top. Parrying is also key to using the Air stance effectively, as well as being on top of your timing.

• Moon
  • Useful against Brute enemies later on, the player will know what enemies to use this stance on, as they are immensely hard to miss. Timing and parrying is even more so essential to mastering this stance. This stance is not for novices and is why this is the last stance unlocked.

To unlock the last three stances, you must search Tsushima for the Mongol leaders and either observe them in combat, kill them or both to get double points to advance closer to the new stance. The player will find that if they can master the art of stealth in the Mongol camps then the unlocking of new stances will be a lot sooner than if they just go charging into every camp.

Jin will also progress the growth of his Legend as the player progresses through the Tales of Tsushima and the player will unlock new Ghost Weapons as they advance.

The Ghost Weapons are:

• Kunai Blade
  • A hidden blade that can be thrown at an enemy from a medium distance to either kill them or wound them so that a close execution can be completed. Multiple Kunai blades can be thrown later in the game with advancing the technique ghost weapon tree.

• Black-Powder Bomb
  • A thrown bomb that is very useful depending on the timing of its use. It is greatly used at either the beginning of a fight to wound multiple enemies or an effective way to end a fight while in close quarters. Although use it with caution, as Jin is able to hurt himself when used incorrectly.

• Sticky Bomb
  • A tar covered black-powder bomb that can be thrown mid fight by the player to wound one enemy or a group if any are close by. If this hits an enemy it sticks to them and injures everyone in the path, including Jin, so also be careful with use.

• Smoke Bomb
  • An explosive that puts a cloud of smoke around the player so that they can either escape a bad situation or get back into stealth and perform a close-up assassination attempt.

• Wind Chime
  • A sound making ball that distracts enemies or draws them into a waiting trap. Perfect for places where the player is in an encampment and needs to get one enemy away from the group without being seen.

The Ghost Weapons are major game changers for most fights. Once the player learns how to fluidly change weapons mid fight they become invaluable tools. The player can find themselves utilising all of the ghost weapons in one fight, that fight being twenty enemies in one courtyard for example. The player can strategically use each of the weapons, using both ranged and closes up weapons. These can be replenished by picking up the weapons throughout the world or buying them from trackers in the settlements. The trackers also allow you to use predator hides acquired from killing bears, wild hogs or other dangerous animals around Tsushima to upgrade the amount of weapons that you can carry either ranged or ghost.

This brings us to the ranged weapons in Tsushima, as the player will receive a short and long bow over the course of the journey. The short bow is great for use against ranged enemies either from horseback or on foot. It has normal or flaming arrows and is a blast to use as the world has long grass, explosives placed in carts and hornets’ nests that a well-placed arrow will cause a great distraction for all enemies around it. The long bow has both heavy arrows for greater distance shots, as well as explosive arrows for blowing up enemies or other targets from extreme range. This makes for interesting combat starters, such as blowing up a predator’s cage to cause havoc in the Mongol camps. The player’s bow, if used correctly can be the difference between winning and losing a battle.

Early in the game the player is faced with the idea that they will need to attack from the shadows to survive. This is something that a Samurai cannot do due to the honour code by which all Samurai live by, to look an enemy in the eyes and never stab someone in the back. Jin and the player have to choose between honourable kills and dishonourable kills throughout the game. This is born out in Assassinations (Dishonourable) and Standoffs (Honourable).

• Assassinations are where the player sneaks up behind an enemy and quickly and quietly kills them with the Sakai Tanto blade. This blade is upgradeable at Swordsmith’s throughout Tsushima for the right materials exchanged. The upgraded Tanto blade is much quicker and quieter than the initial blade and makes the player ghostlike while killing the enemy from the shadows.
• Standoffs are where the player comes out of hiding and screams out to all enemies around for them to send out their best warrior for a one-on-one duel. These are satisfying opening kills and can be extended with proper timing later in the game to where a standoff can be the whole fight. This is an excellent combat technique to master but brings with it the choice of when to be quiet and when to have a standoff to begin a fight. The player will need to choose based on the circumstances presented to them. Standoff kills are also one of the bloodiest animations in the game, so make sure children are not in the room at all for this one.

The technique trees are broken up into several different tabs and trees and focus around offensive and defensive upgrades for the player. From an offensive standpoint the individual stances as well as the character have their own trees for gaining new attacks with increasing strength and damage. From a defensive point the player will learn different parrying skills over time and will eventually lead to being able to parry previously unblockable attacks. The player will need to complete Tales of Tsushima and defeat enemies to gain technique points to upgrade these trees. The order that the player upgrades them in is up to them, which allows for different playstyles to be catered to. Do they unlock the Ghost Weapon expansions first? Or how about the best parrying techniques?

Questing in Ghost of Tsushima is broken up into main and side Tales of Tsushima, along with Mythic Tales. Main tales will advance the main story line while Mythic tales will allow for the player to gain an ancient technique for combat or other unique attributes. These Mythic tales are some of the most taxing and time-consuming efforts but also the most rewarding for the player, as once completed they give the player either a key fighting move or weapon upgrade. Side tales will develop either Jin or other character’s storylines and give depth to the world of Tsushima and context to the character that is being followed at the time.

Most of the tales of Tsushima will end with a key duel between Jin and an enemy. These duels set Ghost of Tsushima’s combat greatness by being difficult to complete. My review playthrough was on hard but the player must know how to read an opponent, dodge, parry, attack, block, parry, dodge, attack, heal, and then repeat this while changing stances as they observe the opponent change in combat techniques mid duel. There are multiple unblockable attacks in these duels that must be dodged or the player will be vanquished swiftly and accordingly. Some duels took this reviewer many attempts to complete making the achievement of finishing the duels that much sweeter. The player must have excellent timing and patience in order to complete these challenges.

Each area of the island of Tsushima has its own unique background and countryside. Whether it is the rolling grasslands with the white flowers or the mountainsides that must be scaled by hand with the amazing view from the top. The attention put into the scenery of the game is something to behold. The game is a collection of beautiful art and tapestry set to 12th century Japan that is well presented and changes throughout the island, meaning that no one hour will be the same scene for the player. This is complete with weather and day and night time effects.

The armour sets found on the journey will assist the player in both protecting and finding artifacts. Early on the player will find a Traveller’s armour set that when the player wearing and within thirty yards of a Mongol artifact or other collectables, the controller pulses the closer the player gets to it. This is super handy for getting the platinum finished! The player will also be gifted with a set of Samurai clan armour that has a high damage reduction and a new armour set based on speed and agility increases with the bow. Jin can swap between armour sets depending on the situation at the time in order to gain an advantage.

The player can gain advancements in the game through more ways than just fighting though. Over time the player will find the following locations across the map of Tsushima:

• Fox Dens
  • When the player engages the foxes that are near these dens they are led to a nearby Anari Shine that unlocks a new major or minor charm slot for the Katana blade when honoured by the player. These charms are collected either from key enemies in tales or by visiting these shrines.

• Shinto Shrines
  • These shrines are the hardest by far to get to but give the best charms for updating the Katana blade charm sets. Be prepared for a test of vertical agility before getting to honour these shrines and collect a valuable charm at each.

• Hot Springs
  • Allow Jin to rest and reflect on his travels while giving him a permanent health increase for each one visited.

• Survivor Camps
  • Each have unique tradesmen and other trappers that offer different cosmetic upgrades that can be purchased with the flowers collected across Tsushima. Flowers can be collected from both the hot springs and throughout the wild.

• Temple’s of Refuge
  • These have all four of the major upgrade crafters (Bowyer, Swordsmith, Armorer, Trapper) available along with a gift altar that has gifts available from it time to time. These can range from supplies to face masks for the player to use.

• Main City Camps
  • Main City Camps also contain all four of the major upgrade crafters. Liberation of these camps may also offer some unique tradesmen that will assist you with crafting key items that make the journey easier.

• Bamboo Strikes
  • A mini game where the player attempts to cut through bamboo in order to gain additional Resolve upgrades. This is used in battles for both regaining health and performing special moves. Look for these bamboo strikes in every major area. They are a challenge that requires the player to use focus and speed to complete successfully.

• Haiku Writing Spots
  • A peaceful three part haiku writing on the hillsides of Tsushima that is both relaxing and gives you new headbands to try-out with different armour sets.

• Collectables
  • Singing crickets allow for the player to learn new songs for the flute that they carry throughout the game. These can be located in cemeteries across the world.
  • Mongol Artifacts are scattered about all the Mongol camps that the player will liberate.
  • Records are placed in houses or in campsites and you can miss them if you don’t have the traveller’s armour set on

While gaming in Ghost of Tsushima you are able to pause at any point, including cutscenes, if parenting duties suddenly arise. A word of warning as well as this is a highly mature game rated MA15+ for strong themes and violence. The game presents both katana and short blade violence brutally with tons of blood and spray included. Not for the faint at heart or children..

Ghost of Tsushima was reviewed on a PS4 Pro and review code was provided for this review. The thoughts written above on this title are ours and ours alone.

Rob for One More Game