FAR CRY 6

No year is complete without Ubisoft putting out another new massive open world game. Far Cry 6 was the company’s big release for 2021, and to no one’s surprise, it delivered a huge sandbox, in terms of both, size and variety. While there are plenty of people out there who’re getting a little sick of what’s come to be known as “Ubisoft bloat”, there’s an equally sizeable contingent of players who’re more than happy to keep diving into worlds as large as this one.

For starters, the menu has now added new UI that can be used to track the hidden quests that are part of the Common Courtesy Trophy, which means they’re, you know, not so hidden anymore. Meanwhile, rewards from the Trials of Iyo have also been readjusted (or boosted, to be more precise). Other fixes for things such as Remote Play, New Game+ cosmetics sometimes not transferring to Legends, and various bugs (which remain unspecific) have also been deployed.

Speaking of Legends, the multiplayer mode recently got a standalone release, and is going to get a new Survival map imminently as well.

Ghost of Tsushima is available on PS5 and PS4.

Patch 2.11 for #GhostOfTsushima Director's Cut is live. This adds UI to track Common Courtesy trophy progress, fixes Remote Play touchpad gestures, boosts Trials of Iyo rewards, and restores NG+ cosmetics missing in Legends for some users, plus other bug fixes and adjustments. pic.twitter.com/xGYUD4hgCy

— Sucker Punch Productions (@SuckerPunchProd) September 29, 2021

Our own review of Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut was quite positive as well. We awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “what we have here is the definitive version of what is probably Sucker Punch’s best game in years, if not ever, and yet more assurance that the future for them looks even brighter.” You can read our full review through here, and more thoughts on the ways we feel the Iki Island expansion builds on the base game’s biggest strengths through here.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is available on PS5 and PS4.

Technically, Ring Fit Adventure has taken the top spot, with over 17,000 units sold, but with PS5 and PS4 sales combined, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is the highest selling game of the week. Meanwhile, various evergreen Switch exclusives like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Super Mario Party can also be found in the software charts.

On the hardware side of the things, the Nintendo Switch is still the best-selling console, having moved over 72,000 units across the week. The PS5 follows in second place, trailing by quite a large margin, having sold over 12,000 units.

You can check out the full software and hardware charts for the week ending August 22 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 17,656 (2,772,950)
2. [NSW] Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Saikyo Battle Royale!! – 16,742 (113,039)
3. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 15,756 (3,995,095)
4. [NSW] Minecraft – 15,385 (2,139,193)
5. [PS5] Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut – 13,745 (New)
6. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! – 13,581 (2,336,531)
7. [PS4] Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut – 10,224 (New)
8. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 8,870 (4,389,399)
9. [NSW] Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – 8,212 (857,492)
10. [NSW] Super Mario Party – 6,810 (1,970,823)

Hardware sales (followed by last week’s sales):

Nintendo Switch – 72,527 (89,732)
PS5 – 12,638 (9,056)
Xbox Series X/S – 5,782 (1,256)
PS4 – 943 (1,170)
3DS – 522 (539)

[Via ResetEra]

IKI ISLAND

Let’s start off with the most obvious talking point- Iki Island itself, which is where the expansion is set. This newest chapter in Jin’s story takes us away from Tsushima and over to Iki itself, and just as Tsushima was in the base game, the expansion’s new map is a brilliantly designed one. Organic and diegetic exploration was where Ghost of Tsushima really excelled, and the Iki Island expansion continues to build on that. With in-world elements such as plumes of smokes or golden songbirds, or with distinctly designed natural landmarks that instantly grab attention, the expansion constantly keeps nudging players to keep exploring and finding new and exciting things. What’s more, it even pulls back to a great extent on how annoyingly frequent those songbird distractions could be in the base game. They’re not completely gone here, of course, but they don’t pop up once every couple of minutes either.

Beyond that, Iki Island is also a visually distinct place. In terms of its aesthetic and art design, it’s obviously following in the footsteps of Ghost of Tsushima itself, with similarly vibrant sights, gorgeous scenes of natural beauty, liberal use of oversaturated hues, and more, but at the same time, the island’s backstory helps it carve out its own identity. Iki is a lawless, untamed place that is not nearly as civilized as Tsushima is, and also still bears many haunting scars of the conflicts it saw a few years back. As such, while still maintaining the visual identity of the base game, the expansion’s map is able to take players to some locations that feel very unique from anything that can be found on Tsushima island.

NEW AND RETURNING ACTIVITIES

Of course, there’s plenty to do around Iki Island. This is a large expansion with around fifteen hours of content (if not more) if you decide to do more than just the main story quests, and as you’d expect, there’s a nice variety of optional activities on offer. There are, of course, several new side quests (which, by the way, boast much better design and quality than the side quests in the base game generally did), as well as a couple new Mythic Tales to take on, and clearing out Mongol forts, of course, is still an important (and addictive) side activity. Other returning activities are also here, including bamboo strike challenges, Shinto shrines, haiku spots, lighting light houses, and hot springs- though most of these aren’t nearly as numerous as they were in the base game.

Instead, the Iki Island expansion puts more of an emphasis on an entirely new set of open world activities. You can track down spots where animals have gathered and play your flute there to make it a sanctuary for them. You can participate in archery challenges scattered throughout the map and try to get bronze, silver, or gold rankings to improve a Concentration charm. The main Raider town also has a dueling arena, with plenty of challengers to take on in 1v1 fights for rewards. Better yet, most of the activities scattered throughout the map don’t just slavishly stick to their formulas. Instead, every so often, they put interesting little twists on them- like a light house that isn’t guarded by enemies, but instead serves as more of a platforming challenge; or a hot spring that has monkeys chilling around Jin while he soaks himself; or an animal sanctuary where Mongols have set up an ambush to take you by surprise. It certainly keeps things interesting, and keeps exploration from becoming too monotonous.

THE STORY

The Iki Island expansion isn’t a semi-sequel to Ghost of Tsushima like Miles Morales was to Spider-Man. Instead, it functions more as a side story taking place somewhere in the middle of the base game’s events, sort of like The Frozen Wilds and Horizon Zero Dawn. Even so, in spite of the fact that it doesn’t really hold many clues for what the story of the inevitable Ghost of Tsushima sequel might have in store, it still ends up feeling like a surprisingly essential part of Jin’s story.

The Eagle Tribe’s reign of terror over Iki Island is sold effectively (even though The Eagle herself is never really fleshed out properly as a villain), while new characters like Tenzo the Raider are great additions to the game’s cast. The biggest draw of the story, however, is that it ties in intricately with Jin’s own past. Iki Island was, after all, the place where his father died, and where samurais once led a bloody conquest in an effort to tame the island and end its lawless ways, before eventually failing. Watching Jin come to terms with the brutal actions of those samurai and his father years ago, and with his own inability to save his father while he was cut down in front of his eyes, makes for some fascinating narrative moments that add a great deal to Jin’s personal arc.

COMBAT ADDITIONS

Combat was probably one of Ghost of Tsushima’s biggest strengths, which was surprising, because in the lead-up to the game’s launch last year, that was the one aspect that was looking the least convincing. Happily enough, combat continues to be a highlight in the Iki Island expansion as well. As you’d expect, it’s largely the same as the base game, so it retains all its mechanical strengths, but there are still enough new elements here to further improve the experience.

The biggest new addition is the shaman, a new enemy type. In 1v1 situations, the shaman functions like a regular spearman, but it’s his other abilities that make him such an interesting enemy to fight. The shaman, you see, likes to hang back while you’re getting swarmed by other enemies and chant, and his chants make all the other enemies much more vicious and brutal in their attacks. That lends some neat tactical depth to combat encounters, as you’re forced to pick between dealing with aggressive enemies around you or taking a gamble and killing the shaman first. Things get even more interesting where there are multiple shamans in the mix, which, of course, stands true for stealth situations as well- do you head into more heavily guarded areas of a camp to take out the shaman first, or slowly make your way inside form the fringes and risk being seen by him while you do it? Add to all of this a new charge ability for your horse, which makes horseback combat even more enjoyable, and combat in the expansion ends up feeling familiar enough while still introducing a couple of its own new ideas.

PROGRESSION ADDITIONS

As a meaty new expansion bolted on top of the base game, you’d expect Iki Island to also add more new progression opportunities, and thankfully, it doesn’t disappoint in this area either. There are several new charms to collect, some of which can be upgraded even further by doing specific open world activities, like finding animal sanctuaries or completing archery challenges. The new Mythic Tales also bring new pieces of armour (which, of course, can be upgraded), while the aforementioned horseback charge is also upgradable with skill points.

Of course, there are also several new cosmetics to be found, such as headbands and sheaths for your katana and tanto. Crucially, the Iki Island expansion also has its own Legend progression with multiple tiers, so each activity you complete helps you grow your legend on the island from a clean slate, separate from your actions on Tsushima. All said, there’s more than enough here to keep you occupied for quite a long time.

As reported by MP1st, pre-loading for Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is now live for PS5 and PS4. The game requires over 57 GB of storage space- 57.72 GB, to be precise. You can download the game now so that when it launches, you won’t have to wait any longer and jump right into the game.

Meanwhile, the multiplayer mode Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is also getting a standalone launch in September. Read more on that through here.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut launches for PS5 and PS4 on August 20.

According to creative and art director Jason Connell, the PS5-specific features in Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut aren’t just generic upgrades, but rather form an integral part of the Iki Island expansion, and Sucker Punch didn’t want to separate the two components.

“The thing that I think is important for people to know is that, those features that make it so specific to the PS5, we didn’t just work on those as a generic hardware upgrade, they are fully enveloped into the Iki expansion and Jin’s experiences on Iki,” Connell said. “They were really tightly connected to one another. So that’s kind of the reason why we didn’t look at them as kind of separate. We really wanted those two to sing together. And that’s the base reason why.”

Of course, given that the Iki Island expansion is also going to be available on PS4 without those upgrades, one has to wonder just how enveloped into the experience they really are.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is coming to PS5 and PS4 on August 20.

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.

For instance, we now know what its file size is going to be. As spotted by Twisted Voxel, the PlayStation Store page of Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut mentions that on the PS5, the game’s size is 60 GB- which is more than the 50 GB size of the base game when it launched last year. That said, the base game’s install size did come down to 35 GB, so it’s possible that Director’s Cut will end up taking less storage space as well. Of course, this doesn’t account for any day one updates the game might get. 

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut launches for the PS5 and PS4 on August 20.