Sucker Punch Productions’ latest opus, Ghost of Yōtei, has been out for a little under a week, and Japanese game developers have seemingly been loving it so far. Team Ninja’s Fumihiko Yasuda and Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma director Hideaki Itsuno spoke fondly about Ghost of Yōtei at the Archipel Caravan Game event, according to social media user Genki_JPN.
Yasuda, known for having served as director on many Team Ninja projects including both Nioh games as well as Rise of the Ronin, mentioned that he was enjoying Ghost of Yōtei. Along with noting that he also wanted to make a ghost set in the Hokkaido region like Ghost of Yōtei at some point, he also mentioned that his home town is close to the real-world Tsushima, which further led to his enjoyment of both of the Ghost titles.
Itsuno, on the other hand, said that while he hadn’t played Ghost of Yōtei yet, he has been quite impressed from everything he has seen in the trailers so far.
Ghost of Yōtei is available exclusively on PS5 for now, and has proven to be quite successful when it comes to critical reception. Sucker Punch Productions celebrated its positive reception by releasing an accolades trailer just last week.
As for the future of the franchise, studio head Brian Flemming has previously spoken about how he can’t imagine another game in the series taking place anywhere outside of Japan. In an interview, he referred to the Japanese setting as well as protagonists wielding katanas as being core to the identity of the Ghost series.
“We believe the core of Ghost is someone wielding a katana, that’s part of the essence,” explained Fleming. “We can’t imagine a Ghost game set in, say, feudal Europe. That doesn’t make sense. There are plenty of games set there, but that’s not what a Ghost game is.”
Speaking further about using Japan as the setting for both games, Fleming mentioned that the “natural beauty of Japan” also played an integral part in forming the series’ identity. This likely means that we might end up seeing more time periods in Japanese history explored through further releases in the franchise down the line.
“For us, the natural beauty of Japan is part of the essence of a Ghost game,” he said. “I gave this answer on stage [at Tokyo Game Show], and I think the fans in Japan, really appreciated that. That’s the way we see it. It will always have that core, open-world katana adventure of some kind.”
“Now, we may change time periods, we may explore different settings, but I think there are some boundaries we probably won’t cross.”
Ghost of Yōtei art director Joanna Wang has also spoken about the art of the game, including the importance of the colour yellow in the game’s overall colour palette.
For more details about Ghost of Yōtei, check out our review, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its art direction and soundtrack, gorgeous new world, and its fresh take on the core narrative using revenge as its driving motivation for protagonist Atsu.
