Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima is a third-person open-world hack-and-slash stealth game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released on July 17, 2020, as the final major AAA game for the PlayStation 4 before all game development gets moved to the upcoming PlayStation 5 with the PS4 Version receiving the Director's Cut re-release for PS4, as well the re-release getting one for PlayStation 5.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Sucker Punch went out of their way to do lots of extensive research on Feudal Japan and the Mongolians' invasion of it in order to create the setting, characters and story for the game, and it shows.
 * 2) The open world of Tsushima Island is extremely gorgeous to look at, from the cotton fields that Jin gallops across at the beginning on his horse to the bamboo forests.
 * 3) Excellent cinematography and motion capture that makes the game look like a samurai movie.
 * 4) The combat is very impactful and you actually get to experience how samurais truly fight during battles in Feudal Japan.
 * 5) The Mongolians' AI is really good and they actually adapt to your fighting style.
 * 6) *If you go berserker mode all the way, they'll know how to block your attacks easily after learning your style but if you use stealth all the way, the Mongolians will have no way of defending themselves and will flee in terror when they see you again.
 * 7) *Mongol soldiers who know that Jin is ghosting them may begin stalking their camps in twos, back-to-back, to prevent him from ambushing them. Though even this is not enough to stop a determined player (and if you unlock the Chain Assassinate ability, it could actually help things along).
 * 8) The stealth mechanics and Ghost Tools are easy to learn while allowing you to increase your stealth skills easily.
 * 9) The game has lots of nice and memorable characters like Jin Sakai (the game's protagonist) and Khotun Khan (the game's main villain).
 * 10) The game's story is really good and has you on the edge of the seat during tense sequences while allowing you to root for the main heroes and against the Mongolians.
 * 11) There are different camera modes you can use, one of them being Kurosawa Mode (black and white).
 * 12) Lots of interesting side-quests to keep you hooked to the end.
 * 13) The game deconstructs the principle of "Honor Before Reason" that's cherished in samurai culture. As Jin finds throughout the story, "honor" means little when the enemy does not fight by the same rules, as the Khan demonstrates when he lures the defenders of Tsushima into abandoning their defensible chokepoint and get them slaughtered. Furthermore, the samurai code was built on the oppression of the lower classes, and that the Shogunate's displeasure with Jin's "dishonorable" tactics is ultimately little more than a fig leaf for the fact that he managed to inspire the commoners to stand up to the Mongols without depending on their samurai masters.
 * 14) The game is so good that it literally caused stock shortages in Japan. (No joke)
 * 15) As a thank you gift to players of the game, Sucker Punch is made a co-op multiplayer mode free for those who have purchased the game.
 * 16) The game's success has affected the Western Market a lot, after years of request, Ubisoft is finally making an Assassin's Creed game set in Ancient Japan and Sega is remaking the Japanese exclusive Yakuza Inshin to the West for the first time.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The first handful of hours of the game is generally considered to be the weakest since it takes a while for the story to get going.
 * 2) The camera can sometimes be clunky during heavy combat.
 * 3) Some mission items can be hard to see in Kurosawa Mode due to them blending into the environment.
 * 4) The game has a few minor technical issues at times.
 * 5) The game has a number of game breaking elements that negates the game's challenge even on harder difficulties. Bare in mind, below is only a few of many examples.
 * 6) * The Wind Stance's Typhoon Kick can One-Hit KO standard-sized enemies by blasting them off a cliff, or knocking them down for a death blow. Suffice to say, strategic use of this ability can thin out numbers efficiently.
 * 7) * Fully upgraded kunai will instantly break the guard of any enemy they hit, and will usually just outright kill lower ranking enemies. Multiple kunai can also be thrown at once, allowing the player to swiftly neutralize an entire Mongol squad if they're not worried about their kunai supply.
 * 8) * Smoke bombs interrupt enemies and instantly put Jin back into stealth mode, allowing him to assassinate enemies even if they are already alerted. This becomes even more powerful if the player upgrades Jin's assassination speed and unlocks chain assassination so they can assassinate even more enemies in the short time the smoke bomb is active. For added benefits, the Charm of Amaterasu restores HP with each enemy kill, and both the final Smoke Bomb upgrade and the Charm of Unseen Respite heal you when you throw a Smoke Bomb. Toss in a few Resolve-restoring Charms as a treat. You can now be at death's door one second, surrounded, without any Resolve to your name; throw a bomb underfoot, and you'll come out of the smoke at full health and max Resolve with a circle of dead enemies at your feet (and perhaps even a replacement smoke bomb for your troubles).
 * 9) The Japanese dub has mismatched lip-synching on PS4. This was addressed on the Director's Cut version on PS5.

Reception
Ghost of Tsushima received near-universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike.

On Metacritic, the game received a critic score of 83/100 ("generally favorable reviews") and a user score of 9.3/10 ("universal acclaim").

In one of their rare honest reviews, mh:crappygames:IGN gave the game a 9/10, praising the game's gorgeous environment and combat while criticizing its enemy AI.

GameSpot gave the game a 7/10, praising its environment, combat, cinematography and stealth while criticizing its sometimes-clunky camera and awful Japanese dub.

Digital Trends gave the game a 4.5/5, praising its open world, storytelling, combat and side-quests while criticizing its awkward movement.

The RPG Files gave the game a 9.0/10, praising its beautiful world, excellent combat, fantastic storytelling and Kurosawa Mode while criticizing its finicky camera, minor framerate issues and how Kurosawa Mode makes some tasks more difficult.

GamesRadar+ gave the game a 4.5/5, praising its environment, story, combat and the ability to pet foxes while criticizing its third act.

Famitsu gave the game a full perfect score of 40/40, making it the third Western (read: non-Japanese) game to receive that distinction after The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto V.

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