Ghost of Tsushima | Samurai Game Review

before we get started i want to give a huge shout out to project orochi for sponsoring this video project orochi is a japanese-inspired clothing brand with all sorts of cool looks that will help you show off your love for japanese history and culture with a bit of a modern flair personally i like a lot of their shirts as they really fit my own kind of style with currently my favorite design of theirs being the yamata no orochi tea i really love the classic artwork but also the modern vibe it gives off a lot of their products also have references to games such as for honor and securo so if you enjoy samurai games or games with samurai in them these styles are great for you i highly recommend you go check them out using the link i put in the description and if you find anything you like use the promo code the shogunate on your purchase to get five percent off doing so is also a great way to help the channel because each purchase you make also goes to help support me and my content so with that all said let's jump into one of the most highly anticipated samurai games ever finally we have it a game many of us have been eagerly awaiting in fact i remember watching the initial trailer for this game long before even starting this channel and thinking yes finally an open world samurai game from a aaa developer we have had sort of open world samurai games in the past but nothing to this size or scale ghost of tsushima is a first of its kind tackling a genre and setting that as many others have already said has previously been largely ignored by the western gaming industry this game had monumental hype surrounding it for several reasons not only for its uniqueness for treading new ground but also for simply its style functionality and the fact that it will be the last major exclusive game released for the ps4 capping off the generation this game had been in development for around 5 years which in a modern sense is a pretty long development time a length we are more used to seeing for games from rockstar like grand theft auto and red dead redemption so with all of the hype and momentum it has been building up over the years does ghost of tsushima deliver is it the game so many of us have been waiting for for so long does it stick the landing the answer at least for me is a resounding yes ghost of tsushima is a massive success however as a youtuber who discusses samurai history samurai films and many other samurai games i am looking at ghost of tsushima from many different aspects and because of this i'm going to be a bit more critical of it than many other reviews have been do not get me wrong i loved the game and i found it to be absolutely fantastic yet this would not be an honest review if i did not put in some criticism where i feel it is due because it does have some clear flaws although don't worry this review will be spoiler free in regards to the main story and characters i will be discussing certain aspects of the game relating to history and the overall design but nothing that reveals too much about the actual story this also means that for a lot of the gameplay i show if there is any spoilerish subtitles or writing on the screen i will try to block it out as to not reveal too much but with that said let's dive in right away as you turn the game on for the first time you are greeted with the sight of samurai banners flowing in the wind before you stands a choice how do you wish to experience the game in english japanese or in vintage black and white like a classic akira kurasawa film although these options can be changed later this immediate choice showcases that this game wants you the player to experience it in the way you personally want to and i think that sums the experience of ghost of tsushima up very well because what drives this game forward more than anything else is how well its functionality works this is a big game larger than i actually expected with enough content to keep you hooked for weeks of endless play if you have the time this seriously is one of the most beautiful worlds i have ever had the privilege to experience with a near perfect soundtrack to tie it all together and although the kurosawa mode is an awesome touch and something i have a lot of fun playing around with it's never something i would use to play the game in full with simply because the game in full color is breathtaking i'll be honest after all the trailers videos and even the long state of play we got on the game prior to its launch i still wasn't entirely sure what kind of game it would be how it would feel once we finally had the controller in our hands i had a genuine fear in me that it was going to try too hard to rely heavily on stereotypes and common imagery we identify with samurai and feudal japan to put together a frankenstein of a game that lacked all soul and depth that the developers were more interested in putting together a game that resembled an assassin's creed in japan and not necessarily a title with its own individuality luckily that's not what ghost of tsushima is it still does feel a bit like an assassin's creed game at times but to my satisfaction its playstyle functions more like something in between assassin's creed and red dead redemption 2 causing your journey to continually feel unique and fresh tsushima is massive and like a lot of other open world titles you don't get to experience it all at once until late in the game as different sections of the map remain locked off from you until you complete important story milestones to give you access to more of the island and while not all of its biomes are accurate or realistic to the actual tsushima i can't help but put accuracy to the wayside in awe of the beauty the developers have put on display for us from its stoic shrines to its somber graveyards lush green hills to murky swamps frozen wastes to rocky seasides there is always something new to see and there is always more to explore in this regard the world feels endless following foxes to locate inari shrines and yellow birds to other amazing locations like onsens bamboo strikes and my personal favorite haiku spots where you can actually sit and compose beautiful and dramatic poems in fact if i was just raiding this game on haikus alone this game would be a 10 out of 10. [Music] but that's not all you also have other things to collect as well like artifacts sashimono banners singing crickets and a loot loot loot every place you find and every item you pick up has an important purpose advancing your character more and more as you dive deeper and deeper into tsushima this game is one of the best jobs i have ever seen at planting you into its world i often found myself slowly walking along from destination to destination instead of actually running simply because it felt so right just to exist in this world because let me tell you there is something special about feeling like you are actually a samurai in a living breathing world i mean people actually bow to you and respect you when you walk by seriously it is one of the game's strongest assets making you the player feel so incredibly invested in the world around you unfortunately even in a world so spectacular there are still some minor hiccups to its composition some polished that the developers forgot or simply were unable to put in small things like running through bamboo trees objects not in contact with the ground not being able to walk upstairs like a normal human being and a genuine lack of character animations as often if your character does anything the screen will just fade to black as he does it these are things you would expect to be smoothed over not only from a aaa title but also since this game had such a long development time and is importantly the final exclusive for the ps4 however i'm happy to say that those issues are quickly forgotten about the more you press further into the game experiencing the journey of jin sakai and his fight to defend his home from the mongol invaders for me personally the story got off to a bit of a slow start i really didn't get invested in the events or characters until around the second act it's at that point that the story really picks up and becomes a gripping tale and i can't stress enough how happy i am that i played this game with the japanese voice setting comparing the two side by side i found that the japanese voices of the characters just fit so much better with jin's japanese interpretation being a clear improvement over his english interpretation [Music] it is sad that the developers unfortunately never found the time to reanimate the character's mouths to match the japanese language but it's a small price to pay for the advanced level of performance that the japanese voice actors give the main story itself isn't too long but what ends up causing its length to span far greater is the addition of all the extra side quests you can take part in in the world of tsushima there are three forms of missions to embark on jin's journey which is the main story tales of tsushima which follow the adventures of other main characters or random people you come across and try to help and mythic tales which tell the story of famous weapons armor and abilities that you go and try to discover for yourself and although each of these forms of missions are completed separately for the most part large portions of them end up tying well into the main plot of the story as most of us are well aware ghost of tsushima takes place during the first mangal invasion of japan in 1274. if you haven't seen my ghost tsushima history video i recommend you go check that out if you want more detail into what was going on in japan and with the mongol empire at this point in time but the important thing to know right here and now is that the mongols are attacking and seizing the island of tsushima is their first step on the path to conquering all of japan and while this game is historical fiction it uses real events and places to help tell a compelling narrative now i'm going to get a little more into the history of the game a bit later but for right now let's talk about the story without going into too much detail as the mongol empire lands on tsushima leading their campaign is kotan khan a man who right away says that he is the cousin of kublai and has been tasked with orchestrating the mongol invasion of japan his tactics are incredibly brutal so that fear spreads and the people quickly submit to mongol rule he is also a cunning commander which we are shown literally in the first few minutes of the game he has studied japan knows the ins and outs of japanese culture knows how the japanese people think and most importantly knows how to deal with samurai opposite to his great horde are the defenders of tsushima a group of samurai families under the shimura clan led by lord shimura who is often correctly referred to as the jito a steward in a sense who was in charge of governing over the island standing alongside him is our main protagonist the character we play as throughout the game jinn of the sakai family the nephew to lord shimura immediately we are thrown into the actually historically real battle of komoda beach a devastating and chaotic clash that sees the mongols absolutely crushed the samurai of the island into the sand very few samurai survive one of which of course being jin with tsushima having fallen almost fully under control of kotan khan following the battle of komoda beach gene sets out to do what he can against the mongol invaders yet as we come to see his path takes many interesting turns as we fight our way to liberate the island and although you may expect the plot to simply focus on the war against the mongols and kotan khan in reality the real meat of the story comes in regarding how jin chooses to fight the mongols while all of his life he was trained to fight with a certain sense of honor staring his opponent in the eyes he soon comes to realize fighting the mongols is unlike any other enemy the samurai have ever fought before thus more honorable methods of combat at times become ineffective leading to him adopting alternative more frowned upon methods of killing his foes this creates the game's most impactful driving force as jin falls into a deep internal conflict between following a path of honor bestowed upon him by his loving uncle who raised him or giving in to brutal and savage dishonorable tendencies and aims to more effectively defeat the mongols at whatever the cost which ends up actually leading to his rise as a heroic figure known as the ghost it's this struggle and the clash jin has over it with his beloved uncle and father figure that i truly feel becomes the most compelling element of the story more so than the actual goal of defeating koton khan and driving the mongols from your shores as more than anything else it is this part of the narrative that truly shows jin as deeply divided as he begins to lose himself in the methods he takes and the myth he inspires it creates a unique conversation about what is true honor and how does one act with it and i am very happy to say this game is not black and white about samurai honor in many other stories there seems to be one definition or view of samurai honor in fact many films or games sometimes even flat out use the term bushido which would be incorrect to do so during the actual age of the samurai the term bushido wasn't even really a thing and i'm glad the game stays away from this in fact during the age of the samurai there were many different ideas of honor or codes the samurai should try to live by there wasn't necessarily one clear-cut definition there was no single path rather it was a collection of concepts and this is where the importance of the other main characters come in although the main story we follow is jin's journey along the way we help other figures in their own stories following the chaos of the mongol invasion people such as an old archery master named ishikawa a prominent wife of a wiped out samurai family named masako and a skilled thief with a good heart named yuna or just to say a few it's through the stories of these figures that we begin to see they each have their own interpretation of honor and this is what truly comes to clash with the idea of honor that has been ingrained into jinn by his uncle his concept of samurai honor is in the end archaic and has become outdated especially when faced with a foe like the mongol empire jin's uncle's form of honor is not the only correct answer and jin's brutal actions are not without purpose as he works to save the people of tsushima it really becomes a good argument has jin really forsaken honor or does he simply follow a different honorable path and while the story excels and creates some of the game's strongest and most emotionally impactful moments with the ending being absolutely phenomenal there is also something to be said about the game's odd approach to player choice and how it relates to the story throughout much of the game we are given dialogue options among other options simply even when just reflecting on things while sitting in a hot spring this all works to set up an illusion of player choice something i think really could have made the game much better as there were a few moments within the story that came across as incredibly significant decision-making points yet while we are allowed to so often choose what we say or what we think about in the big moments the game takes all of our choice away and we are simply made to follow the set story it gets even more frustrating when you want to make a completely different decision yet the game sends you on a path you don't want to go down i imagine it could be rough for players who are trying to play strictly as a noble and honorable samurai yet could force down the path of the ghost regardless because of the story this isn't a game where we are made to engage in only stealth and assassination this game gives us a choice in how we approach conflict i just wish the main story reflected that a bit more i think giving the player free ability to make major story decisions would have added so much not only in terms of investment but also in the way of replay value i should mention we do get to make one extremely big choice at the very end which is a really nice touch because i will say again i felt the ending was amazing however a lust for more player choice was not the only problem i had with the story another big issue i feel comes in with our main antagonist koton khan koton khan never came across as a serious threat to me as a character i did feel he was brilliant a calm collected cunning and brutal man he had all the makings of an extremely strong villain yet as i progressed through the story i couldn't help but feel that he was a bit wasted i never feared him or what he might do in fact for most of the game he actually continues to move farther and farther away from you while you simply go and retake all of the territory he just conquered without any response or repercussion this i feel actually dragged the story down a little bit more so than anything else had koton been a bit more of an actual threat or even perhaps if we were just shown some more of him it may have done much to help the overall narrative i'm not saying i didn't enjoy the story i absolutely did and there were some moments that were absolutely mind-blowingly awesome but there was also a lot of meh however with that said even with koten khan being a bit of a letdown as far as the mongol military went the game does a great job illustrating their cruelty as you will often find bodies of slain peasants and samurai every time you turn around bodies burned on stakes bodies tied up and riddled with arrows bodies hung in math from trees literally bodies everywhere along with burnt out villages and ruined countryside although the khan never appeared very fearsome his army definitely did which also went far to propel your role as the ghost adopting savage tactics to fight a savage enemy it was really awesome to see that even though gene was a skilled warrior he had to essentially re-learn how to fight so that he could better confront the mongols in fact that element actually falls in line very well with history as the samurai were initially crushed by the mongols in their first invasion only later during the second invasion did the samurai learn from their past mistakes and better defend against the mongol military of course there were other reasons that the samurai initially failed against the mongols such as in regards to army composition weaponry tactics and so forth but it's just nice to see that the game is actually taking a bit more from history in that sense if not a bit indirectly and what gets even more awesome and something i actually wasn't even expecting at all not all the natives of the island are your allies from bands of marauding ronin to members of hostile clans you end up cutting through your own fair share of enemy samurai as well and it's a great change of pace and as the greater warrior jinn becomes the more his legend grows thus you continue to earn more technique points these points can be used to then expand jin's abilities you can choose to advance his skills as a samurai warrior as the shadowy ghost or his sword stances which apply to combat in any regard each point you place feels incredibly impactful as i really did take note of every new ability i could use never before in a game have i come to utilize so many potential methods of combat to effectively deal with my enemy from each of the sword stances which allow me to better defeat a wide array of mongol units the samurai abilities that allow me to do more interesting things like deflect arrows or better cut my foes to pieces or the many ghost abilities that became increasingly useful as the manga warriors became more and more challenging eventually you even gain access to legendary abilities through mythic tales allowing you to hack your way through foes using devastating techniques like the dance of wrath or the heavenly strike towards the end of the game you also receive the ghost stance probably the most effective ability in the game which allows you to easily dispatch various enemies as they shudder in fear at your precision with all of that said and with a whole multitude of abilities at your fingertips how you choose to take on your enemies becomes one of the most enjoyable and important aspects in the game and while the combat system and ghost of tsushima is really good it also has some problems like i explained a bit of earlier at its core it has to do a lot with the four sword stances that you slowly unlock as you defeat manga leaders these stances are stone which is good for fighting against sword-wielding opponents water which is good against opponents with shields wind which excels against spears and moon which works best against big brutish enemies quickly switching between the stances is one of the main things you need to master to be effective at the combat system in the game of course there is also the addition of your extra abilities such as your ghost abilities and mythic samurai attacks but at its core it comes down to those four stances what really annoyed me more than anything else was the inability to lock onto enemies this caused me to miss my attacks more than i'd like to admit this issue can become even more apparent during duels where if your aim is just the slightest bit off you will end up completely missing your opponent and leaving yourself wide open for attack and as long as we are on duels i should probably mention i found it a bit lazy that every opponent fought the same way depending on who they were if they were a samurai wielding a katana they used the same rotation if they were a mongol general wielding a sword and shield they used the same rotation the only person who was unique was luckily kotan khan this is a bit unfortunate because i have seen katana dueling done way better in other games just look at the way of the samurai series for example in which each sword comes with its own fighting style that you need to learn in order to successfully fight against it's not just every samurai using essentially the same moves time after time on top of that i kind of wish we were able to use more melee weapons than just our sword which is historically inaccurate in and of itself as we use a katana when in reality katanas wouldn't even be invented until over a century and a half later as i've explained before right now we should be using the tachi which is a bit different from the katana although somewhat visually similar but on top of that i also think it's really important to remember that the sword wasn't even the primary weapon of the samurai at this point in time during this time the naginata pole arm would have been the most widely used and thus i really would have liked to have seen a usable naginata these aren't necessarily major complaints and things i won't knock the game too heavily for but they are still worth a big mention because the combat was just inches away from being something truly truly great but what the game leaves to be desired in terms of its combat it definitely makes up for in terms of its armor and weapon customization i was surprised at just how many different armor and weapon styles and variations there were in this game there is seriously a lot to choose from each with a whole host of upgrades to be had and color schemes to collect to customize your look each set of armor also comes with a unique set of stats for that style that act to work well in different situations some armor is better for exploring in some is better for being an archer some is better for sword fighting and some just turn you into a straight up tank there is so much to choose from that i actually wish there was a way to set up armor presets so that you could easily switch in between your preferred styles on top of that your swords and bows also receive the same treatment with a plethora of upgrades to have done to increase their stats and color schemes to find or unlock to better fit the look you want in fact as you near the game's end it's when you really come to feel the full weight of your legend as you receive the ghost armor which is the same armor shown on the cover art wearing this truly makes you feel like a demon of war as you cut through your enemies and cause survivors to flee in terror for their lives in essence this game nailed the weapons and armor customization system perfectly and i couldn't be happier because character appearance customization is one of my favorite things in games although i really wish we would have been able to customize gin himself just a little more i really wish we were able to simply change his hairstyle and facial hair that would have been all i needed a little touch to make our time with him all the more personal the last thing i want to talk about is just some more into the history surrounding the game what i feel they did right and an area where i feel they could have done better starting out with the positive i really like how they set up the history of tsushima we learned that there was a rebellion around i think 20 or so years before the events of the game which is actually on track with real history sort of as i mentioned previously in my ghost of tsushima history video the clan previously in charge of tsushima was the ibiru clan yet they rebelled a few decades prior to the first mongol invasion the rebellion would be put down and the soul clan would be put in their place in the game there is a similar story of the fictional yarikawa clan which had previously rebelled only to be put down by the shimura we the player come to quickly learn how important the yarikawa rebellion was not only for jin's history but also how the rebellion has continued to affect and impact tsushima even after it ended i'm really glad that element found its way in however something that didn't find its way into the game was the actual mongol invasion of the japanese mainland this really isn't a spoiler for the story so i feel safe talking about it but yeah in this game the mongols never actually invade the japanese mainland they just invade tsushima we do learn that tsushima is like in real history the first target on the mongol conquest of japan but the mongols never actually get to japan to some degree this actually makes a bit of sense your character jin is a thorn in the side of koten khan and the sole reason why he has been unable to fully take tsushima yet this also then gets back to the idea of koten khan being a bit of a non-threatening villain the might of the mongol empire is having trouble conquering a tiny island that was only defended by 80 samurai in reality tsushima was taken by the mongols almost immediately as the hordes pressed forth to make landfall in kyushu it begins to create one of those situations where i feel if the developers would have actually stuck to the real history a little bit more they could have told a more compelling story why not make koton khan just the commander of the mongol forces on tsushima like a military governor of some sorts working to subjugate the people of the island that way we could follow history a little bit more with the mongol navy getting wiped out by the divine wind leaving kotan to desperately attempt to maintain his grip over tsushima long after the main mongol invasion of japan had been actually defeated cartoon could even still be receiving fresh reinforcements from the asian mainland as the mongol forces attempted to crush the resistance on the island as you work to rid his forces from your homeland the game does put forth a reason why the mongols have yet to invade the japanese mainland and the major threat they would pose if they did and it does factor into jin's story but at the same time by the point we learn all this information it's not really needed to help the overall narrative and for me it came off as a little bit cliche it's just a missed opportunity if you ask me but who knows maybe there will be a ghost of tsushima too that takes place during the second mongol invasion maybe the story in this game is setting up for something yet to come we'll just have to wait and see so after all said and done what rating would i give goes to tsushima after thinking about it long and hard in the end i gave the game a very strong 8 out of 10. and you could definitely make a very convincing argument for even a 9 out of 10. this game is great even with its flaws it still comes out to be one of the greatest samurai games ever made and simply a must play for anyone interested in japanese history even with my minor gripes i still thoroughly love my time with the game and can't wait to play it more like i said before this is one of if not the most immersive samurai experience out there but with that all said what do you think of ghost of tsushima what are your thoughts on the game have you been playing it have you finished it let me know in the comments below and of course thank you for watching and don't forget to like subscribe and ring that notification bell if you enjoyed this video and found it to be most interesting

Channel: The Shogunate

Views: 173,629

Keywords: Samurai, Game, Ghost of Tsushima, Japan, Tsushima, Review, Daimyo, Shogun, Shogunate, honor, Mongol, Empire, Mongolia, Horde, Katana, Bushido, History, Military

Id: HNrOs2ic6fM

Length: 30min 24sec (1824 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 26 2020