4/5 ★ – Lord_Hazenberg's review of Ghost of Tsushima.

This is a game that suffers from “every game ever syndrome” but is still very enjoyable regardless. What do I mean by every game ever? Third person open world, bow & arrow, bad guy camps to clear out the map, charm/decoration slots, brute enemy types, searching an area for clues & tracks, grappling hook, poison darts with alternate berserk function, tall grass stealth, skill tree with 3 branches, & platforming puzzles with unique upgrade rewards. The story is quite simple. After a harrowing defeat at the hands of Mongol invaders, you & your uncle are the only living samurai on the island. Your goal? Save your uncle, liberate the island, & kill the Khan. To accomplish this however, you must employ tactics that are considered dishonorable for a samurai. The protagonists primary struggle is between keeping his honor or using everything at his disposal to save the people he swore to protect. You will encounter the main cast of sidekicks each with their own quest chain. They do use the “last of insert faction here” trope a little too much, but it’s not a big issue. The gameplay is your standard 3rd person action game. Parries, dodges, and combat stances make up the melee combat. I wish they had a lock on system implemented into the melee though. Certain stances are only viable against certain enemies, therefore when surrounded you want to be attacking the correct enemies otherwise you do almost no damage. While light & heavy bows, throwing knives, bombs, & a blowgun round out the ranged combat. Alongside your standard stealth kills & distraction tools. Your primary means of navigation is the wind which acts as a compass pointing towards your objective. Sometimes you will be tasked to look for clues and the wind doesn’t work, so you’ll be running around in circles because the quest markers didn’t pop up either. I would’ve liked to see the duality in gameplay reflect in the narrative. Have a “honor meter” akin to karma in Fallout. Where if you stick to the samurai code you gain favor with your uncle and the remainder of the major clans. While sticking to shadows could drive a wedge between you & them reflecting in scenarios where you might have to fight them. Graphics are positively stunning for a PS4 game. My system sounded like a jet engine by simply running this game. The environments, armors, & weapons are all beautiful. Some character’s faces look wonky, but are decent for the most part. Sadly the lip sync is off if you play in Japanese like I did. The black & white Kurosawa mode looks great as well, but can negatively affect gameplay. Some quests require you to find a certain flower color. While in combat the parry & dodge icons are colored blue & red respectively, but are both white in Kurosawa mode. In conclusion, this is a good PS4 exclusive game that understandably got overhyped due to the absolute disaster that immediately preceded it. Pros: Likable protagonist with a clear arc Stunning visuals for a console Satisfying gameplay if occasionally wonky A main villain that’s not morally grey Competently told story Able to pause during cutscenes Mehs: Occasional bugs Side character stories can get repetitive Gameplay & narrative connection could’ve been fleshed out more Lack of Japanese lip sync Repeating character models with ugly faces Cons: Wind/Naviagtion during quests can get annoying when not working No lock on for combat Unoriginal game design Opening boss fight that can’t be won