Ghost of Tsushima's beautiful open-world is held down by repetitive gameplay
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The beauty of Tsushima, and a verdict on the game
The beauty of Tsushima
Exploring Tsushima Island is an arresting experience. Hands-down, the highlight of my time with this game was just strolling around on my horse and discovering new points of interest (and bringing up Photo Mode every five minutes). The open-world is essentially divided into three zones, with Jin travelling to a new zone in each of the story's three acts. These zones are absolutely massive and interconnected, with huge swathes of land populated with villages to liberate, sights to see and things to discover. And it’s all stunning.
There is almost too much stuff to do in this game. As you speak to Tsushima's inhabitants, and hear about the various goings-on in the island, question marks will start to pop up all over the map in alarming amounts. These open-world activities come in many forms. You could sit at the edge of a mountain and construct a haiku, and get a special headband for it. You could find an abandoned sword kit in the middle of a grass field, which gives Jin's weapons a new colour scheme. You could stumble onto a Mongol-occupied village, and freeing it would get you a new fast travel point.
For the first half of the game, I was absolutely blown away by the sheer amount of stuff there was to do and find - but, like most open-world games, I think this one bit off more than it could chew. After a while, I got tired of constructing haikus for a new headband colour, and liberating my hundredth Mongol base so I have somewhere to fast travel to. Side activities became repetitive far too quickly, and suddenly the pick-ups and collectibles weren’t enough incentive to explore anymore.
Most side quests boil down into going someplace, killing Mongols and coming back to the quest giver for mission rewards. Very little effort is put into making these side quests stand out in any way, with few exceptions. A large chunk of the game’s missions (including its main ones) involve forced slow-walking with companions from one place to another, which is a videogame trope I truly wish would die a painful death.
The only side quests I actually liked were the character 'Tales', which allow you to complete the storylines of each ally that Jin picks up over the course of his journey. Lady Masako for example, needs Jin's help to exact justice on her family's killers. Her story unfolds over more than six different quests, and each one was quite affecting. These Tales really deepen your understanding of these main characters, and the story would feel incomplete without them. Unfortunately, they still suffer from the game's repetitive mission structure - usually boiling down to little more than escort missions.
Overall however, it feels like Sucker Punch crafted a stunning, beautiful world - but fell short on what to put in it. They then multiplied every activity by twenty, edited them slightly and hoped we wouldn’t notice. All the open-world clichés are there. Towers to climb? Check. Bases to liberate? Check. Short, shallow side quests? Check. Collectible trinkets? Check. 20 of each of these to fill up the map? Check, check and check.
There was a point in the late-game where I just stuck solely to the game’s main missions out of sheer boredom in anything else it had to offer me, because I had already done them a hundred times before. Small additions to the genre, like the guiding wind and animals that lead you to points of interest are a nice creative touch, however. It helps put a fresh spin on this tired formula.
Verdict
Sucker Punch Productions has succeeded in crafting a unique and immersive open-world environment here. It’s an absolute joy to gallop around and explore Tsushima, which has a stunningly diverse collection of biomes and areas to explore. Places like the Otsuna Grasslands (seen in the E3 2018 demo) are just the tip of a jaw-dropping iceberg. My only complaint would be its heavy use of contrast - it opts for a cinematic look by crushing the blacks in every frame, which sometimes makes things hard to see.
Jin’s journey is a long one, full of massive battles and unconventional tactics. The main story is a joy to play through, with huge setpieces and memorable bossfights. It’s a pretty unconventional samurai story - one where the samurai has to forget their teachings to win the day. That by itself makes Ghost of Tsushima’s story compelling, even if it lacks the emotional richness to make these themes fully impactful.
While I had problems with its mission structure and ending, there is no doubt in my mind that this is an excellent end to first-party PS4 exclusives. What Sucker Punch has accomplished on seven-year-old hardware here is an actual marvel. With that, I leave you a haiku:
Tsushima exposed.
The last of the Sakai clan
sings for good weather.
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