Sucker Punch Productions is well known for developing the very fun Sly Cooper and Infamous series of games back in the PS2/PS3 era. However, the studio took a gamble in 2020 by releasing a new IP called ‘Ghost of Tsushima’. 

The gamble paid off because Ghost of Tsushima became one of the PS4’s best games of all time. Fans really loved the feudal Japan setting, the combat, and the main character of Jin Sakai. Due to all of these factors, many players were eager for a sequel to be made.

However, Sucker Punch Productions decided to make another gamble and did not make a direct sequel called Ghost of Tsushima 2. Instead, the developer decided to make Ghost of Yotei, and this game features a different protagonist and an all-new story. 

I think the gamble paid off because Ghost of Yotei features an interesting revenge story, centering on a new character called Atsu. As a little girl, an evil man named Lord Saito murders her family in cold blood. 

Atsu is left to die pinned to a tree, but she miraculously survives her stab wound. Knowing that she cannot seek revenge yet as a little girl, Atsu waits until she is an adult to kill her family’s murderers. The people she wants to kill are referred to as the ‘Yotei Six’. 

The Yotei Six includes six individuals who were responsible for her family’s demise. The six people she seeks to kill are Lord Saito, the Snake, the Oni, the Kitsune, the Spider, and the Dragon. The latter two are the sons of Lord Saito, who is the mastermind behind the murders. 

With her brother, father, and mother all dead, Astu is alone in her mission to seek revenge. 16 years have passed since that awful day, and Atsu now believes she has the skills and knowledge to take down the Yotei Six once and for all. 

Ghost of Yotei is kind of similar in structure to the older Assassin’s Creed games because Atsu will have to find intel on the Yotei Six before she can locate all of their locations. The Yotei Six all have hideouts, and Atsu will have to infiltrate her way to get closer to each of them before she can go for the kill. 

Ghost of Yotei has a huge map, and you can guide Atsu to many different locations. You can choose to follow the main story, or you can get sidetracked easily by doing many of the side quests that are littered throughout the map. 

Players can choose to have minimal help and let the wind guide them to their next location. I’m pretty useless at following directions, so I opted to just pause the game and follow the map. 

What I like most about Ghost of Yotei is that Atsu has access to many different Japanese weapons. At first, Atsu is only armed with a single katana, but as she meets new people in Yotei, they train her to use many other unique weapons. 

Players will have to seek out the weapon masters, although they will be highlighted on the map. Some of the other weapons Atsu can eventually wield include dual katanas, the odachi, the yari (spear), the kusarigama, a bow and arrow, plus the tanegashima (rifle). 

It’s recommended that you try to seek out every weapon in the game because you can exploit the weaknesses of the enemies this way. For example, if you see an enemy with a shield, you want to equip the kusarigama because this can break shields easily. 

If an enemy is armed with a spear, you want to equip the dual katanas and so forth. Atsu can easily change weapons at any time with players holding the R1 button and then pressing one of the face buttons. 

To exploit an enemy’s weakness, you should press the triangle button (heavy attack) to break their stance. If you press the square button (quick attack) all of the time, the enemy will block your attacks constantly. 

Another way you can distract enemies is by using some gadgets. Throwing kunai (ninja star) can hurt enemies easily, or you can even throw dirt and smoke bombs. Gadgets are limited, though, so you will need to find or collect them if you want to use them again.

For long range combat, Atsu also has a bow and arrow, or even some guns. The bow and arrow can kill enemies from afar, but I thought the rifle was pretty useless. While the rifle is powerful, it takes too long to reload, so I rarely used it during my playthrough. 

Another cool part about Ghost of Yotei is that you don’t have to kill enemies head-on all of the time. When you infiltrate a base, you can choose to kill enemies using stealth as well. All you really need to do is hide in the grass, approach an enemy from behind, and press the triangle button to do a cool-looking execution. 

Aside from normal enemies, Atsu will have to confront epic boss fights, too. Many of the Yotei Six character arcs end in boss fights, so you cannot kill them stealthily like you would in older Assassin’s Creed games. 

During boss fights, you can build up Atsu’s spirit meter, and this will help you replenish her health. Blocking is important as well as parrying because you will not defeat bosses easily if you fail at both of these during combat. 

Outside of combat, Atsu will also have to climb cliffs and use her grappling hook to get to higher ledges. If the location is too far for her, you can press left on the d-pad to call on her horse at any time. You can also fast travel to any previously visited location if you don’t feel like horse riding all the time. 

Graphically, Ghost of Yotei is a big step up from Ghost of Tsushima on PS4. You can play the game at 60fps, or choose to play at 30fps with ray-tracing on. It doesn’t matter what setting you choose, because the game looks gorgeous in any mode. I played this game on a base PS5, at the graphics are simply breathtaking. 

Overall, Ghost of Yotei is another single-player hit from PlayStation Studios. While it’s not a direct sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, I’m pretty sure players will still love this new game thanks to its excellent combat, engaging story, and beautiful graphics. This game is a must buy for any PS5 owner out there!

Verdict: 10/10