After The State Of Play, I'm Afraid Ghost Of Yotei Is Making A Terrible Mistake

Ghost of Yotei finally got its deep dive earlier this week during Sony’s State of Play. Before that showcase, we had seen very little of the gameplay, with earlier promotional material focusing on the game’s narrative and information about the game’s large open-world design. Newcomer Atsu will be seeking revenge against a group of outlaws known as the Yotei Six who murdered her family and left her for dead. These six targets can be dealt with in any order, but that might be the game’s only big shake-up from Ghost of Tsuhsima.

Following the 20-minute presentation, I felt a little unsatisfied with what was shown, especially since information was so sparse previously. The world of Yotei is gorgeous, the game’s setting is compelling, the story seems interesting enough, and the return of a fan-favorite mode should make Ghost of Yotei a winner on paper, After sitting on it more, I’ve come to realize that I’m afraid that Ghost of Yotei isn’t doing enough that’s new.

Ghost of Yotei May Be Playing It Too Safe

This Feels More Like An Extension Than A Sequel

From the gameplay and commentary that was shown (because that’s all we have to go off of), I think Ghost of Yotei may be a bit too similar to its predecessor. Most fans are probably fine with that, as Tsushima was one of the most beloved games of 2020. Nothing that has been shown has been bad — it’s all been great, in fact. But that’s because Tsuhima was great, and this game, from its camera work, to animations, to combat, and to its open world activities, feels familiar. Almost too familiar.

Until the recent State of Play, we had barely seen any gameplay of Ghost of Yotei, and there’s likely a lot left to be discovered later when the game releases on October 2.

The Feudal Japan setting of the Ghost series is as beautiful as ever, Atsu’s more personal narrative is a great deviation from Tsushima‘s large-scale war against the Mongol Invasion, and the general “authentic feel” of living and breathing the samurai and ninja lives as the Ghost looks stellar. However, from what’s been shown, the game doesn’t feel like a sequel in the same vein as Death Stranding 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, or Resident Evil 4 — games that pushed their respective series further and evolved them.

Using the wind to find your path is still present, horseback riding looks the same as the previous game, and the combat looks very similar to the previous game. None of those things are bad, necessarily, but I can’t help but feel Yotei has a few odd design choices that fail to capitalize on its potential and might hurt the game overall.

Weapons Replacing Stances Is Strange

The Combat Looks Same-Y

The combat looks mostly unchanged, even with the addition of multiple weapons, because the weapons have effectively replaced the stances from Tushima. During the gameplay presentation, we see Atsu switch to dual swords to defeat a spear-wielding enemy. This reminds me vividly of Tsushima’s lack of enemy variety and its simple rock-paper-scissors strategic combat choices.

A closeup of Atsu, the protagonist of Ghost of Yotei

Story Details For Ghost Of Yōtei Quietly Revealed, Describing More Of Protagonist’s Revenge Mission

In a quiet update to the game’s website, new story details for Ghost of Yōtei have been quietly revealed, describing the game’s revenge plot.

There are, of course, some new additions, like a tanegashima rifle and the aforementioned new weapons, but they don’t seem to serve any new purpose over Tsushima‘s ranged weapons and stances. It feels like a missed opportunity to greatly expand the combat depth for the sequel, and instead, it appears to be more of the same, just dressed up slightly differently, at least from what’s been shown. The weapons do all have different skill trees, so maybe there is more to these new additions than meets the eye.

Stealth seems to be slightly improved, with new options like a long-range stealth kill with the new kusarigama weapon. But again, it feels like this is the same concept as the other stealth tools from Tsushima. You can do stealth takedowns from farther away, but that’s more like an extension of what was present already, instead of anything new. While the first game’s stealth mechanics were decent, it seems like another missed chance to greatly expand what was solid before.

NPC Interactions May Be More Limited

The Wolfpack Is A Neat Idea, But Does It Hurt Side Characters?

Ghost of Tsushima had some of the best NPCs and side characters in a modern open-world game, and some other characters that were left underutilized. With Atsu being a lone wolf — significantly more so than Jin Sakai was — it remains to be seen how side stories will be integrated and how Atsu will form relationships with them. We know a lot of characters can be brought into the new Wolf Pack system at campfires, but specific side characters and missions are largely a mystery right now.

The Wolf Pack system lets NPCs, traders, merchants, and others visit Atsu when she is away from settlements, which streamlines the process of going back to a town, having to find the merchant you’re looking for, and then checking what’s new for purchase. The idea of that is great on paper. However, I worry that the convenience of the Wolf Pack feature, with the NPCs just coming to wherever you are in the world, might hurt the characterizations and interactions of the NPCs, maybe making them more functions than characters.

Jin and Yasuke back to back with gameplay from Assassin's Creed Shadows and Ghost of Tsushima behind them.

I Like Assassin’s Creed Shadows Better Than Ghost Of Tsushima In Almost Every Way, Except For One Feature

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is surprisingly a lot better than its direct rival, Ghost of Tsushima, except when it comes to one key element.

Not having to go to a settlement for interactions may put a metaphorical asterisk next to the lives and daily routines of NPCs, too. This provides less time for setting interactions and watching how the seasons or weather affect the towns and residents. It also seems like an odd narrative choice, given that Atsu seems reserved and distrustful. These are all just initial thoughts, and we need to see more of Ghost of Yotei before release to fully understand some of it. As it stands, however, I’m starting to get a little worried.