Ghost of Tsushima

The second Game of the Year runner-up is Ghost of Tsushima for PS4, from Sucker Punch Productions, an open world action-adventure set in historical late 13th century on Tsushima Island. The game masterfully bonds historical accuracy with cinematic storytelling giving you a perfect masterpiece where you actually feel like stepping into the world of a samurai warrior.

Story and Setting

Ghost of Tsushima, is set during the first Mongol invasion of Japan and follows the story of Jin Sakai, one of the last samurais on Tsushima Island. When a ferocious warlord attacks his village, Jin fights back but his heroics come without honour and everything he knows is destroyed. The story touches on honor, sacrifice and the opposition between the samurai values and the reality of guerrilla warfare.

Gameplay and Mechanics

Thus, Ghost of Tsushima features a rich game with diverse mechanics that emphasize stealth and combat:

Freedom of Choice: Play the game as you want and explore Tsushima Island taking different paths in a beautiful open world filled with high landscapes (forests, mountains), friendly places (Shrines) or war-ravaged locations. As you can see in the video, players have full reign to explore the world, unlock side quests, hidden relics and beautiful scenery.

Intense, Skill-Based Sword Combat: Exciting and dynamic combat, which requires more patience rather than raw skill; yet timing plays a huge role. You can challenge enemies to one-on-one duals or against up to five at the same time in massive battles.

Stealth Ghost: Jin is a ghost and is able to stealth his way around enemy camps silently, assassinate his targets and set traps. THe game gives players the option to implement their choice of direct combat, or stealth tactics.

Customization/Upgrades: Jin can upgrade his abilities, weapons and armor as well. The game features a collectible technique point system that players can use to unlock any of the four skill trees to improve Jin's combat and stealth abilities by learning new techniques.

Photo Mode: Freeze the Moment to troop and acrid spin all that Tsushima Island has to offer with a new Photo Mode which allows you to take stylized shots - make it yours; personalize focused, out-of-focus, brightness, contrast etc.

Visuals and Presentation

Ghost of Tsushima is a game known for its amazing visuals and attention to detail. It incorporates a real-time weather system as well as dynamic day-night cycles illuminating the world around them even more. The art trend is heavily based on classical samurai films for a cinematic atmosphere. Scored by Ilan Eshkeri & Shigeru Umebayashi, the music is a blend of traditional Japanese orchestration and modern electronic sounds.

Game Modes

The game has multiple game modes that enhance the gameplay value and promote replayability, such as:

Single-Player: Step into the role of Jin, and follow through his adventures in the main storyline featuring compelling characters, dramatic cutscenes and epic battles.

Side Quests & Activities: Beyond the main story, you can find side quests liberate outposts and partake in a number of activities including bamboo stenches, composing haikus, shrine visits etc.

NewGame Plus - Start a new game with all of your upgrades and arsenal, but play through the story facing more difficult opponents and challenges.

Legends Mode: This is a multiplayer co-op experience with new missions for two players post-launch that's inspired by Japanese mythology!

Similar Games

If you like Ghost of Tsushima, try these similar titles:

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - another samurai-style game emphasising challenging combat with an emphasis on timing and precision.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla - An open-world action RPG set in a historical backdrop with exploration, combat, and stealth mechanics.

Nioh 2 - An action RPG taking place in fantastical version of Masaaki Fujikawa-era Japan with samurai vs mythic forces combat.

Red Dead Redemption 2 : A classification-busting sprawling open-world adventure game that is set to raise the bar in every department from its intricate Western world, rich storytelling and immerse gameplay.

Interesting Feature

The details matter One of the best parts about Ghost of Tsushima is its Kurosawa Mode, a visual filter that tips its hat to legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. This filters the game's graphics to a black-and-white, film grain style and even throws in some cool camera angles and sound words for dramatic effect, this is probably one of the best version of this feature that I saw at a long time and did in such an interesting way straight up good old classic samurai cinema.

The PS4 game "Ghost of Tsushima" is a masterful blend of player-driven storytelling, choice & consequence on the story based open world game, and engaging combat. Combining the best elements of an open world, proper samurai swordplay and historical storytelling, there's few things that can offer a Japanese history buff nearly as much to love than Ghost of Tsushima. In this massive open-world adventure, you'll wield the system of the samurai and the strategy of a Ghost to wage an unconventional war for the freedom of Japan.