Ghost of Tsushima | |
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![]() Cover art, featuring player character Jin | |
Developer(s) | Sucker Punch Productions |
Publisher(s) | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
Director(s) | Nate Fox |
Artist(s) | Jason Connell |
Composer(s) | Shigeru Umebayashi |
Platform(s) | PlayStation 4 |
Release | Q2/Q3 2020 |
Genre(s) | Action-adventure, stealth |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Ghost of Tsushima (/ˈtsuʃiˌmɑː/) is an upcoming action-adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Featuring an open world for players to explore, the game revolves around the last samurai on Tsushima Island during the first Mongol invasion of Japan in the 1270s. The game is scheduled for release in Q2/Q3 2020.
Ghost of Tsushima is an action-adventure stealth game. Played from a third-person perspective, the game features a large open world without any waypoints and can be explored without guidance.[1] Players can travel to different parts of the game's world quickly by riding a horse. An item that acts as a grappling hook will be available to access areas that are difficult to reach.[2] The game will feature side quests. Other characters can be interacted with.[3]
Players can engage in direct confrontation with enemies using weapons such as a katana.[4] They can also chain up a series of fatal assaults after highlighting the enemies. Alternatively, utilizing stealth allows to evade from enemies and strike them silently.[5] One-versus-one dueling with non-playable characters is also optional.[3]
Set on Tsushima Island in 1274, the game revolves around the last samurai, Jin Sakai (Daisuke Tsuji), during the first Mongol invasion of Japan.[6] Jin will have to master a new fighting style, the way of the Ghost, to defeat the Mongol Empire and fight for the freedom and independence of Japan.[7]
Ghost of Tsushima is being developed by Sucker Punch Productions. After completing Infamous First Light, the team wanted to develop another open world project because the team believed that choices made by the player are important to gameplay. As a result, the game will not feature any waypoint so that players have complete freedom to explore the game's world. According to Nate Fox, the game's director, the team distilled the game's numerous internal pitches into "the fantasy of becoming a samurai" during the game's conceptualization.[1] To ensure that the title would be an accurate representation of feudal Japan, the team consulted cultural experts and sent an audio team to Japan to record different sounds, including birdsongs. The team will also allow players to switch the audio to Japanese with English subtitles in an effort to create a more authentic experience.[8] Sucker Punch's Infamous series served as an inspiration for Jin's transversal techniques.[9] The game takes inspiration from Japanese samurai cinema, notably Akira Kurosawa films such as Seven Samurai (1954) and Sanjuro (1962).[10][11] The team consulted historical sword-fighting expert David Ishimaru to help create a historically-based foundation for the game.[11]
In December 2015, Sony's executive Scott Rohde revealed that Sucker Punch's new project was in early development, but he added that the game was fun to play.[12] Ghost of Tsushima was revealed at Sony Interactive Entertainment's Paris Games Week presentation in October 2017.[13] Sony opted not to announce the title too early since many of the game's systems were tentative and subjected to change.[14] A gameplay demo was shown at E3 2018 and a live shakuhachi performance was delivered by Cornelius Boots.[15] Ghost of Tsushima is set to be released for the PlayStation 4.[2] Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi will compose the game's music.[16] A new trailer was teased in the State of Play presentation on December 10, 2019, and was shown at The Game Awards 2019 on December 12.[17] It will be released in Q2/Q3 2020.[18]