Keegs Recommends is not meant to act as a  full review- if you wanted that, you already know where to find it. This is meant to suffice as a recommendation I’d give to you in a bar, in about the amount of time it would take to finish a Great Tasting, Less Filling. 

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while, guys. I’m not disappointed. For those of you recent, or not-so-recent PS4 owners- you may be wondering what games to play now that the Warzone gulag has been effectively ruined and you’ve already played through 2100 in NBA2K20’s GM mode. Let me introduce Ghost of Tsushima a samurai game that’s been in production for the last 4 odd years and is the last (!) PS4 exclusive before the new generation of console comes out. Long story short- you play as Jin, one of the last surviving samurai on the island of Tsushima during the Mongol invasion. Utilizing your samurai training and picking up some ninja tricks along the way, you fight to liberate the island. Think Assassin’s Creed pre-Origins meets feudal Japan. I’ve played about 8 hours so far, so I’m just breaking the surface of what’s possible in the game- but I’ve got a decent sense of what’s to come.  Let’s break it down into a couple of categories.

Visuals: All in all they look pretty good! The cutscenes look a little rough on my OG PS4, but the world is still vibrant, the settings are beautiful, and the set pieces are still impressive. The game will look great with a PS4 and 4k TV with HDR options, but it will also look good with the setup you’ve had since 2017. You can also live out your favorite samurai movies by switching visuals to Kurosawa Mode!

Story: Everybody loves an underdog story. You’re one man against an army- and while you make a couple useful friends along the way- you’re basically on your own. While I was confused by an element of the story early on, I think it stands up really well with other narrative driven open world games. I’m a big fan of its use of flashbacks as tutorials to both flesh out gameplay, and the back story for Jin. 

Combat: So far I’ve really enjoyed the combat in the game. TTK (time to kill) is very short for most enemies, and whether you perfectly counter an attack or batter an enemies defenses down with a withering barrage of attacks, you will finish them off in gloriously brutal samurai fashion. The finishes remind me of what some later Assassin’s Creeds were doing towards the end of their counter-based system, but better. Encounters are short, brutal, and graphic- and defense is equally important as playing on Hard will see you dead with 3 or so hits in the early game, even from weaker enemies. One of the concerns I’d had, and heard from others, was that the combat would be too easy. In my opinion, it’s challenging enough. There’s no question that there’s an emphasis on cinematic combat, which in some cases does take away from the difficulty. But on Hard, enemy attacks are swift and, with one exception, unmarked, so your timing has to be spot on. If you’re looking for Sekiro 2, this is not it. But, on Hard, it is far closer to it and much more satisfying than anything Assassin’s Creed has put out recently. 

Systems/Open World: I’m combining these because one of Sucker Punch Productions’ biggest new systems has to do with the open world. In most open world games, I know I spend at least half my time glued to the in game map. I set a waypoint, run 100 meters towards where I think it is, check the map again, run another hundred meters, check again. In Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch has implemented a wind system to guide you. Yeah maybe that looks corny, but it’s done superbly. What this means is you set a waypoint on your map, and then a flurry of wind and leaves emblematic of samurai cinema will guide you to your next destination. As a result I found I was actually engrossed in the world for once, and a wonderful world it is. Visual cues abound to guide you and distract you from the task at hand, whether it’s a smoke column indicating a village under attack, or a fox leading you to a hidden shrine- everything you need in Ghost of Tsushima can be found right around you. In terms of upgrading, between upgrading your new “ghost” abilities, your samurai skills, and the move sets of five different combat stances- there’s more than enough foundation to pour those ability points into.

Bottomline: If you, at any point, watched the Last Samurai with your mouth wide open for two and half hours, you will love this game. Its combat may not be as rewarding as Sekiro’s, and quirky enemy AI and no lock-on system can make things a little clunky at points, but when it comes down to it: being a samurai is sweet, really sweet.

p.s. I’ve been following this game since 2017 (check the ps). I’m old and this game lived up to the hype.