Takanobu Mizuno (Star Wars: Visions – “The Duel”) is directing while NITRO PLUS’s Gen Urobuchi is in charge of the story composition. The project is a collaboration between PlayStation Productions, Aniplex, Crunchyroll and Sony Music (the “music and soundtrack partner”).

Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini said in a press release, “This project is a testament to the creative synergy within the Sony family, uniting the expertise of PlayStation Studios and PlayStation Productions; the creative team of Sucker Punch Productions and Aniplex; Sony Music’s iconic global artist roster; and Crunchyroll’s fan-first global marketing and distribution footprint. The Ghost of Tsushima anime will offer fans an exciting new way to experience the game in an anime style that will be bold and groundbreaking.”

PlayStation Productions head Asad Qizilbash added, “Having already proven the immense quality and versatility of our gaming properties across multiple successful film and television projects, we couldn’t be more excited to announce our first-ever anime adaptation. Ghost of Tsushima‘s rich, immersive world and its fantastical Legends mode based on Japanese mythology provide the perfect canvas for this project, and Aniplex is the perfect partner to translate Sucker Punch Productions’ hit video game into a stunning new anime series.”

It’s unknown whether the anime will focus on Jin Sakai in the story campaign, adapt the Ghost of Tsushima: Legends multiplayer story, or present an original tale. Nevertheless, it represents a continued media push for the franchise alongside the Ghost of Tsushima live-action film directed by Chad Stahelski of John Wick fame.

Of course, there’s also Ghost of Yōtei, launching this year for PS5 and occurring over 300 years after the first game. It features a new protagonist, Atsu – head here for more details.

“We want to say a huge THANK YOU to the entire community for the incredible amount of support and feedback we’ve gotten since launch. When Legends launched in October 2020, we never expected to have such an active community more than a year and a half later, and we could not be more thankful to everyone who has been with us on this journey!”

Update 2.18 fixes bugs in Legends like a teammate’s health momentarily dropping below zero in Custom Mode and Raid Trials, counting as a death in the process, and Shared Wounds breaking the Assassin’s Vanish skill. It also adds a PS4 Save Import button for standalone builds. A new Fill Party goal for Custom Mode, Perfect Completion, has also been added for those who want to earn the Hidden Heart cosmetic (thus allowing them to do so separately from other players).

Various item changes include Legendary Katanas having the Stance Master perks by default; Legendary Charms rolling with perks and properties that were previously on class-exclusive Charms; and lowering the Resolve gained from Black Powder Bombs. The Munitions perk has also been added to Caltrops and Demon Seeds while Fire Damage, Melee Resolve Gain, Deep Strikes and Assassinate From Above have all been buffed.

Those keen on campaign changes will find the New Game Plus merchant’s Silk inventory being increased along with fixes for dialogue and cutscene issues. Check out the full patch notes below.

Patch 2.18

Patch 2.18 (2.018.000 on PS5) for Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut and the Legends standalone focuses on Legends items changes, bug fixes, and improvements as well as small single-player changes.
Patch 2.18 contains the following updates:

Legends

• Fixed a bug where a teammate’s health could momentarily dip below zero, counting as a “death” in Custom Mode and Raid Trials that occasionally prevented the Hidden Heart cosmetic from unlocking
• Added a PS4 Save Import button to Legends standalone builds (Transfer PS4 console Save). Be sure to click “Yes” on the Legends import prompt
• Shared Wounds no longer breaks Assassin out of the Vanish skill
• Added a new Fill Party goal, Custom Mode – Perfect Completion. This will allow people looking to earn the Hidden Heart cosmetic to search for matches separately from those looking for a different Custom Mode experience
• Fixed bug where Black Powder Bombs did not count for some Mastery Challenges
• Fixed a bug where Silver and Gold Survival missions showed incorrect mission modifiers
• Fixed a bug in Survival where a Ghost dying in the brief period after the final wave, but before the scoreboard caused some missing rewards
• Fixed a very rare bug where the Legends tutorial was impossible to complete

Item adjustments:

• All Legendary Katanas gain Stance Master perks by default, including on stances unlocked via perks. If you already have a Stance Master perk unlocked, it will be free to reroll to a new perk
• Legendary Charms can now roll perks and properties previously limited to class exclusive charms, if the Legendary Charm is bound to the specified class.
• Significantly lowered resolve gains of Black Powder Bombs
• Skipping Stone Bow no longer generates extra resolve from the ricochet arrows
• Added Munitions perk to Caltrops and Demon Seeds
• Reduced the drop rate of Black Powder Bombs, Flash Bombs, Fire Arrows and Piercing Arrows dropped from the Munitions perk
• Melee Resolve Gain property maximum value increased to 25%
• Fire Damage property maximum value increased to 20%
• Assassinate From Above Damage property maximum value increased to 50%
• Samurai skill Deep Strikes increased to +25% Melee damage

Single-player

• Increased Silk inventory held by New Game Plus merchant
• Fixed dialogue and cutscene issues in single-player

Essentially, you can enable up to four difficulty modifiers along with three Nightmare hazards for a match. There’s no matchmaking but a Fill Party goal will be available. If you’re feeling particularly masochistic, then you can have all of the above for every wave in a match. Some other changes include an option for “Increase Existing Property” when re-rolling gear. It replaces the “Keep Existing Property” option, and helps to reduce RNG.

On top of this, re-rolled stats will never suffer any decreases and you can also re-roll locked perks and stats on 120 Ki gear. It’ll cost one Purified Gear Item for a single re-roll though. For more details, check out the full patch notes below. Another patch is slated for next month so stay tuned.

• This allows you to create your own custom Nightmare-style experience. Do you only want hwachas? You can do that! 
• Similar to Photo Mode, matchmaking is disabled for Custom Mode, but it can be selected as a new Fill Party goal. 
• In response to some players asking for an even higher level of challenge, it’s also possible to enable all of the above in a single match. Only the strongest Legends will be able to defeat every wave with all Difficulty Modifiers and hazards enabled, and all bonus objectives completed.

Crafting System Updates

• When re-rolling a gear property, Keep Existing Property has been replaced with Increase Existing Property. This provides a path for getting maximum stat values on gear without relying on RNG.
• Revised property re-rolls. Re-rolled stats will never decrease in effectiveness.
• Added the ability to re-roll locked perks and stats on 120 Ki gear for the additional cost of one Purified Gear Item per re-roll.

Other updates

• Added accessibility option Dark Flash Bomb Effect. This changes the color of flash bomb screen effects to black. (This option applies to both Legends and the single-player campaign) 
• Changed hwacha behavior so it won’t immediately target players upon spawning 
• Assassins are now less likely to be targeted by enemies in the middle of a Chain Vanish streak 
• Added a new Fill Party goal: Purify Cursed Objects 
• Fixed a bug causing some Feats to incorrectly unlock when completing a mission on Platinum instead of Nightmare 
• Replaced wave 12 world mod in Blood & Steel with Toxic Clouds •Fixed a rare issue where world modifiers would fail to network 
• Resolved an error message that would occasionally appear after the conclusion of a match 
• Localization fixes

With the exception of Ghostrunner, which is exclusive to PS5 subscribers, all the games will be available to claim on both PS4 and PS5. GTA Online, on the other hand, is a bonus game that will be available to download starting March 15th, while the others will be available to download starting March 1st. Subscribers who haven’t claimed the games for February are advised to do so quickly.

All in all, March 2022’s offerings seem to be heavily focused towards multiplayer, but it is certainly a marked improvement over February’s PS Plus offerings, both in terms of number and quality.

Sony is also reportedly hard at work on a competitor to Xbox Game Pass codenamed Project Spartacus, set for a Spring reveal- read more on that through here.

Perhaps more important is that the patch will introduce matchmaking for Nightmare Survival and Nightmare Story, allowing players to fill empty slots. The feature is in the “testing” phase and Sucker Punch is monitoring to ensure it “doesn’t upset game balance.” It may even be removed later based on player feedback so give it a shot now while you can.

Check out some of the patch notes below with the full notes here. Ghost of Tsushima is currently available for PS4 with the Director’s Cut having released in August for PS4 and PS5. The latter added the new Iki Island expansion along with DualSense support and full lip-syncing for Japanese audio.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut Patch 2.12

Patch 2.12

• In Survival and Rivals modes, enemy spawn points will now be randomized and will change with each new match.
• However, Nightmare Survival will maintain a fixed spawn pattern for the entire week to create an even playing ground for the leaderboards.
• Nightmare Story now has a fixed spawn location for Gyozen’s Scroll and the Oni Chest each week.
• Fixed a bug in Survival and Rivals where waves could occasionally stop spawning after all enemies were killed.
• Fixed a bug in Survival and Rivals where enemies could occasionally stop attacking.
• Added the ability to matchmake to fill empty slots to Nightmare Survival and Nightmare Story.
• For now, we’re testing this feature and will monitor to make sure it doesn’t upset game balance and may remove it in the future depending on your feedback.
• Adjusted the Show Details screen in the Lobby to include both perks on equipped gear.

Support for Legends has been solid, with Sucker Punch only recently having added Twilight and Ashes, a new Survival map, to the game. But, as you may have expected, there’s still more to come. Taking to recently to Twitter, Sucker Punch confirmed that Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is going to get another new Survival map, called Blood and Steel, which will be based on Iki Island. It will go live on October 1, just a few days from now. So if you’re still invested in the multiplayer experience, as a lot of people obviously are, there’s going to be more new content to dive into very soon.

Ghost of Tsushima and Legends are both available on PS5 and PS4.

Venture into Iyo's Realm with our new Survival map, Twilight and Ashes, out now in #GhostOfTsushima: Legends!

Next week on October 1, we'll launch an additional new Survival map, Blood and Steel, based on Iki Island! pic.twitter.com/9aO959DkqG

— Sucker Punch Productions (@SuckerPunchProd) September 24, 2021

Rivals is similar to Destiny 2’s Gambit mode with two teams of two players competing against each other to slay AI enemies. Magatama can be collected from slain foes to unlock curses which can impede the other team’s progress. Gather enough and you can initiate the Last Stand, a final wave against tougher foes. The first team to complete the final wave wins.

Along with Rivals, the update adds a new Gear Mastery System. This allows for completing Mastery Challenges to upgrade 110 Ki level gear to 120 and unlock a  second perk slot, new abilities and new techniques. From September 10th till October 1st, new content like a tougher version of Trials of Iyo, a new Rivals map, new Survival maps and more will be added for free.

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is included with the base game and doesn’t require the Director’s Cut. Those who purchase the standalone version can upgrade to the Director’s Cut for $40 on PS4 and $50 on PS5.

For the base game, the Director’s Cut adds dynamic 4K at 60 FPS, full Japanese voice-over lip-syncing and DualSense support for the PS5 version. The new Iki Island expansion adds several new areas, missions, gear and enemies to battle along with a brand new story. It’s overall length has been compared to Act 1 of the main story.

In addition to this is Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, which receives a brand new 2v2 mode called Rivals and a Gear Mastery System for unlocking a second perk slot, new Techniques and boosting gear to 120 Ki level. This will coincide with the multiplayer mode’s standalone release for $19.99 with cross-platform play and cross-progression supported.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut releases on August 20th for $60 on PS4 and $70 on PS5. Current owners on PS4 can upgrade to the Director’s Cut on PS4 for $20 and on PS5 for $30.

As for the new mode, it’s called Rivals and is completely free. It’s a 2v2 mode where players battle waves of enemies and garner Magatama. The resource can be used to hinder the opposing team like activating Curses to drain their health, block their purchases and so on. Spending enough Magatama will unlock the final wave and the first team to complete this can claim victory.

A new Gear Mastery system is also being added which lets players activate Mastery Challenges on 110 Ki level gear that’s bound to a class. Along with allowing it to be upgraded to 120 Ki level, it can also provide a second perk slot, a new ability and new Techniques. The system will go live alongside Rivals.

As for August 20th, which is when Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut launches, Legends will receive an update to re-balance Survival mode for shorter sessions. There will also be new weekly Survival Nightmare challenges and more cosmetics for players who cleared the base game and New Game Plus. If that weren’t enough, from September 10th to October 1st, there will be new content added each week.

This includes a new Rivals map, Trials of Iyo which is a tougher version of the raid with challenges, new online leaderboards and new Survival maps based on the Iki Island expansion and Iyo’s realm. For more information on the Director’s Cut, head here.

Following a bunch of rumors and speculation suggesting the same, Sucker Punch Studios is finally giving us what we have been clamoring for since the release of Ghost of Tsushima – more of it. Of course, it remains to be seen whether Sucker Punch continues to work on the Ghost of Tsushima IP and give fans a full sequel down the line, or perhaps something entirely different. Nevertheless, there seems to be no contention that more Ghost of Tsushima is always great.

2020 had been a tough year for all of us, being forced to lock ourselves into the confines of our homes for months for the greater good. During a time when physically going out and exploring the scenic vistas that the real-world offers was not an option, playing Ghost of Tsushima felt like a reprieve from all the ensuing chaos which allowed me and thousands of others to get up close and personal with all the beauty that lie within the untamed wilderness of the world – albeit virtually.

For this very reason, it holds a very special place in the hearts of many a fan – though not to suggest it’s flawless. There are a few rough patches here and there, and thankfully Sucker Punch seems to be addressing most of them through the Iki Island. Here are the biggest reasons that I am excited about it:

A Smaller Open-World

Ghost of Tsushima offered players a vast and diverse land of Tsushima to explore at their own pace, teeming with side-paths and activities that can keep players engaged for dozens of hours. That’s of course, in theory, since Tsushima associates the act of completing side-quests with rewards that make Jin stronger. It starts out great with side-questing feeling like an integral part of the game, but can quickly run its course with rewards for completing those being menial when compared to the ones received for sticking with the main path. There’s also the fact that tracking down those side-quests can become a slog after some time since the game world is so expansive that getting from point A to point B simply takes too much time.

That’s a shame since Ghost of Tsushima includes a bunch of side-quests that are much more interesting than the main quest. The Iki island is contained within a smaller space with a smaller accompanying narrative, which gives Sucker Punch the opportunity to craft these curated side-quests in a manner that pursuing them won’t take up a lot of time. The team could also put more thought into giving players rewards that are more in line with the main quest. That being said, even if those rewards don’t match up to expectations, players would probably be close enough to the main objective to not feel demotivated for taking a detour thanks to the smaller scale. That’s always a major benefit of smaller open-worlds, and hopefully, the Iki Island expansion embraces its smaller scale and makes efficient use of the space to incorporate consistently engaging and rewarding side-content.

More Jin Sakai

Jin Sakai is the protagonist of Ghost of Tsushima, and players mostly see him in a calm and composed state as he upholds the Bushido code that beckons him to do the same. However, he wasn’t always like that as evident in the multitude of flashback sequences that show a young and impressionable Jin trying to learn the ropes of being a Samurai all the while trying to cope up with the guilt of not being able to be there for his father when he needed him the most.

The official blog post for the Director’s Cut announcement states that the journey will have “deeply personal stakes” and will force Jin to “relive some traumatic moments from the past.” Of course, it remains to be seen what these stakes might entail and what exactly are these traumatic moments. But given that it’s now confirmed that Sucker Punch will be exploring more of Jin’s personal stories than a similar plot to relieve another Island of Mongol presence is an interesting prospect, though the latter will be the framework through which the game would tell those tales.

Using flashback sequences, Sucker Punch could explore Jin’s insecurities and anxieties with the Iki Island, which will surely serve to provide more depth to the already well-written but mostly one-tone character.

Japanese Lip-Syncing

While the Japanese lip-syncing might have been brushed under the rug in the face of the many bigger additions, it’s still an equally important element that needs some love. Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut on PS5 will fix all issues with voice lines not being in sync with the animations for the Japanese dub of the game, which is a great addition that can carry some huge implications. While the Japanese dub isn’t anything exceptional, it can prove to be quite immersive when combined with the black and white Kurusawo filter.

It’s a great way to go back to the main story, as both of the aforementioned options can come together quite beautifully to sell the feeling of being in a well, Kurusawa movie. This feeling could further be accentuated with the graphical improvements that the game brings with its next-gen upgrade. Since this is a Director’s Cut, there is some possibility that the cutscenes could have been re-directed to keep the game more in line with Samurai movies of the past.

The base game already looks quite convincing in that regard, but a few changes here and there could be just the ingredient needed to warrant a second playthrough for many. This is also long-sighted speculation on our part, and fans shouldn’t bank on the possibilities of seeing major changes to the main game for now.

PS5 Centric Features

While the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X might have been unceremonious with most launch titles on both systems – first-party as well as third-parties – being available on last-gen consoles as well, the PS5’s DualSense controller has proven to be the definitive next-gen factor for many. Sony’s pantheon of first-party titles such as Astro’s Playroom, Returnal, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart have done a phenomenal job at using these PS5-centric features, and Ghost of Tsushima embracing it whole-heartedly is most probably going to be great as well.

Bluepoint’s remake of Demon’s Souls is perhaps the benchmark for Dualsense implementation when it comes to melee fighting. The sharp vibration that the Dualsense provides gives just the heft required to make each swing of a weapon feel distinct and recognizable, and Sucker Punch can definitely take a few cues from there as well. An interesting possibility could entail the rumble actually serving a purpose in combat, such as a distinct sharp rumble indicating the time to press the trigger in order to execute a perfect parry. This is just one example though, and we are quite sure that the team will definitely find a lot more ways to implement these features to accentuate the palpable sense of tension that comes from dueling the fiercest warriors in Tsushima and Ikishima.

More Legends

Ghost of Tsushima received a free-to-play multiplayer expansion in the form of Legends, which was lauded by critics and fans alike for a number of reasons when it was released late last year. However, the time gap between the release of the original and the multiplayer expansion meant that not many people actually went back to the game and participated in all the co-op looting and raiding that Sucker Punch had meticulously crafted post-launch.

However, with the Legends mode being an inclusion to the Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut from the onset, there’s a high likelihood of both new and returning players jumping into the multiplayer mode which by extension, should cut down waiting times for players who usually solo queue. Of course, there’s also the fact that as the player reach expands Sucker Punch will likely put in more efforts to update the game and add newer content to placate the wider audience it could amass in the near future.

While the $70 price tag for Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut on the PS4 has been a major point of contention within the community very recently, we have really high hopes from Sucker Punch as it could serve as an appetizer for what’s more to come from the Washington-based developer.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.