Let’s talk about how and why Ghost of Tsushima is such a good game.

[Nothing Loud]

I've been playing this game in bits for the last 1-2 years and I'm not done with it yet, not by a long shot, but everything I do is just so well-designed. It's easily Sucker Punch's best game and IP.

Here's why this game is the tits y'all:
- The open world is interesting in just how beautiful it is, it makes traversing the island of Tsushima visually spectacular.
- Each collectible doesn't feel frustrating or annoying to collect, in fact they all make sense in the history and mythos of the story.
- Great mix of stealth, long range, short range combat gameplay make for interesting scenarios and multiplayer.
- The combat system is exquisitely detailed for what would otherwise feel like an Assassin's Creed clone. Changing stances and using items mid-fight brings a lot of variety to the moment-to-moment gameplay.
- The graphics. What the fuck. Playing on PS5 on my LG G1 77" OLED and it's just unspeakably gorgeous. Thank you for the enhanced graphical options here.
- Photo mode is detailed and fun to use.
- Upgradeables feel fun to strive for and you're automatically notified when something's ready for upgrade.
- Having said that, lots of QoL features that make this open world game not annoying or boring to navigate.
- Great touchpad/DualSense integration.
- Great story.
- Great dual English/Japanese voice acting.
- Smooth, seamless combat and traversal animations. They worked really hard to avoid Assassin's Creed jank city.

Let's not forget the Legends multiplayer mode which is phenomenal, just pure unique multiplayer third person combat that reminds me of a refined version of AC Brotherhood multiplayer.

All this included when you buy the game? No bullshit microtransactions and season pass crap?

This game is visual and gaming splendor and it just keeps delivering. I'm a good 20 hours in and just taking my time, loving every time I decide to do a side or main quest. It all feels relevant and worth my time and interest to seek out things on the map.

Who else was surprised by how exquisitely executed this game was? It feels like the infamous games were practice for how well realized this world of Tsushima came out to be, let alone with multiplayer!

 

[Diogo Arez]

Amazing game, still the game I've taken most photos in by far(2600 on PS4, 700 on PS5 lmao), the art direction is astounding

 

[AnimeJesus]

It was as formulaic as open world games can be but it was still an ok game...need to go back and finish it on PS5 but honestly not looking forward to replaying the beginning.

 

[Deleted member 91227]

Loved it. One of my favorite open world games. Plenty to do, but not overwhelming. Loved the combat and graphics. Story was solid. Sequel just needs more story-driven side quests ala Horizon FW vs. the first in that franchise.

 

[Oghuz]

Loved it. Before Elden Ring it had the best combat in an open world game.

 

[Stewarto]

It's a beautiful, polished, varied, well made game... And the combat mechanics were fantastic

 

[ciddative]

It was very good, beauitiful to look at, good combat and a moving story. The QoL features really helped.

But the open world-ness -- as pretty as it was -- became its downfall in terms of gameplay before the end.

My favourite thing about it was the villain. Patrick Gallagher was sensational , mesmerizing and faceted.

 

[s y]

It was ok. Glad I bought it sale though, Ubisoft tier open world game but with much stronger core mechanics like combat which was fun but pretty shallow.

The grass and leaves and lighting were very pretty.

I liked some of the outfits. Always like playing dress up in these games.

Camera was inside Jin's butt half the time, a FoV option like in last of us 2 would have been nice.

There were so many annoying slow walk n chats and linear missions in the campaign. I can't really remember a standout mission or set piece.

Found the story completely uninteresting and was frustrated they don't let you skip cutscenes during a first play through.

 

[Noog]

Loved it. Before Elden Ring it had the best combat in an open world game.

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I agree with this entirely. It really feels like the Assassins Creed gameplay done better. It has that sense of exploration that BOTW and Elden Ring have where it's satisfying to explore just to see what cool stuff you'll find rather than just searching for the next collectible or mission marker

 

[NateDrake]

It was the best Assassin's Creed game in years; but felt formulaic and repetitive the deeper you got.

Great setting, fantastic atmosphere. Good gameplay.

Enjoyed it enough but didn't love it.

 

[St. Elmo's Fire]

It's just so much fun. The world in GoT is beautiful and the combat system is fun as hell. Jin is cool and I really like the story.
Collecting all the different outfits really made this game special for me.
Riding your horse is well made too. Many open-world games should look at GoT regarding how to handle a horse.
I never got stuck anywhere and never thought "This is annoying. I rather walk".

 

[Greywaren]

It was fun! It didn't do a lot of unique stuff, but everything it tried to do was done well.

I still haven't played the DLC, is it worth it?

 

[InResolute]

It was okay. I got really bored of it after about 10 hours. It just felt very repetitive very quickly.

 

[LastNac]

We need to talk about the Mythic Tales...

 

[KDC720]

It's good, but I never found it all that amazing or anything.

It's a pretty bog standard open world game with some really, really good presentation. The story starts out interesting but quickly gets predictable, a lot of the side stuff still feels like fluff, and I think it ends well but it just never left a lasting impression on me. It's the pre-WRPG Assassins Creed game set in Japan that everyone wanted.

 

[GlamPrime]

Sucker Punch stayed so true the genre, it almost came across as form of reverence to many. The story wasn't groundbreaking but was in keeping with the lore.

But most importantly, they nailed "the Samurai feel."

I played until I got the plat. Then spent the next week just exploring.

 

[LilScooby77]

Loved it. Before Elden Ring it had the best combat in an open world game.

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Honestly loved everything about the combat.

 

[Bear Patrol]

Beat it and it's fine. Very pretty but bog standard open world and combat where enemies will mostly just wait to attack you one by one, as is normal. Story was a bit above average but, just a few months after beating it, I can barely remember the names of many of the characters or more than a few of the standard side stories. People also seem to really be in love with the exploration but I felt like the designers just didn't trust their world design or me as a player because I was inundated with fucking birds and foxes everywhere. The wind was a neat idea but it's basically just another compass.

Completely inoffensive in every way and didn't really push any boundaries.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

In terms of visuals, it was beautiful aside from the pretty bad textures. From a game design perspective, it was just a generic open world game IMO. It might be even more tedious with following birds and foxes to do the same thing 40 times. The combat was definitely a highlight.

It's fine, I'd probably play a Ghost 2 but I don't love it.

It was the best Assassin's Creed game in years; but felt formulaic and repetitive the deeper you got.

Great setting, fantastic atmosphere. Good gameplay.

Enjoyed it enough but didn't love it.

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How I see it. It was a good Assassin's Creed game.

 

[J75]

The most fun I've had with a video game in years. Can't wait for what's in store for the future of the series.

 

[Xero grimlock]

I'm looking forward to trying it when there is a good price drop for the ps5 version, but I'm weary as I've never cared for infamous 1-3.

 

[DarkChronic]

Yeah I liked it. Got the platinum and I definitely feel like I got my fill. Great ending, too. (I have no honor)

 

[Biosnake]

It was okay. I got really bored of it after about 10 hours. It just felt very repetitive very quickly.

Click to shrink...

Same here, liked it in the beginning but got bored real fast.

 

[Jencks]

Tried it and it was thoroughly mediocre

 

[Resident4t.]

I thought it was fine. Like a Ubisoft game from the Asassins Creed 2/Brotherhood era so it's not an insult. Combat was a highlight but traversal and stealth not so much.

 

[Temascos]

One of the most fun open world games I've played, everything felt so smooth and fun to do. Stealth could easily be improved for a sequel though.

Despite my criticism of the game getting repetitive at the later stages of the game, it doesn't actually have too much in the way of "bloat", I really like that. Everything had a purpose to it. Still yet to play the Iki Island expansion so this could change in the future.

 

[Risev]

I tried to get into it so many times but always lose interest after the first 5 or so hours.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

One of the most fun open world games I've played, everything felt so smooth and fun to do. Stealth could easily be improved for a sequel though.

Despite my criticism of the game getting repetitive at the later stages of the game, it doesn't actually have too much in the way of "bloat", I really like that. Everything had a purpose to it. Still yet to play the Iki Island expansion so this could change in the future.

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Despite me finding the overall game mediocre, I really liked the Iki Island expansion. Possibly because its shorter and more compact? Either way, I bet you would as well.

 

[MegaSackman]

Liked it, loved the visuals, some sidequests, and combat. Main story was alright, and it lacked some production excellence that Naughty Dog and Santa Monica have.

That said, Legends boosted the game to "Love it" status.

 

[Nameless]

Enjoyed the combat until I got too OP(played on Lethal), and enjoyed the world for its visual presentation and sight seeing opportunities until the novelty wore off and you're left with nothing but bog-standard Ubisoft style checklists & quest design.

While there were a couple of side characters I found intesting(Yuna) I was mostly indifferent towards the main story and Jin if I'm being honest. Overall the game is fine in the most unremarkable sense. I'd gotten more than my fill a handful of hours into Act II. Haven't gone back and I'm not planning back. 6.5/10. 7 if I'm being charitable.

 

[Rackham]

The best thing about this game is the gameplay. I'm not really interested in the story so far. I'm in the second act.

Sleeping Dogs remains the best Asian game story to me

 

[Crossing Eden]

Absolutely Sony Studio's best attempt at the ubisoft formula, and I love that the dlc became even more of a shameless AC clone by directly aping that move where you assassinate and then can immediately assassinate another from a distance with a projectile. The collectibles, while sound, got quite old very fast, especially the birds who half the time would lead you directly to the waypoint you had selected.

Now....why the hell did they have such a small budget for cutscenes??? Especially compared to Days Gone.

 

[Yuntu]

I think the combat lacked variety in enemy design and weapon choices and I think they should make the choices more meaningful (stealth vs. direct approach), otherwise neat game were I wouldn't mind playing a sequel.

edit: oh and yeah as I just saw, pls give them more to work with for cutscenes

 

[LightKiosk]

Absolutely loved it. The world ambience left me just standing still at times to take it all in with the beautiful soundtrack. The fantastic combat and character movement was the cherry on top.

Iki Island was even better in that they took all the complaints from the main island, added more variety to the activities and condensed it well.

 

[flaxknuckles]

It's a decently fun game that really surprises me when people use it to bash Ubisoft as if this isn't one of the most Ubisofty games ever. I prefer Infamous over it.

 

[Voytek]

Put me in the it's alright but not too interesting crowd. I played it for awhile, it was fine, but got bored pretty quickly and never finished it.

 

[Sinkfloridasink]

Undeniably great game that imo is held back by enemy variety and icon bloat. The sense of exploration is weak, imo, compared to where botw and from games have gone

 

[DC5remy]

It was a super good game. It looked so good.

It also was a tad bit too long.

 

[Rumenapp]

Best feature is the combat and the story. Felt like AC in Japan.

 

[Phinor]

I feel like it had maybe 10-15 hours too much repetitive content for 100% completion but I suppose it was quite short compared to other recent open world games. I would just prefer all open world games to have less side/collection content.

That being said, I love the way it looks and the gameplay is almost great, at least enjoyable most of the time. The story on the other hand didn't do it for me, nor did almost any of the characters, especially the main character. I would like a sequel that improves especially on story&characters/gameplay but doesn't go excessive with side and filler content. So I would vote somewhere between the first two options, I feel like the second voting option is already too negative for being the second most positive option.

Bonus points for experimenting with things like Kurosawa mode and adding multiplayer afterwards. Not that I've tried the multiplayer but I've heard mostly positive things about it and while the Kurosawa mode isn't something most people are going to try for more than few minutes, it's still nice to have unique optional features like that.

 

[hydruxo]

Incredible game. Sorry but I don't see how anyone could dislike this game. Shit was awesome. Bring on the sequel.

 

[Uncle Sensei]

It looks nice, but that's about as charitable as I can be

 

[WhtR88t]

Loooooved the combat. Graphically was amazing too. The world is beautiful.

 

[J 0 E]

I loved it immensely. It was one of the highlights of the last generation and particularly 2020.
I'm totally down for a sequel.

 

[AnimeJesus]

I get the Assassins Creed comparisons, but it did not have one of the main things that AC does really well and that's mobility. GoT had the bare minimum when it came to getting around the world and not being able to do basic climbing just feels so out of place. Otherwise, the only thing it did better than AC was the combat and even then, only slightly.

 

[Rackham]

Bonus points for experimenting with things like Kurosawa mode and adding multiplayer afterwards. Not that I've tried the multiplayer but I've heard mostly positive things about it and while the Kurosawa mode isn't something most people are going to try for more than few minutes, it's still nice to have unique optional features like that.

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I feel that Kurosawa mode would be better as a mode that has curated content by the developers for a streamlined experience. Could even drop the open world aspect and make it only available when you beat the game

 

[CMP]

The combat was what made the game good to me. I also appreciated the absence of giant monsters or supernatural elements (besides the fact that Jin can slide all over the place with his slashes)

 

[coolasj19]

It was great because just like Horizon, you can ignore so much of the superfluous side stuff and crit path the main story and that on its own is tons of fun

 

[Wiltsghost]

I got bored and never finished it. Beautiful though.

 

[MeltedDreams]

Tried it and it was thoroughly mediocre

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Yeah, i got bored as hell playing this. Couldn't play for more than one or two hours at a time and took me three months to finish this. For some reason this game kept it's value for quite long time and i managed to sell my copy at decent price.
I can't believe i'm saying this, but i did liked Days Gone a bit more than Ghost. At least hordes are more fun than fighting mongols.