Despite the collective gaming industry clamoring for any bit of news regarding the PlayStation 5, today’s PlayStation State of Play presentation focused instead on Ghost of Tsushima, the open-world samurai title from Sucker Punch. Clocking in at around 18 minutes long, the showcase highlights many of the facets of the game that have only been lightly touched upon in the two years since the title’s initial reveal trailer.
Narrated by various Sucker Punch employees, the presentation first covers how our protagonist Jin explores the vast and beautiful open world of Japan. According to the developer, Jin can utilize gusts of wind to help determine where he should go next, which will oftentimes take him to unexplored areas of the world. The occasional breeze isn’t the only means of determining where to go, though, as Jin can take visual cues from distant smokestacks and the occasional small woodland creature (foxes, in this case) to learn about potential side quests and collectibles, respectively.
In regards to combat, Jin can choose to either approach an objective by being a stealthy ghost or a brutal samurai, the latter of which will more than likely be the hard go-to of our beloved Editor-in-chief. Going the stealthy route is made possible by the use of a detection meter and deployable tools, such as a wind chime that distracts an enemy when thrown. Going the way of the samurai, though, enables players to force an opponent into a ‘showdown’ not unlike what we see in those old western films, just with swords instead of guns. Combat fluidity is also on full display here, with Ghost of Tsushima rewarding players that manage to land last-second parries by allowing Jin to strike at his now exposed enemies with brutal results.
Related: Ghost of Tsushima Preview – The Mongol Invasion Awaits
Moving along, the Ghost of Tsushima showcase also shows off the various customization options available to Jin. Per Sucker Punch, the outfits Jin obtainst throughout the course of the game all have different mechanical advantages, and it’ll be up to the player to determine which outfit they prefer for any given encounter or mission depending on their playstyle. Unique ‘charms’ are also obtainable that offer Jin a variety of benefits, both in terms of combat, exploration, and survivability.
While the introduction of a photo mode wasn’t really a surprise given how often games ship with them nowadays, Sucker Punch is going one step further by implementing a special ‘Samurai Cinema’ mode that turns Ghost of Tsushima into a grainy black & white adventure worthy of the big screen. Rounding this out is the inclusion of a full Japanese voice track, the culmination of which should scratch that particular itch fans of Akira Kurosawa have been living with for the past few decades.
Given that Ghost of Tsushima is but a brief two months away, chances are we’ll continue to hear more about the Sucker Punch game as we approach its mid-summer release date. Ghost of Tsushima is slated to release on July 17th, 2020, exclusively for the PlayStation 4. In the meantime, check out what else is going on in the world of gaming news with some of our previous coverage below:
- Free GTA 5 copies cause an Epic Games Store meltdown
- Bungie makes drastic changes to The Lie quest progression
- New Paper Mario game announced, check out The Origami King here
What did you think about the latest Ghost of Tsushima look and the new samurai cinema mode? Sound off with your thoughts over on Twitter @PrimaGames, we’d love to hear what you think!
