Ghost of Yotei, the successor to the iconic Ghost of Tsushima, transports the action 300 years after the events of Jin Sakai, to the wild and beautiful Ezo (modern-day Hokkaido) in 1603.

### The Positives ##
1. Visual Feast: The game fully utilizes the power of the PS5 (and PS5 Pro), offering incredible landscapes with dynamic weather, snowy peaks, and the impressive Northern Lights.

2. Improved Combat System: Combat remains robust and "dance-like," but with a greater variety of weapons (such as the tanzutsu firearm) that enrich your tactics.

3. Atmospheric Exploration: Sucker Punch has perfected the "organic" world. Exploration relies less on map icons and more on the player's curiosity.

4. Soundtrack: The music with the shamisen and Erika Ishii's performance as Atsu give a fresh, yet equally epic tone to the story.

### What’s "New" in the Series? ###
1. New Protagonist & Story: Atsu is not bound by samurai honor like Jin, but is a bounty hunter. Her story is more personal, focused on revenge against the "Yotei Six."

2. Replacement of Stances: The stance system has been replaced by a weapon counter system, where switching weapons plays a crucial role in dealing with different enemies.

3. New Activities: Instead of haiku, you can now engage in sumi-e painting, play gambling games (zeni hajiki), or learn new songs on the shamisen.

4. Wolf Companion: The addition of a wolf as a companion changes the dynamic of exploration and combat.

### Main Drawbacks ###
1. Sense of "Repetition": Despite the improvements, the core structure remains a classic Sony open-world title. If you were tired of the first game's gameplay, Yotei might feel like "more of the same."

2. Hand-holding in Guidance: Despite the lack of UI, the game sometimes tends to over-guide you in linear missions (e.g., specific climbing points).

3. Abrupt Introduction: Some players find that the story starts too quickly, without giving enough time to bond with the characters before throwing you into the open world.

4. Technical Variations: While the landscapes are magical, the models of some secondary characters (NPCs) do not have the same detail as the protagonist.

### To enjoy Ghost of Yotei to the fullest, I recommend making the following settings as soon as you start the game:

1. Display Settings
a. Resolution Mode vs Performance: If you have a 4K TV and like the cinematic feel, Resolution Mode is beautiful. However, Performance Mode (60 FPS) is a "must" for this game, as combat requires quick reflexes and precision in parries.

b. HDR Calibration: Yotei has strong contrasts (snow vs fire). Don’t forget to calibrate HDR through the game menu, so the white surfaces of the snow don’t "burn out" and details remain visible.

c. Kurosawa Mode: If you’re a film lover, try it for a bit (black and white with film grain), but for your first experience I recommend colors, as Hokkaido is visually intoxicating.

2. Gameplay & HUD (The "Secret" for Immersion)
a. Expert HUD: The game is designed to be seen, not to read maps. Choose Expert HUD to hide most elements from the screen. The "Wind" and birds will guide you organically.

b. Armor/Outfit Loadouts: Enable the option to link each Skill/Charm to a specific outfit. That way, when you switch from exploration to combat gear, your advantages will change automatically.

3. Controls & DualSense
a. Haptic Feedback: Set it to Maximum. The feel of the shamisen in your palms and the trigger resistance when drawing the bow or tanzutsu are among the best implementations on PS5.

b. Projectile Quick-Fire: There’s a setting for faster use of secondary weapons. It really helps maintain the combat flow when you want to throw a smoke bomb.

4. Sound
a. Japanese Audio with Subtitles: For ultimate authenticity, Japanese voices fit the 1600s atmosphere much better.

b. 3D Audio: If you use headphones (like Pulse 3D), enable 3D Audio. You’ll hear the rustling of leaves and the direction of enemies with absolute precision.

Do you remember those times when we were kids, years ago when you had your game on a disc, you just put it in your console to experience something unique, without micro-transactions, without lag, without crashes, without unfinished things, without fuss over patches, without caring when or how it would end, just living it. That’s what this one is like too.
Every time you boot it up you say to yourself, "now I’ll relax and go to another world."
Very rarely will a game today offer you something like that.
Having seen almost all of Kurosawa’s films (who is the reason everything else followed), Tarantino’s amazing Kill Bill, The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise, the awesome series Shogun, Marco Polo, and Kingdom, you can’t help but appreciate how good a job Sucker Punch has done with Ghost of Yotei (and the influences it took from those movies) ⚔️
Perhaps the best-crafted period setting in 1600s Japan after Ghost of Tsushima, with a simple but well-written revenge story which (oh yes) hits hard, with (also)... very good character development for the main characters.

Something important... because *deep breath*, I’ve read and seen quite a bit about how people are divided about Atsu... I’ll say this: Yes, she’s a nice and dynamic girl. She’s not a model in appearance, but what exactly do you expect? I can’t stand the "thank goodness there are masks to hide her face, haha hoohoo" comments. Get a grip. What do you want? Senpai meow-meow anime heroines? Then I think anyone with that mindset should go to Stellar Blade or stick to MMOs. Atsu is perfectly beautiful and unique as she should be (for some, average, but that’s a matter of taste). Personally, because I’m a realist, I like her. Personally. Don’t draw your katanas.
She’s a character who has seen and experienced a lot. She doesn’t need to be a model, and let’s not have comparison standards (she has a perfectly fine body in the game btw) because back then, things weren’t as we think of them today.
If you manage to get her fundoshi (loincloth) by taking her to all the spas in the game... maybe some of you will reconsider.
Now... what she does in her bed, or who she hangs out with and the beliefs of the main voice actress named Erica Ishii who plays her in the English version, I don’t care at all, and I won’t let something so trivial ruin this amazing experience of such a game for me. I think anyone who wants to enjoy something today should keep these little annoyances in mind and overlook them when/if needed, otherwise we’ll never enjoy anything, anywhere.
Atsu is an intense and strong, sometimes calm personality, but also sensitive, lovable at the same time, as well as sweet, depending on who and what kind of person she’s facing. She’s very well-written, a character with depth, someone you want to be by her side. And... when she pets foxes or hangs out with the Wolf, your heart melts a little. ?

As for the gameplay, the best combat I’ve seen in a "samurai" game (by far), almost all activities are different, not repetitive, not tiring, not wasting your time, with very dynamic and beautiful rewards from weapons, outfits, but also skills to strengthen your heroine (like the basic action RPGs today *God of War, Horizon*). You’re interested in exploring and learning/discovering new stories.
The world is simply BEAUTIFUL like works on canvas. Every location is a painting. You are literally left speechless. As an artist, I admire the talent at Sucker Punch and appreciate it even more because it’s a magical image every time you step on the snow or the grassy plains, seeing the leaves from the trees, the horizon, or when you gallop with your horse while playing this amazing medieval Japanese ambient in the background, feeling every contact with the environment (from rain to stepping on a stone) through your controller.
Let me add... And I’m sure I’m one of the few who do this, but as a collector, I’m also a perfectionist on this matter (here it goes).. I played the whole game in Native 2K (base PS5) at 60 frames, with my monitor supporting downsampler, WITHOUT any patch (that is, the version from the disc, version 1.0.0) and I’ll just tell you, as they say today, "Holy f**k dude!" After 1000+ photos, and *I don’t remember how many* hours of gameplay, without any major bug or crash etc. (only one very minor insignificant bug when Atsu calls her Wolf with the song, there were 3-4 times when instead of Japanese, she spoke English, but that’s it! Crazy how well-made this game is, and also crazy how these graphics can exist on such hardware). You can play it comfortably without internet or updates and the experience remains top-notch.
The good golden PS2/PS3 days when everything played from the disc right away! *and then they tell you, go digital only, what a joke*.

*One last thing, those of you who have the game and haven’t done this yet *or plan to get it* just set it to Japanese with English subtitles (ALL the scenes in the game are made with lip-sync for Japanese as well, with Ai Fairouz doing an incredible job as Atsu. I believe her voice fits better in Japanese, as with most characters in the game), it’s truly the best.
Peak experience this masterpiece.
⚔️️