Ghost of Yotei review

With Ghost of Tsushima having scratched the itch of exploring an open-world video game set in the history and ethos of feudal Japan, Ghost of Yotei is designed to mine that rich vein further. To a large extent, it does so quite beautifully. You get to explore the gorgeous landscapes of Ezo, meet its vibrant people and learn about its history (like the displacement of the Ainu people), engage with its mythos, and learn a variety of weapons that make up an engaging gameplay.

There are a few things that I did end up having gripes with, with one being something I intensely wished had not been the case, the story, especially when I see it with respect to Tsushima. Even though Sucker Punch has clarified and ensured that you do not need to play Ghost of Tsushima to fully enjoy the spiritual sequel, Ghost of Yotei is indeed haunted by the ghost of yore.

Set more than 300 years after Jin Sakai's story, Ghost of Yotei brings players to Ezo in the shoes of a wandering mercenary, Atsu. The tale is designed to be an underdog revenge narrative. Atsu's family was killed off 16 years ago by the Yotei Six, led by Lord Saito, and she was left for dead. Now that she has returned on her quest for vengeance, she will slowly pick off the six across the different regions of Ezo.

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Ghost of Yotei: Atsu's tales of revenge

The gameplay and combat

Ghost of Yotei's combat feels a lot quicker and more fluid than its predecessor. Sucker Punch has polished and sharpened what they had already achieved with Tsushima. Atsu's identity as a mercenary and her physical stature play into how she engages her enemies, uses her weapons, and finishes off foes. The basics remain the same: light attacks, heavy attacks, and blocks/parries.

In the place of Jin's stances, Atsu has access to five melee weapons to deal with a variety of enemies. While the idea allows a sense of freedom in how you engage enemies, the weapon alignment mechanics force you to pick those that are most effective against the weapon you are facing. For example, the Dual Katana should be used against spears, the Yari against sickles, the Odachi against Brutes, and the Kusarigama against enemies with shields.

Upgrading armor in Ghost of Yotei (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Weapons are unlocked when you visit different masters in Ezo's different regions. While each weapon possesses plenty of unlockable techniques (for which you need Altars of Reflection), one of the techniques is unlocked by completing the master's storyline. Once you unlock all techniques of a particular weapon, you get the specific master's weapon kit for it.

Ghost of Yotei continues to emphasize a chaotic but tactical approach to combat, which is further exacerbated at higher difficulty levels. You will need to carefully gauge how you can stagger your enemy, break their defense, counter their attacks, and dispatch them. Swapping between weapons is instantaneous, allowing you to deal with different sets of enemies at any given time. Equipped Charms and armor (with their specific stats) will determine how you go about your combat, too.

The large arsenal of ranged weapons (bows, guns, throwables, and more) further allows Atsu to bring variety to her combat. While the assortment might become a tad overwhelming to keep track of or utilize properly during fights for some, you do get the hang of it after a while. You do more damage by upgrading your weapons (back at Atsu's father's forge for some of it) and unlocking techniques. And finally, when you do get the hang of it, Ghost of Yotei's combat feels like a beautifully choreographed dance between you and your enemies.

The stealth aspect, though, remains largely basic. You can hide in tall grasses/flowers to get close to an enemy and assassinate them. You can use the Kusarigama to assassinate from a bit further, too. You can also use Empty Sake Jars to tease enemies out of their locations. There is not much else to do with stealth.

One of your semi-constant and periodically appearing combat allies is the wolf. While the game does not do a deep dive into your relationship with the beast, you can unlock new wolf techniques to deepen your combat bond through completing wolf den side quests. The wolf can appear at stand-offs to help you, can show up to save you right before you are killed, and more such combat scenarios. Later in the game, you can also try summoning the wolf before a fight with the help of a song on your shamisen.

The general gameplay also feels more polished, with Sucker Punch introducing small side-games and collectible actions. When you set up a camp, you will have to manually set the balls of tinder on fire and cook your food. When you are upgrading your katana at your father's forge, you will have to manually beat the sword into shape. These are skippable sections, but quite fun to get to.

Setting up camp (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Ghost of Yotei emphasizes the art of painting, especially the Sumi-e style, and you will spend some time swiping on your touchpad, be it writing the names of the Yotei Six on your sash at the beginning of the game or drawing various paintings across Ezo for vanity gear.

One thing that seemed an issue was the finicky nature of jumps and grabs in Ghost of Yotei. When you are climbing cliffs or exploring a location, like Mt. Yotei, you will have to jump, looking in a certain direction or gauging the distance. This did end up feeling a bit punishing.

Overall, Ghost of Yotei does not pigeonhole you into a single way of exploring Ezo or into the concept of leveling your protagonist. You are more or less free to explore the world as you see fit and engage with enemies as they come. While if you do not have the proper, effective weapon unlocked, you will struggle, it still does not mean you cannot tackle the enemy altogether.

The world, the NPCs, and the paratext

Mt. Yotei in Ghost of Yotei (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Ghost of Yotei's Ezo is teeming with natural beauty. In the grasslands, you will find tall grasses, lush flowers, and wild horses running in the meadow, all against the backdrop of the majestic Mt. Yotei (which you can scale). The visuals and the environment are tweaked accordingly to add variety.

You make your journey to Teshio Ridge in the north, and you are faced with a white canvas and freezing blizzards. The snow can be blinding at times and is well utilized by the Nine Tails enemy you face there. In contrast, Ishikari Plains focuses on a warmer palette, with an emphasis on fire and burning.

While in certain sections (especially in the hedges in the middle of nowhere in the grasslands), the design may not feel particularly impressive, the overall graphics and the environment will live up to the expectations of the fans. My PS5 also had no struggle to run the same, and I faced no graphical glitches in the 40-odd hours I have spent in Ghost of Yotei.

While there are plenty of side quests and objectives other than the main narrative, Ghost of Yotei does not force you to follow a path or fill the screen/UI with indicators. You can spot a plume of smoke from a distance to gauge whether there is a point of interest. You can pick up bounties from the Bounty Board to chase down targets and earn rewards.

You will learn about points of interest from random settlers you encounter in the wild or enemies you get to interrogate after clearing out a camp. These are available in the form of clue cards that you can engage with to figure out how to progress the main story or side objectives next. The clue card mechanics is a substitute for the mission objectives board that other games have to show current/unlocked missions you can target.

But a world is not merely populated by natural beauty and gorgeous environment, but rather by its people. Sucker Punch has once again created quite an immersive world that draws from the real-life history of Ezo during that period. One of the most poignant nods towards that is when you first meet the Ainu and they discuss their outlook towards what's happening in Ezo and their history with the place that has been displaced.

The conflict of ethics and ideals that we saw in Ghost of Tsushima resides in Ghost of Yotei, too. The use of guns by the Yotei Six and their army is heavily frowned upon by the samurai of Clan Matsumae, even though they are well aware of the weapon's superiority and its devastating nature. The onryo being a woman also draws comments periodically throughout the game, although interestingly, it is Saito who justifies and rationalizes having women in his army.

The main characters we meet during the course of the game, who are part of Atsu's wolf pack, are more or less fleshed out adequately. They may appear at any time if you set up camp, allowing you to talk and learn information from them or simply trade with them. They never felt like pegs upon which Sucker Punch has hung up a few flat dialogues to accomplish objectives, but characters and motives that felt at home in Ghost of Yotei's Ezo.

One of my favorites from the wolf pack will be Taro, the scavenger merchant. Not only can you come across him in several places in the wilderness, but you can also see him pop up at camps you have just liberated. He gathers equipment from the slain and then sells it back to the living.

Kitsune in Ghost of Yotei (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Ghost of Yotei's handling of the Yotei Six villains must also be commended here. It's a breath of fresh air to have video games where villains are not stereotypical one-dimensional bad guys filled to the brim with clichéd dialogue and motives. Each of the Yotei Six feels intricately wrought into who they are, with the world around them substantiating their personality and motives.

Even when you know who to hate (the Yotei Six, of course), the game nuances the perspective with how it depicts them, their ideals, and their conversations. For example, you will find in a wayward object the reason behind Lord Saito's actions towards Atsu's family. It does not justify what he did, of course, but it provides another dimension/perspective to the action.

Even the onryo is not above reproach (as it should be), and Sucker Punch introduces such criticism through NPCs in the world. I freed a settler from a camp under Yotei Six's control. He later complained about the actions of the onryo in attacking the Yotei Six, as it had led to more atrocities from their army on the common folks of the region.

This is an important point of concern that often escapes the protagonist (and the players): their personal quest, however righteous, has far-reaching macro impacts that they need to take into account but do not. But these nods seem to be absent in the main story, sidelined only to such wayward interactions.

Not all NPCs are up to the mark, though, with there at times being a lack of logic to their actions. For example, I could not understand the game's justification for the man leaving at the end of the side quest with Shiro the bear. Such narrative dissonance was present here and there. And therein lies my major gripe with Ghost of Yotei: its story.

The story and its protagonist

The tale of Atsu (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

I mentioned earlier that Ghost of Yotei is haunted by the ghost of yore, referring to its 2020 predecessor. Nowhere will it be clearer than when one discusses the story, where players will inevitably draw comparisons between Atsu's tale and that of Jin Sakai. To the credit of Sucker Punch, Ghost of Yotei does provide a solid story of revenge.

Atsu returns from the dead 16 years later and begins her hunt for the six men responsible for the death of her family. She faces off against the Snake right at the beginning of the game, thus giving birth to the tales of the onryo. She learns from masters of different weapons, interacts with various NPCs and merchants, liberates camps from Yotei Six's control, and tackles the remaining Six.

But the story does not manage to become more than that. Instead, it remains as advertised - an underdog tale of revenge that is deeply personal but just so. Atsu is barely aware of how her actions impact or could impact the lived realities of others. Again and again, she states that her only goal is to kill the Yotei Six and nothing else (at times hinting she will end her life after that to join her family).

Painting in Ghost of Yotei (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

If we sit down and talk about the character of Atsu in Ghost of Yotei, we see she is molded and defined by the night her family died. She is repeatedly told the same by many of the major NPCs in the game. Although memories and flashbacks (interactable portions that you can go back to and interact with Atsu's family) from before that shape her thoughts (playing the shamisen from her mother or drawing the Sumi-e paintings from her father), it is the Night of the Burning Tree that determines her actions.

It is as if nothing else happened after that night for her. Being unable to move on, grieve, or process it, she has turned to revenge as the sole objective of her life, beyond which she is unaware of anything else. But by the end of the story, the growth of the protagonist is negligible.

While I will not go into what happens in the latter half of the game and its ending, it was disappointing to see Atsu remain so staunchly personal in her actions and oblivious to the plight of others after she dismantled the heads of the major force in the land.

Even the NPCs you encounter who are part of your wolf pack do not join or rally together in the main quests to wage war against Saito or any of the Yotei Six. They are aware of what Saito's army is wreaking in Ezo and have been affected by it. But, still, there is no final payoff of them coming together.

In contrast, Ghost of Tsushima handled the micro and the macro aspects of Jin Sakai's journey in an adept fashion. The conflict between his samurai ethics and ideals against those of the Ghost, contrasted with the larger picture of the samurai against the Mongol invasion, was portrayed beautifully through layers of narrative and world-building.

Atsu in Ghost of Yotei (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

This might be a personal gripe that is not shared by many, but one that plagued me throughout my time in Ghost of Yotei, and especially after I finished it. But that is not to say I did not enjoy the story at all. Certain parts of the story, especially the proceedings in Teshio Ridge and Ishikari Plains, are perfectly told and have great synergy within the narrative and the characters.

Atsu already has access to the Onryo's Howl (a diminished form of the Ghost Stance) from the very beginning. But when she unlocks the Ghost Stance at the later stages of Ghost of Yotei, her reasoning is deeply personal (unlike that of Jin) but quite fitting in unleashing her rage.

Ghost of Yotei succeeds at what it advertises to do with its story but fails to become what it potentially could have been. Even without the pall of Ghost of Tsushima hanging over it, GoY's ending could have been better if its protagonist had an organic growth throughout the narrative.

And this and that of the rest

Playing the shamisen in Ghost of Yotei (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Ghost of Yotei shines thoroughly in its audioscape, especially in the use of the shamisen and its distinct music. With several songs for you to unlock (with some having special bonuses attached to them), the shamisen is a calming presence in the troubled land of Ezo. The voice acting also hits all the right notes.

Sucker Punch's implementation of Ghost of Yotei's three cinematic modes (Kurosawa/Miike/Watanabe) also does justice to the homage they wished to pay to the iconic Japanese film directors. While I will not suggest playing the entire game with any/all of those three turned on, they felt excellent in short bursts. I enjoyed turning on Miike's violence and Watanabe's lo-fi mood before clearing enemy camps.

There are plenty of things to do apart from main or side quests in Ghost of Yotei. Altars of Reflection, Bamboo Strikes, Pillars of the Fallen, Wolf Dens, Hot Springs, and Reliquaries are strewn about the map of Ezo. While they can get a bit repetitive, you are not forced to complete all of them. Instead, the game allows you to explore as you please.

If you are close to a point of interest, a golden bird appears and guides you to it. The organic nature of exploration in Ghost of Tsushima is well preserved in Ghost of Yotei. Apart from the aforementioned ones, you will also find Puzzle Boxes (which you will have to solve), Ainu items, Lord Saito missives (that provide context to Saito's actions), and easter eggs during your adventures.

Ugetsu, the storyteller, gives you mythic tales to chase after, like the Undying Samurai or the Crimson Kimono. I suggest using the Japanese voiceover when these tales are recounted to fully experience the gravity of these stories. The rewards from these make them well worth completing.

The world of Ghost of Yotei (Image via SK Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Ghost of Yotei also does not overstay its welcome. The main story will take roughly 30 hours to complete (depending on the difficulty you choose to play in). The side quests should be another 10 to 15 hours, with a completionist run taking a total of 60 hours. Chapter 1 is the longest, followed by Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. While I did not find an NG+ mode, the cutscenes are skippable this time around.

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In Conclusion

Sportskeeda Gaming's Ghost of Yotei review (Image via Sportskeeda)

Ghost of Yotei is a worthy spiritual successor to Ghost of Tsushima, albeit with some hiccups. It is visually gratifying, the gameplay is fluid and organic, the world is carefully brought together to be engaging, and the NPCs, for the most part, are living, breathing human beings. It does not try to be Ghost of Tsushima 2, and that works out well for the game.

The gameplay progression steadily rewards a player's tenacity through new weapons and techniques and encourages them to approach combat in a tactical manner, keeping in mind the arsenal at hand. The exploration of side quests and collectibles is not forced but definitely worth it. Even with my issues with its story, the game manages to stay true to its intentions of being a personal revenge narrative.

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• Reviewed on: PS5 (Code provided by SIE)
• Platform(s): PS5
• Developer(s): Sucker Punch
• Publisher(s): SIE
• Release date: September 2, 2025