Ghost of Yotei: Bodies, Bullets, and Beautiful Backdrops.

 

Good morning.

As of writing this I'm not quite done with my first play through of Sucker Punch Production's Ghost of Yotei; but much like the titular "Yotei Six", I fear the end is near. This is not a narrative spoiler discussion, but it will discuss mechanics.

Five years ago Sucker Punch reestablished itself as a Playstation Studios powerhouse with its third major franchise (fourth, if you count the N64's solo release, Rocket: Robot on Wheels in 1999), Ghost of Tsushima. While Tsushima was widely lauded for its perfect approach to the open world formula, it did not attempt to reinvent the wheel.

The combat was excellent; fast, visceral, and easy-to-pick-up-yet-hard-to-master. The attention to detail with respect to Japan's history was not only praised by players, but by the people of Japan, its historians, and even government officials, for being accurate and respectful, while showcasing the surrealist beauty of the archipelago's 13th century. The story was an immersive, if not knowingly fictitious, retelling of the "dishonorable" rise of Shinobi combat against the Mongol invasion of Japan. Its vessel was the now much loved Jin Sakai, who, while at times flatly written, came to be a symbol of resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

This brings us to October 2025, to ring in the back half of the Playstation 5's lifecycle; The Ghost of Yotei has arrived, and much like her predecessor, she is beautiful.

While I have seen some reviews going around grilling Sucker Punch for not putting enough effort into reinventing the genre, I think criticism like that is a double edged sword; change too much and you risk alienating people who loved the first game, change too little and you risk the criticism of it being underwhelming. I've also seen criticism along the lines of "it's the same game, with better graphics, better combat, a different story and protagonist, and new mechanics, but ultimately the same game," which, I think is a sequel by definition. It's a sequel, not a reboot, and that classification is integral to how I'm going to approach talking about Yotei, because the fact of the matter is that it ranks among Playstation's very greatest direct sequels; God of War: Ragnarok, Jak 2, and Sucker Punch's own Infamous 2.

You enter the shadow of Mount Yotei at the very start of the game, the protagonist, a broken, vengeful, yet playfully snarky woman who has returned home after 16 years of running away from facing the skeletons in her closet. When she was a child, a gang called the Yotei Six (and led by Lord Saito) dead set on capturing Ezo to keep it from the clutches of the mainland's Shogun, murdered her family, with Atsu escaping by the skin of her teeth and having to grow up on the run; eventually fighting in the Battle of Sekigahara before returning home in 1603, where the game begins.

Much like Tsushima, Yotei boasts a stunning and almost unbelievable world, this time in the Shadow of Mount Yotei, which towers over you wherever you find yourself on the map. You'll engage in ferocious combat, platforming side missions, and yes, follow Foxes to their hidden treasures. Sometimes there are more than one fox, you can pet the foxes, and some of the deer; you'll briefly befriend a bear at one point, and over the course of the game adopt a wild wolf that is a mirror to Atsu. There is a much larger focus on flora and fauna in Yotei, which is a welcome addition.

Another returning feature is the music, while Jin Sakai played a shakuhachi (flute) that could control the weather, Atsu's Shamisen (a three stringed guitar), is, to me, vastly more interesting. Throughout your time in Yotei, Atsu will learn songs from travelers she comes across, each song has its own memorable side mission, and each will point your guiding winds towards a different point of interest (a bamboo strike, a shrine, a Saito military encampment, etc). I found this to be an immediate improvement over Tsushima, as it makes the music much more consequential and narratively impactful.  Music is a pervasive theme throughout Atsu's story, as it connects her with the dead, with her mother (who taught her to play), watching over her.

Outside of Atsu's Shamisen, she's equipped with an armory of weapons; one katana, two katanas, big katana (odachi), katana on a stick (spear/yari), and a katana with a ball and chain (kusarigama). Atsu can also throw katanas for what seems like an unfair amount of health and stagger damage. Melee weapons aside, she's also got a long range arsenal, including a half bow and long bow (like Jin), and a nasty long rifle (unlike Jin). You'd think it stops there, but she's also got quick fire weapons: smoke bombs, grenades, and blade oil to ignite the katana (like Jin), flashbangs, metsubushi (sand to throw in enemies faces (pocket fent)), and a devastating sidearm pistol (unlike Jin). Hilariously, Atsu also carries two bottles of Sake on her, which, if consumed, can restore two Spirit charges at the expense of making her immediately, temporarily, shit faced. She can also throw the empty bottles next to enemies to distract them or right at them to break their guard.

The rock-paper-scissor mechanic from Tsushima does return in a fashion, instead of stances you have to match weapons.

Katanas match Katanas

Dual Katanas match Spears

Spears match Dual Katanas

Odachis match brute enemies

Kusarigamas match shielded enemies

Guns match whatever poor shmuck happens to be in Atsu's line of fire.

Much like Tsushima, Yotei's weapons always feel lethal, on harder difficulties you are always one missed parry away from death, or one perfect parry away from conquering it.

Less like Tsushima, there's a greater focus on buildcrafting with Atsu, each set of armor has its own effects that can either supplement or compliment returning charms. To my knowledge, there is no transmog. I don't know if I haven't discovered the transmog yet, but that is slightly disappointing. Armors, masks, weapon kits and the like have a much deeper focus this time around; much of the gear you'll pick up is tied to a story, lore, or full blown hour long side quest chain. I cannot express how memorable some of these chains are, but it got to the point where I am always cognitively aware of how I got the thing I'm putting on, specifically armor sets and masks. And "putting on" I mean it, Atsu be wearin the shit outta some of this gear.

On another note about combat, the various weapons are hard to get used to, I remember having an easier time swapping stances with Jin than I do swapping weapons on the fly with Atsu, especially when surrounded by swathes of enemies, but maybe I'm just older and slower, that's a depressing thought. That said, one thing I find quite peculiar is that her "Ghost Stance", here called The Onryo's Howl, is seemingly useless? It's more of a crowd control element but you always seem to have it ready to go when you don't need it and need it when you've just lost it a moment ago. Even when you do use it it does nothing more than give you one free uncontested kill and back people off of you. It's fine I guess, but it's underwhelming compared to Jin's Ghost Stance, which immediately turned the flow of any given fight, big or small.

I've seen some criticism about how Atsu's stealth isn't as fruitful as Jin's; that the world is not as conducive to stealth and that Atsu just doesn't move in the shadows the way Jin did; but I think that criticism is categorically absurd. There are three incredibly important reasons as to why Atsu can't do what Jin can. The first is that Jin was one of the first Shinobi ever, the Mongol invaders did not have counter measures for his tactics; barely anyone did. 300 years later, not only are militaries aware of the rise in Shinobi, a major enemy faction is exclusively Shinobi. The world is aware of these tactics, and is designed to discourage asymmetrical combat, though it is possible if you're patient. The second reason is that Atsu is a barbarian, she's reckless, loud, and angry. She specifically does not share Jin's Samurai-learned-collectedness. She has a gun. Fuck it, Atsu has two guns and befriends a bomb maker so boom-thirsty she could make Apex Legends' Mad Maggie blush. The third reason is symbolically relevant. When Jin Sakai is referred to as a "Ghost" the Japanese localization sees that his enemies refer to him as "Kuroudo", which loosely translates to "Shadow Person". Atsu, on the other hand, is referred to as "Onryo", a type of "Vengeful Spirit". All of this is to say, Atsu's stealth, or lack thereof, is contextually relevant. Whether or not you like it is purely subjective, but the objective truth is that there is no narrative reason for Atsu to be a better ninja than Jin Sakai. There's even a loose in-game reference about this that I will not spoil because it put a smile on my face (heads up, read everything possible).

Much like its predecessor, Yotei doesn't have many, if any fetch quests, instead the side missions are focused on immersing you in a little anecdote about the world or the people in it. It encourages you to explore the far corners of the map of your own volition; and once you see one vista, you'll want to see the rest of them. In a concentrated effort to bring the beauty of preindustrial Japanese countryside to the players, Yotei succeeds in delivering quite possibly the most gorgeous visuals I have ever seen in a video game along the foothills of, and including, Mount Yotei. As a mercenary, you'll go for bounties, or explore side stories about legendary, near mythological figures. You'll also get to gamble with a neat if not fairly basic table game. While it wouldn't be an open world game without repeated mission mechanics, Yotei does throw a fairly interesting wrench into the status quo every once in a while; a table game might be rigged against you, a bounty might plead for their life, a bamboo strike might make you use your left hand (literally with the controller and in game) just to fuck with you, a hot spring might make you pregame it with a mechanic for a more visually interesting bath. The map is dense; there's no reasonably sized area on it that doesn't have an upgrade altar, or fox den, or wolf den, or hot spring, or a combination of any of them.

Another big part of the game is Atsu's wolf, heavily featured in the in game's marketing. Across Ezo, you'll encounter wolf dens and get to know one of them, who will take you to Saito Encampments that have caged other wolves for slaughter; do this enough times and your bond grows, both mechanically and narratively. It's worth noting that the Wolf herself is a not-so-subtle mirror of Atsu; bent on revenge but needing to accept help to exact revenge and justice on those who hurt her family. Atsu is the "lone wolf" archetype, but throughout the game she learns to let people make her feel that much less like a one woman band.

Atsu is snarky and brash, but not in the way, for example, Horizon Zero Dawn's Aloy is. While the latter is presented as lovably arrogant and can always put her money where her mouth is, Atsu is always kind of sad, and on the brink of being insecure, but relentlessly fueled by the fire of revenge. She sees no future for herself beyond her slaughter of the Yotei Six, a point she makes numerous times throughout the game's runtime. She's funny and kind, but can also be a real hard ass. In my opinion, she's certainly a better written character than Jin Sakai, whose overt stoicism could feel impersonal at times. It's not to say she's without flaws, though. While her history at war does temper her being reactionary, there are a few critical moments where her bloodlust gets the best of her, and she charges into fights haphazardly, to her detriment.

I'm just over 60 hours into my trek through Ezo, and I've experienced some of the most memorable side missions, fights, and characters I think I ever have on a Playstation, much less the generally lackluster PS5. While I do think the criticism on the PS5's game library are overblown and do think the console generation has offered more than people will ever give it credit for, Sucker Punch's Ghost of Yotei finally feels like the Playstation 5 is here, 5 years after release. Its performance on release was flawless, on a PS5 Pro I noticed exactly one instance of frame rate inconsistency, otherwise it's been close to locked at 60 (NOTE: I played on a Pro exclusive RTX mode). The load times are non-existent and there's not much in the way of artificial stopgaps to hide asset loading, and even when it does happen you get a feeling that it's almost exclusively for level design. I have noticed no asset pop in, the only thing I have noticed in the way of shoddy textures is that sometimes if you're really far away from a campfire in the distance (like really far, like the entire map away), the fire will be replaced with this weird orange 2D texture that's a little too saturated, which makes it noticeable. I don't think I would've even realized it if it wasn't basically a fucking traffic cone. Nitpicking, admittedly, but when you notice it it's hard not to see it dotting the landscape when you're high up on the mountains using a telescope to locate points of interest.

I rarely feel quite like this about a game, I'm 60 hours into it and I can feel the final chapter nearing it's end, I'll have some clean up to do for the platinum that may tack on another handful of hours, but the main game is coming to a close, and I don't want it to. I think the last time I felt like this was 2018's Spider-Man, 2019's Control, or 2022's Elden Ring. I don't want it to end. Somehow, I don't think it will. 2026 has already promised a return of "Legends", the multiplayer mode from Tsushima, and I have to imagine Yotei will also have a DLC expansion, though there have been no official reveals as of yet.

Ghost of Yotei released on October 2nd 2025 and, while not flawless, it is my personal game of the year (do not go "what about Silksong and Hades 2 and Death Stranding 2 and Claire Obscure?" I don't care, it's mine, it's fine if it's not yours), and it's battling Astro Bot tooth and nail for Sony's game of the PS5 generation. Get your hands on this when and if you can. I can't wait to finish it, but I don't want it to end.