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"Desperation can bring out the demon in the best of men"


Introduction

Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world adventure game set in 13th-century feudal Japan and seeks to deliver a gripping tale of one man's struggle to face the demons who have invaded his home and the demons that struggle within. But does it have what it takes to repel the invasion, or is it destined to be crushed against the tide?


🟩 Positives
🟥 Negatives


🟩 A truly captivating original story that blends historical accuracy with compelling fiction with seamless authenticity.
🟩 Fast, flowing, and well-thought-out combat makes every encounter feel like a challenging experience, especially on Lethal difficulty, which makes all attacks fatal on both sides of combat.
🟩 A robust world filled to the brim with activities, unique encounters, loads of options for dealing with different situations and an arsenal of armour and tools to match.
🟩 A visually stunning open world that is breathtaking to adventure through is made only better by the extraordinarily well-designed photo mode that allows you to unlock your creativity with sizeable customisation options.
🟩 The audio quality is not as substantial as the visual, but it still provides an impressive attempt at immersion on all fronts. The soundtrack has been designed to captivate your emotions throughout the campaign, and both the English and Japanese voice-acting cast are perfect choices for the main characters, which is somewhat of a rarity.
🟥 The AI is not particularly smart or challenging and is particularly easy to funnel into kill zones even on the highest difficulties
🟥 Enemy variety is not enormous, and by the time you reach the end of the second act, you will have encountered everything the game has to throw at you.



Story

It is late into the 13th century in feudal Japan. The Mongol empire has already laid waste to countless nations in their campaign to conquer the East. In their invasion, they eventually land on the shores of Tsushima, and the brave samurai rise to fend off the massing hordes. Jin Sakai, the main character, is amongst their number and watches as the samurai defences fail and the invading forces claim a foothold in his homeland.
It is here as the last of his clan, where Jin must rise against the invaders, cast aside his honour and do what he must to protect his home and the people.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3250555309
But will his quest for vengeance and urge to do what must be done allow his demons to consume him?
Ghost of Tsushima is a well-written and paced plot that delivers substantial emotional investment in Jin’s story, and the fate of the entire island. This is done by tailored questlines, side stories and considerable quantities of collectibles that provide insight into the state of the world and what has led to the current situation. There are some moments where you feel the story might have dragged on a little, but these are quickly dissipated as each act hits its climax and can be easily avoided by not spending too long trying to 100% each zone before moving on with the story.

Gameplay Analysis

”But we are all killers”
This game revolves heavily around combat, which can take many forms throughout the campaign.
A majority of the game will take place in open combat, where you are fighting against large groups or waves of enemies in swordplay. Sword fighting is pretty simplistic as you only have very few abilities at the beginning of the game. Over time it does grow in complexity if you wish to master the many facets of it, such as stance dancing to attack enemies of different proficiencies or deflecting the enemy advances to deliver crushing counterattacks to thin their numbers.
There are more ways to fight, whether you choose a stealthier approach and use long grass to mask your entry into a base and take them all out before they know you’re there, or you use a bow to pick enemies off from range there are tools and skills to benefit the way you want to play and build your character to optimise them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3250556642
Levelling Jin is done in a standard way where killing enemies and completing activities like side quests will net you experience points which can then be invested into a moderately sized series of skill trees.
While the general story is linear, how you approach missions isn’t linear, allowing you some flexibility in dealing with different situations and giving you real control over how things turn out in each encounter.
”The strength we need is all around us”
Exploration plays a monumental role in Ghost of Tsushima as it's the only way to experience everything the game has to offer, is to explore the sprawling world around you, following clues to points of interest, and completing the activities there.
Activities in the open world, such as bamboo strikes and meditating in hot springs can grant you substantial boons to your combat and survivability, so it’s worth exploring to find them all.
The map does play a part in this and can help you in navigating the world allowing you to set waypoints to make your traversal easier, it is not a flawless system and it takes some getting used to before you can use it to its full capability.
The path of a legend.
The game also has quite a substantial multiplayer mode that allows for coop play to complete missions that earn experience points and gear for your characters so you can level them up and equip them for the battles ahead. I had quite a lot of fun with this game mode and wished it was a full game on its own as it's quite an enamouring experience filled with content and interesting stories. Maybe one day!

Audio and Visual

Ghost of Tsushima provides a breathtaking visual experience that only broadens as you explore its robust and flowing world. With a well-designed photo mode to capture the moments as you run, jump and climb across its expansive wilderness.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3250558169
The audio is of exceptional quality as well but lacks a little variety at times. This isn't a massive qualm as the game is large and you don't spend much time listening to the nature around you or the soundtrack.

PC Performance and Specifications

With the game on Ultra settings at 2560 x 1440, it ran impeccably smooth, especially considering it's a PlayStation port. Sat at a firm 60 FPS the entire time and never really deviated from that.
RAM: 32GB 3200GHz G-Skill (DDR4)
CPU: i9 10900KA 3.70GHz
GPU: MSI Ventus RTX 3080

Final Thoughts - Very Good

Review chart here.
Ghost of Tsushima is a well-thought-out and passionately designed experience that doesn't deviate from its goals of immersion and substance. Providing a compelling storyline with interesting characters and an enormous open world to explore you will have your hands full for a lot of hours as you bring peace to the wartorn lands of Tsushima.
The Ghost seeks to repel the Mongol army from the shores of his home, and his favourite place to go while relaxing at the Onsen is Hell, Purgatory and Paradise where he can go to unravel the secrets of this world.