Ghost of Tsushima Wiki – Everything You Need To Know About The Game

Ghost of Tsushima is an open world action-adventure game developed by Sucker Punch and published by Sony.

Development

Development on Ghost of Tsushima began in 2014, soon after work on inFamous: First Light had wrapped up. Sucker Punch set out to make a game that would allow players to liv out the fantasy of being a samurai, while at the same time, they wanted to keep the open world structure they had employed in the inFamous games.

Ghost of Tsushima was officially unveiled in October 2017 with a trailer at Paris Games Week. This was followed a year later by a lengthy gameplay trailer in June 2018 at Sony’s E3 press event, with another trailer coming over a year later in December 2019’s The Game Awards. A new story trailer in March 2020 confirmed that the game would release on June 26, 2020, but the release date was later pushed back by three weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A new 20-minute long gameplay deep dive was shown in May in a State of Play presentation.

For Ghost of Tsushima, in order to capture the authenticity and atmosphere of the setting and Japanese culture, Sucker Punch consulted several cultural experts and sent an audio team to the island of Tsushima to record ambient environmental sounds, such as birdsongs. They also arrived at the conclusion that wind would be a big part of how they would portray the world in the game. Additionally, they were also greatly aided for the entire process by SIE Japan Studio.

Sucker Punch have named several games that Ghost of Tsushima takes inspiration from. One of these is the first Red Dead Redemption– similar to how that game successfully recreated a historical setting and captured its atmosphere while allowing players to live out a story of an outlaw in the Wild West, Sucker Punch wanted to do the same with samurais in Ghost of Tsushima. Other games that influenced the title include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption 2. Meanwhile, classic Japanese samurai movies served as inspiration. Sucker Punch have stated prior to the game’s launch that Ghost of Tsushima is by far the biggest and most ambitious game they have ever made, outsizing inFamous: Second Son by a large margin.

One of Sucker Punch’s goals with Ghost of Tsushima was to have the game be as immersed in its setting as possible. As such, they worked to ensure that the game had as little UI as possible, which led to things such as waypoints and in-game markers being removed and replaced with elements in the game’s world itself. Sucker Punch also stated that though there game’s setting and premise is historically inspired, it would not stick to historical accuracy at the cost of design or storytelling.

Story

Ghost of Tsushima is set on the island of Tsushima in the year 1274 during the first Mongol Invasion of Japan. Players play as samurai Jin, who is one of the last survivors of his clan and among the few samurai still left alive when the Mongol army invades, attacks, and decimates the defences of Tsushima. Determined to fight back against the enemy and reclaim the island, Jin realizes that his teachings in the ways of the samurai will not help him against an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, and he begins learning and adopting more guerrilla stealthier tactics.

He slowly becomes the Ghost, striking fear into the hearts of the Mongols, in an attempt to prevent an attack against mainland Japan, for which Tsushima was the last standing line of defence. All the while, he must fight the inner conflict of giving up the teachings of the samurai way and the new tactics he has adopted as the Ghost.

Gameplay

Ghost of Tsushima is a fully open world game that places an emphasis on exploration, traversal, and player choice between stealth and combat. Exploration is done without any waypoints or in-game map or compass markers. Players select the location they want to head to on the game’s map, and are then directed to that location through visible gusts of wind in the world called the Guiding Wind. The Guiding Wind can be summoned at any time to tell players which direction to head in.

Players also have to rely on various other visual cues in the game’s world for the purposes of smoke, such as plumes of smoke in the distance, which might lead to a village or settlement under attack from Mongols, which players would have to defend and rescue civilians. Other in-game visual cues include things such as foxes leading players to shrines, or birds leading players to points of interest in the world. Animals in the world of Ghost of Tsushima cannot be hunted.

Traversal throughout the world can be done by riding on a horse, which can be summoned with the press of a button at any time. Sucker Punch also confirmed prior to the game’s launch that the horse cannot die, and enemies don’t attack it during combat. On-foot traversal allows Jin to engage in parkour mechanics, such as climbing up ledges and walls, jumping across gaps, walking across beams, and more. Jin also has a grappling hook that can be used to swing across larger gaps.

Ghost of Tsushima also allows players to choose their approach to any combat situation, whether they want to be stealthy or take on enemies in head-on combat. Combat in the game is described as quick and decisive, and in addition to dodges, parries, and attacks, Jin can also make use of other tools, such as smoke bombs, firecrackers, and kunai knives. When facing an enemy, players will also have the ability to engage them in one-versus-one face-off duels, where each will wait for an opening to strike the enemy with a single decisive blow.

During stealth, Jin can use his various tools to distract and kill enemies. Jin’s reputation as a Ghost on the island of Tsushima also affects the Mongols, and the more his reputation he grows, the more he will strike fear into the hearts of enemies. Some enemies might flee from him during combat.

Ghost of Tsushima also has various customization and progression elements. Jin can don various different kinds of armour, and each of them will have unique mechanical advantages, with some suited for stealth and others suited for combat. Jin can also spend skill points to unlock and improve various abilities to use in combat and stealth, while players can also find charms scattered throughout the world to give Jin various advantages. There is also some cosmetic customization, such as flowers Jin can find throughout the world that can be used to change the colour and other visual aspects of his armour.

Ghost of Tsushima also has a filter that allows players to play it with a black-and-white and film grain filter to mimic the look of classic samurai movies. Additionally, Sucker Punch have also confirmed that the game has a Photo Mode. In addition to various filters, effects, and more, Photo Mode also allows players to record short clips, where weather and wind effects, music, and more can also be customized.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.