Ghost of Tsushima review

I have always found medieval times alluring. I grew up playing Zelda so it’s not that surprising that I love sword combat. And while being a knight on horseback would be a dream come true, Being a samurai would be even better. Now I don’t think it’s likely I’ll ever be a real samurai, but Ghost of Tsushima really made me feel like one.

Ghost of Tsushima takes place during the Mongolian invasion of Japan. The Mongols arrive on the island of Tsushima lead by Khotun Khan, grandson of Gengas Khan. Our character, Jin sakai lines up alongside the fellow samurai that protect Tsushima lead by The Djito, Jin’s uncle Lord Shimura. The Mongols make it very clear that they do not care about fighting honourably and thus the samurai are no match. Lord Shimura is captured while Jin is badly wounded and thrown off a bridge leaving Khotun Khan to march his forces north beginning his conquest. Jin is rescued by a thief girl named Yuna who teaches him how to be stealthy and assassinate targets without their knowledge. Going against everything the samurai stand for, Jin must come to terms with the only effective course of action is to learn The Way Of The Ghost.

I really like this game. It was a refreshing detour from fantasy worlds such as God of War and puts you right into olden day Japan. The main form of combat is swordplay but you’re given the option of when or even if it happens. You can just walk into a camp and demand a standoff which will initiate a one on one fight eventually graduating to an all out brawl. Or you can employ some of your Ghost tricks and slowly one by one kill them until there’s only one left. The choice is yours.

My only real complaint is more of a personal thing. There isn’t a mini map at all, instead there are plumes of smoke rising into the sky indicating a mission location. But I’m visually impaired so for me this was an annoying feature. I do get it and it is really cool. You have to familiarise yourself with the world and it’s landmarks, it’s really creative. It just doesn’t work for me, I had to pause the game every 30 seconds or so to check I was going in the right direction. I know the guidance wind was for that exact purpose but I couldn’t see which way the wind was blowing, sometimes having to call the wind five or six times before finally getting it. Also some of the missions require you to track footprints. As you can imagine, I didn’t have a lot of fun during those ones.

Complaints aside Ghost of Tsushima is a fantastic story of loss and confliction. Jin really struggles with the role he plays and that’s something I think we can all relate to. With such a compelling story, you’ll be forgiven for forgetting it’s all made up.