Announced back in 2017 at Paris Games Week, Ghost of Tsushima gameplay has been drip-fed in subsequent events like E3 and press releases over the past number of years. But thanks to a State of Play from Sony, have gotten an in-depth look at how traversal, exploration and combat.
The eighteen minute presentation from members of developers Sucker Punch Productions, was well cut together, giving a good feel to the upcoming game’s mechanics.
Exploring The World
Set on the Island of Tsushima in 13th century Japan, the world you explore is vast and varied. You play as Jin Sakai, the last samurai alive during the first Mongol invasion of Japan. To traverse the world, you can walk or ride by horseback. The stylish overworld has a minimalist HUD (heads-up dispaly), exchanging traditional immersion breaking waypoints, with more subtle indicators to point direction or indicate areas of interest. An example of this is by using wind currents to to indicate direction. With a quick tap of a button, a gust of wind will appear in the game world for you to follow. There will be indicators in the world like animals getting your attention or even smoke rising in the distance. Follow these and you may find missions, new locations or combat opportunities.
Combat
There were two styles of combat also shown off. Jin can take on enemies as a samurai, a more traditional battle between warriors, sizing your opponent up and striking at the right time. This let’s you take out your target with precise hits, while maintaining your health and stamina. Parry attacks at key times, to inflict maximum damage to others. You will also have use of a bow and other additional weapons.
The ghost way of fighting, is more a brutal and menacing style of combat. Use distractions to lure enemies and dispatch them with cruel knife attacks. Stealth is more of the option here, as you take out your enemies in a more gruesome fashion. You can also use fear to intimidate your foes and watch them drop their weapons or run away from you.
Depending on what style you play as, you will build & customise your amour sets, as well as finding charms that will give you different mechanical and combat advantages.
Extras & Homage To Classic Samurai Cinema
There will be a photo mode that will allow you to create stylish and breathtaking photos or videos, using a set of tools, particle effects and use music from the in-game score.
Although Ghost of Tsushima is voice acted in English, Sucker Punch have also included a full Japanese voice track, which is available with subtitles from the start. As well as this, there is an option to turn on a black & white mode, with film grain effects, that emulate classic samurai cinema like Seven Samurai or Yojimbo. This makes you feel you are in a one of the classic warrior films.
Ghost of Tsushima is releasing July 17th on PlayStation 4!
