Sony’s just-broadcast Ghost of Yōtei State of Play has revealed a huge amount of the sumptuous open-world revenge-em-up. 19 minutes of new footage is accompanied by the most chilled NPR-like narration from Sucker Punch developers Jason Connell and Nate Fox.
2020's Ghost of Tsushima was a huge success for Sony. The PlayStation exclusive sold a whopping 2.4 million copies in its first three days on sale, with the most recent figures claiming lifetime sales of 13 million. Both a critical and financial success, obviously developers Sucker Punch immediately began work on a sequel, and some five years later we’re finally getting a good, long, detailed look at what the stealthy action-adventure follow-up has to offer.
However, this isn’t picking up where Tsushima left off. Ghost of Yōtei is a standalone sequel, set 329 years later, in 1603. This is an entirely new story in a game all about revenge, with main character Atsu returning 16 years after her whole family was murdered to kill the so-called Yōtei Six. And to really drive this home, the game will let you switch the world around you to Atsu’s childhood to contrast her before and after realities.
Once again, combat can be approached as you prefer, whether that’s melee sword battles or ninja-like stealthy assassinations, or of course any mix of the two. And that sense of choice is, they claim, endemic throughout the game. The State of Play explains you can mainline the central story, let yourself disappear off on extensive side-quests, or just explore the ridiculously pretty realm. However, the emphasis presented here is to take it slowly, no rush, “enjoy the ride.” And with those scenes of Atsu charging on horseback through the grasslands, seeds flying up around her, that does look like a rather lovely idea.
I really liked the extended trailer’s stressing that this isn’t a game about “honor,” about respecting the ancient traditions of this or that, but about a furious mercenary, willing to use dirty tricks to reach her goals.
Atsu will have access to a huge arsenal of slicey-choppy weapons, including a katana, spear, ōdachi (very long samurai sword), kusarigama (a brutal “chain-sickle”), and dual swords. And you can use these for broad third-person combat against crowds of foes, or sneaking up and silently taking people out. (If you’re playing this sort of game properly, that invariably means starting with the latter, then switching to the former when it all goes wrong.) And then there are bows and guns too, for ranged onslaughts. There’s also a bunch of rock, paper, scissors to it, as an enemy switching weapons means you may need to change up your response, too.
There are a whole bunch of bounties for you to take on, in both plot-critical excursions and side-quests, for which you’ll discover clues to track people down. Then there’s your “wolf pack,” a growing collection of allies who’ll help you out with new skills and equipment. And you’ve got all manner of dress-up options, including outfits specific to whether you want to focus on ranged, stealth or melee combat. All the things! So many things.
As with the original game, there’s a fully Japanese version of the game with subtitles, all as part of Sucker Punch’s effort to let the game feel like the samurai movies which inspired them. They’ve also once more licensed the right to call a grainy black-and-white filter on the game “Kurosawa Mode,” which is, um, sure. Go for it. This is extended in Yōtei with the claimed “Miike Mode” to mean the camera is closer up in combat, with more mud and blood, and “Watanabe Mode,” which will replace the game’s music with “lo-fi beats.” I mean, pretending that this is “partnering” with famous directors seems very silly to me, but I’m down for an ambient chill mode, as hilariously incongruous as it looked in the footage.
The game releases October 2, and damn, yeah, after this I’m very in. It looks fabulous, potentially out-Ubisofting Ubisoft in the open-world world. Let’s hope it meets these promises.
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