Ghost of Tsushima
Info
Ghost of Tsushima is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The player controls Jin Sakai, a samurai on a quest to protect Tsushima Island during the first Mongol invasion of Japan. Jin must choose between his warrior code to fight honorably, and pragmatic but despicable ways that can repel the Mongols with minimal casualties. The game features a large open world which can be explored either on foot or on horseback. When facing enemies, the player can choose to engage in a direct confrontation with enemies using Jin's katana, or become a legendary warrior known as "the Ghost" which use stealth tactics to assassinate opponents. A multiplayer mode titled Legends was introduced in October 2020 and made available separately in September 2021.
Sucker Punch began developing the game after shipping Infamous: First Light in 2014, as the studio wanted to move on from the Infamous franchise and create a game with a heavy emphasis on melee combat. The studio collaborated with Japan Studio and visited Tsushima Island twice to ensure that the game was culturally and historically authentic. The team was heavily inspired by samurai cinema, particularly those directed by Akira Kurosawa, as well as comic book series Usagi Yojimbo. The game's minimalistic landscape and art style was influenced by Shadow of the Colossus, and locations in the game were designed to be "the perfect photographer's dream". While the in-game landmass is geographically the same shape as that of Tsushima Island, the team did not intend to create a one-to-one recreation. Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi composed the game's soundtracks.
The game was released for PlayStation 4 in July 2020, and an expanded version for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, subtitled Director's Cut featuring the Iki Island expansion, was released in August 2021. The game received generally positive reviews upon release, with critics praising the game's melee combat, story, characters, performance and music, though it received criticisms for its stealth gameplay and open world structure. The game was a commercial success, selling more than 9.73 million copies by July 2022 and became one of Sony's fastest-selling original games. It was nominated for several end-of-the-year accolades, including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2020. A film adaptation is currently in development.