4/5 ★ – Male_07's review of Ghost of Tsushima.

I understand why people praise this game - it is very fun - but to call it one of the greatest games of all time is a stretch. PROS - combat is very fun and promotes creativity - exploration feels natural and is accompanied by beautiful scenery - on the topic of visuals, the game is one of the best looking I’ve played; it manages to balance realism with an actual artstyle perfectly - story is very interesting and ties into gameplay quite well CONS - stealth is mediocre (this is disappointing considering that stealth was a big selling point for this game); this is mainly due to poor level design, enemy AI is downright stupid compared to other games (e.g. in the Far Cry and Arkham games enemies will actually investigate and form groups to search for you, and they will become more scared as you pick off more of them. In Ghost after finding a body, they just return to their usual routine; even if they spot you all you have to is runaway and they return to normal. This really ruins the immersion), and finally lack of unique weapons makes stealth really repetitive - pacing is just bad, you are fully levelled with every weapon and stance upgrade before even entering Act 3 - lots of minor issues which amount to large complaints: 1. stances are locked to certain enemies, and if you use the wrong stance the game forces you to change, 2. duels are too easy mid game (I’m playing on hard), too repetitive and doesn’t let you use most weapons during them, 3. there is an enemy type they introduce in Act 2 which is really fun only to remove them when starting Act 3, wtf Overall, despite all the negatives, I did have a really fun time playing this game. It is no GOTY contester as some people like to say, and certainly doesn’t break any boundaries or push new ideas, but what it does do is deliver a solid, enjoyable game Edit: I think I was a little bit too harsh so its gone from 4 to 4.5 (still isn’t a 5 though)