The samurai films of director Akira Kurosawa, after all, which Ghost of Tsushima expressly pays homage to, may be a lot of things - funny, thrilling, and often tragic - but they were never comforting stories with upbeat endings. Ghost of Tsushima’s tale isn’t one of unambiguous victory or triumph. Jin does what he feels he must to protect Japan from its would-be conquerors, and for it, he ultimately pays a heavy personal price. Such morally ambiguous heroes are commonplace, of course, but the particular weight of honor and tradition Jin bears allows Ghost of Tsushima to navigate this well-trodden territory in a way that feels distinctive and appropriate to the game’s setting. He’s doing his best in the fiction of the game, but the only way for him to be effective is to operate in ways that go against every ounce of his training. Still, we understand the personal sacrifice he is making to break with the traditions he has known his whole life as he assumes the identity of the Ghost, a vengeful warrior who resorts to these “dishonorable” measures - stabbing foes in the back, poisoning their drinks, whatever it takes - to protect and liberate his people. Jin’s first stealth kill is almost traumatic for him I was performing stealth kills left and right soon enough, however, since games rarely let the feelings of regret shown in cutscenes slow down the violence of the action itself. Jin’s first stealth kill is almost traumatic for him, and it’s clear that it will be hard for him to live with the dishonor of killing from the shadows. He’s assailed both from within, due to his belief that a samurai must conduct himself honorably at all times, and from without, due to the people he loves who still cling to those old ideas expressing their disappointment in his actions. He remains open enough about his feelings that we understand how difficult the path that he follows throughout the game becomes for him. Though we see young Jin being taught that a samurai must control his emotions, he is thankfully no stoic hero. Both lessons are correct, just as both lessons are wrong. However, one young samurai, Jin Sakai, is rescued and nursed back to health by a peasant thief named Yuna.ĭesperate to save his people, Jin becomes caught between the ideals of honor his uncle has spent a lifetime teaching him, which dictate that a samurai always face his enemies openly and fairly, and the lessons Yuna teaches him, that such honor is a luxury not all can afford, and that to face the Mongol forces head-on can mean only defeat and death. Though wildly outnumbered, the samurai of Tsushima gather for an all-out assault on the Khan’s forces, and most of them meet their deaths. The intelligent and brutal Mongol chieftain Khotun Khan, a fictional figure positioned here as the grandson of Genghis Khan, aims to use the island of Tsushima as a strategic foothold from which to conquer the Japanese mainland. The game is set in 1274, the year of the first Mongol invasion of Japan. Ghost of Tsushima begins as an era of stability and prosperity for the samurai ends. Unfortunately, the gameplay that takes up your time on Tsushima is overly safe and familiar, resulting in a game that’s packed with lovely spots to discover and offers moments of peaceful reflection, yet still struggles to differentiate itself from numerous other open-world adventures. This fictionalized version of Tsushima is a vast, beautiful place thankfully not limited by strict adherence to historical or geographical accuracy, but instead tinged with myth and magic. Ghost of Tsushima, the new open-world adventure from Infamous developer Sucker Punch Productions, has a wonderful asset in the island setting that gives the game its name.
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