Ghost of Tsushima [PS5]

A satisfying game from start to finish. Is this the pinnacle of open-world action adventure games? It's definitely up there with Witcher, Outcast, Tomb Raider, and God of War.

The storytelling is straightforward, effective, and fine-tuned for this genre. Too many games of this type have a single "main quest" and barely related "side quests" but here we get multiple threads based around relationships with complex and fascinating characters. Everything you do feels meaningful. There are still true "side quests" but they are all bound to the central narrative and never seem frivolous. I've almost never had a moment in this game where I felt that an encounter or objective was just "filler", even if the reward was just a collectible cosmetic. That's unheard of in the open-world genre, which is rife with cheap content. Do be aware that this is not a "choices matter" game. Destiny is pre-cooked here, and that's fine. This game focuses on the road, not the destination.

The action is almost flawless. Sword melee is thoroughly exciting and precise, and there's enough range combat, gizmos, and stealth to add variety. Missions are set in intricate areas that provide you with almost open-ended options for planning your attack. Unfortunately for me, the normal difficulty was too easy. Full-frontal assault was never too challenging, so other options felt less necessary to explore. I should probably have played it on a higher difficulty. But, it's also true that sword melee is front and center to this game, and perhaps the developers should have done even more to encourage variety.

This is "RPG light". We have skills, but not a complex skill tree. Loot exists and is cool, but it's also quite minimal and there's no loot management, it's just there for equipment upgrades. The world itself has very little that's magical or supernatural, so there's not much work in managing those bonuses. All of this suits my tastes perfectly, but if you're looking for a complex open-world RPG with dozens of systems: this is not it.

On that note, the game has a very good balance for progression. Do you like doing all the side quests first and "levelling up"? Fine, you can do that here, and it will indeed give you an advantage, but you won't be absurdly powerful, even when maxed out. Do you prefer to just go for the main quest first? Also fine! It might be a bit more difficult, and you might have to retry certain missions until you beat them, but it's doable and you won't be punished with too much repetition. You could realistically finish the entire main quest without any extra skills or goodies. It's sad how many more serious RPGs get this balance wrong and require mindless grinding or turn you into a god too soon.

The graphics are ... breathtaking. We've seen more photorealistic effects in other games from its era, but rarely have we seen such tight art direction. The textures, the shaders, the color palette, the lighting, all combine into a remarkably painterly and dreamlike effect that is unmistakably Ghost of Tsushima, and the scene direction is intimately cinematic (in a good way). The HDR implementation adds a lot of depth, but can also be annoying. On the one hand we get the most wonderfully deep blue and silver skies you've ever seen in a game. On the other hand, the fire/glow effect is overcooked and overused, and the contrast, even on "standard" (as opposed to "dramatic") mode, is dialed way too high. You have to choose as to whether you want your darks or lights to blow out. It's too bad we weren't given more control over HDR settings.

The music is lovely, though I feel we could have had some more themes. The voice acting (in English) is often truly inspiring, specifically for the main characters. But sometimes it's too easy to identify the same voice actors taking on multiple roles.

Please please please play it on a PS5. 60 FPS is how this game should be experienced. If you don't have a PS5 yet, consider waiting. Yes. it's that important.