Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best games I’ve ever played. A totally immersive experience with amazing combat technique which is great and does not get stale due to the different stances for each type of enemy. Even late in the game, switching fluidly from one stance to another, while fighting multiple different enemies makes it fun and rewarding.
The story is an emotional rollercoaster that has the player deeply invested in each of the characters while giving us the reason to relate to the protagonist; Jin Sakai. The relationships in relation to the turn of events shape the unstoppable pull the game has on the player to keep playing and see what happens next in each tale and main story mission. We feel for these characters, they feel like real people for the intended time period with actual motivations and ideals. We'll want to relate or understand most of them without question and that's the part of what makes the story so riveting.
This game is a cinematic masterpiece!!! It's one of those games where we stop playing once in a while and sit back and take in the admirable scenery.
If you are a fan of Japanese samurai flicks then this game is for you. It even has a mode, the Kurosawa mode, named after legendary Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa, to make the game black and white reminiscent of old Japanese samurai flicks. But if you take my advice, then don't play this game in black and white,as the colours are what make this game beautiful. Right from the leaves, flowers, grass to water, the colour just jumps out to you. For a open world game each new area feels fresh and doesn't feel like it's been copy and pasted. The sword play which is a stand out to me is a mix between the Batman Arkham series and AC Odyssey hack and slash but a LOT better! There are different stances which helps for different enemies and therefore, doesn't get boring.
The games side quest try to stay fresh but in the end just feels like the same open world Formula but with swords.
The main story mission is good and it's not locked behind player levels, so we won't be running into enemies who are 50 levels above us, so we can complete all the main story mission without having to grind but doing side missions does help.
I have to admit Sucker Punch delivered a pretty good game which feels like a love letter to Japanese samurai movie genre.
The game is however, not perfect. My one gripe is the character models for some reason look weird when ever they try to show emotions bit still it's not a deal breaker!
Also traveling the map didn’t feel like a chore like other games, there was always different side quests and collectibles that weren’t just wastes of time but improved our various character stats and then turned in to fast travel points so we never had to spend long periods of time traversing the map. Those things apart from the story is what stood out the most, the story of jin's journey was heartening between the flashbacks when he was a child sparring with his uncle to fighting side by side with a grieving mother looking for justice for her family.
They did a good job not to flood the game with too many characters that are forgotten as soon as the mission's over but instead focussed on a core few that we build our relationship with throughout the game through their side missions, so by the end of the game we really feel for these characters who have been by our side from the beginning. I’m so glad I ended up reading a few reviews on this game then ultimately buying it, worth every penny, probably put over 50 hours into it.
This is, without question, the best single-player game to have ever released in the history of gaming. There's too much to even mention in a review to do it service. To sum it up.
"It's like watching a Japanese painting in motion, just gorgeous!"
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