Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut – 13 New Things You Need To Know

Ghost of Tsushima was one of 2020’s best games, so getting more of it isn’t something anybody’s going to be complaining about. Thankfully, with the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, that’s exactly what’s happening. Enhancements to the base game, new content, and more improvements are promising to expand an already excellent game into an even better experience, so it goes without saying that we’re excited to dive in once more. Ahead of its imminent launch, here, we’re going to go over the biggest talking points about Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut.

IKI ISLAND

Let’s start with the biggest selling point of the Director’s Cut– it’s adding a whole new expansion with Iki Island. A neighbouring island to Tsushima, Iki is going to add a whole new map and new story content, and though Jin will, of course, fight off invading Mongol forces here as well, Sucker Punch says the story is also going to be much more personal, as Jin is forced to “relive some traumatic moments from his past.”

MORE ADDITIONS

Iki island is going to add plenty of other new content to the game as well. On top of the new map and story content, the expansion will also feature new enemy types, more new animals in the open world, new armour for Jin and his horse, new techniques to learn and master in combat, new mini-games, and more. Sucker Punch says details on the new additions in Iki island will be arriving soon, but based on what we already know, it definitely seems like there’s going to be plenty of stuff for players to sink their teeth into.

LEGENDS

Ghost of Tsushima’s free multiplayer expansion Legends wasn’t something that many of us expected to see when the game launched last year. The fact that Sucker Punch released it for free following launch was surprising enough in and of itself, but what was even more surprising was how surprisingly full-featured, enjoyable, and all-around excellent it was. Soon, Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is going to get new content as well, which will be available to anyone who owns any version of the game. Details on this are scant right now, but Sucker Punch says there’s going to be an entirely new mode for players to play. Here’s hoping it can live up to the standards set by Legends.

DUALSENSE

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is, of course, going to launch for both PS5 and PS4, but for those who play it on the former, it’s going to have some exclusive enhancements. Unsurprisingly for a major first party Sony game, it’s going to feature full DualSense support, with implementation of both haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers having been confirmed.

4K AND 60 FPS

Of course, for those who play Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut on the PS5, there are going to be visual and performance improvements as well. Sucker Punch says the game will target 60 FPS (which the game’s original release already does on the PS5 with its next-gen patch). Meanwhile, the developer also says that the game will have an option for 4K resolution- whether this means we can expect multiple graphics modes isn’t something they’ve elaborated on, but it seems like a pretty safe bet.

MORE ENHANCEMENTS

That’s not where it ends for Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut’s PS5-specific improvements. Audio is going to be enhanced, thanks to the PS5’s 3D audio, while the game’s going to have even faster load times- which is a little surprising, because Ghost of Tsushima already had ridiculously fast load times even on a base PS4.

JAPANESE LIP SYNC

For many players out there, playing Ghost of Tsushima with Japanese audio is the best way to play the game, for very obvious reasons, and Director’s Cut is making improvements on that front as well, with full lip syncing for Japanese voice overs. As good as Japanese VO was in Ghost of Tsushima, the mismatched lip movements were a little jarring, so it’s good to see that being addressed here. Sucker Punch says this is made possible by the PS5’s ability to render cutscenes in real-time- which, in turn, means that Japanese lip sync will not be available in the Director’s Cut’s PS4 version.

SAVE TRANSFERS

The PS5 has caught a lot of flak for how complicated and obtuse save transfers across generations are in the games that allow them, especially when compared to how Xbox handles it- but hey, something’s better than nothing. And thankfully, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut will allow save transfers, so you can jump into the new content immediately. If you’re jumping into the game for the first time with the Director’s Cut though, the Iki Island expansion will be accessible as soon as you’re done with the first act and enter the Toyotama region.

UPCOMING UPDATE

Beyond the Director’s Cut, Sucker Punch is also working on an upcoming update that’s going to be released for all versions of Ghost of Tsushima for free, and will make some neat improvements. For starters, notably, it will add a lock on option to use during combat, which many players have been requesting for some time. Alternate control layouts are also being added, while with this update, players will also be able to hide their quiver.

TROPHIES

Given that Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is adding plenty of new content, you’d expect that it’ll be adding in new Trophies as well- and indeed it will. Sucker Punch hasn’t yet said how many new Trophies are being added to the game with the Director’s Cut, and if all of them are going to be restricted only to the Iki Island expansion, but Trophy hunters will sure be pleased either way.

PRICE

Game prices are a more controversial topic than perhaps they have ever been, and Sony in particular has been on the receiving end of plenty of backlash as a result. Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, unfortunately, attracted some of that criticism as well. On the PS4, it’s going to cost the regular $59.99, but on the PS5, that price is kicked up to $69.99. And what about the upgrade options? Well, that’s where it gets even more controversial.

UPGRADE PATHS

Sony has plenty of upgrade paths for Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, and none of them offer a free upgrade, even for Director’s Cut itself from PS4 to PS5. For those who currently own the base Ghost of Tsushima on PS4, upgrading to the Director’s Cut’s PS4 version will take $19.99, while upgrading to the Director’s Cut’s PS5 version will take $29.99. Meanwhile, those who buy Director’s Cut on the PS4 can upgrade to its PS5 version for an additional $9.99.

PRE-ORDER BONUS

Pre-ordering Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is going to be much safer than most pre-orders are, seeing as we already know that it’s an amazing game. What exactly are the pre-order bonuses though? There’s a digital art book and a digital soundtrack, and both will include tracks and art from the base game and from the Iki Island expansion. Players will also get the Hero of Tsushima skin set, director’s commentary, one in-game Technique Point, and the Charm of Hachiman’s Favor.

---