Launching as Sony's final huge PlayStation 4 exclusive before the company shift to the PlayStation 5, there's evidently a lot riding on Sucker Punch' brutal samurai game Ghost of Tsushima. With trailers showing off the game's beautiful landscapes, skillful swordplay, expansive story, and attention to detail with historical accuracy, it seems thousands of fans are ready and waiting to embark on the PlayStation 4's next blockbuster adventure.
With the game dropping this Friday, there's only one more thing fans want to know. How will Ghost of Tsushima hold up in the eyes of critics? While the game looks and sounds like it's going to be an utterly incredible look at a savagely dark period of Japanese history, players want firm confirmation that it looks as good as it plays.
Luckily for fans, reviews hit this morning, with each offering an expansive deep dive into just how well Ghost of Tsushima conveys its striking source material. From covering combat and visuals to the game's story and exploration, it seems all the information future players could ever want is now available online. So, without further ado, what do critics think about Sucker Punch's historical epic?
Game ZXC (Anthony Taormina)
The game may not be an evolution of the genre but it is one of the best versions of it. By mixing a beautiful setting with visceral combat, Ghost of Tsushima hopes that its lesser elements won’t be as bothersome and its story will be able to propel players forward. Personally, the compulsion to uncover every question mark, complete every Tale, and master the combat was very strong. If the idea of controlling a deadly Samurai in an Assassin’s Creed-style open world sounds enticing, the game more than delivers.
Screenrant (Christopher J. Teuton)
"There aren't many things completely 'new' in Ghost of Tsushima, although players likely haven't come across many navigation options as fun to use as Tsushima's Guiding Wind, or engaged in a peaceful activity like writing haiku while sitting across from a waterfall to prepare for battle, very often. It's the way Ghost of Tsushima combines elements players are both familiar and unfamiliar with that makes it such an enjoyable experience, and one which players will want to continue playing long after the credits roll. Ghost of Tsushima is the best Assassin's Creed game there is, and likely the closest many users will ever get to experiencing what it's like to be a samurai in 11th century Japan."
Score 5 / 5
Game Informer (Matt Miller)
"Ghost of Tsushima captures the mystique, fierce violence, and barely contained emotional angst of the great samurai films. The line of inspiration is clearly purposeful; Sucker Punch included a gorgeous “Kurosawa Mode,” which sets a black-and-white, film-grain, audio-treated effect that doubles down on the classic cinematic vibe. It’s well worth turning on, if only for a few missions. But even beyond that cool feature, this is a game that nails the aesthetic it’s shooting for, firmly establishing itself as the medium’s defining samurai saga"
Score: 9.5 / 10
Destructoid (Chris Carter)
"With Ghost of Tsushima under its belt, Sucker Punch deserves to be in the same conversation as Insomniac, Naughty Dog, and Sony Santa Monica. If this generation is to wrap up soon, it's fitting that it'll end with Tsushima: one of its most beautiful games thus far"
Score: 9.5 / 10
GamesRadar (Rachel Weber)
"These are minor complaints in a game that gave me packed days and nights of adventure and storytelling, made me shed a tear and Google grief support groups, and gave me a new love for the history and traditions of feudal Japan. There's so much to do, such fervent, visible love for the subject matter - from the ink brush artwork that appears in cutscenes when you're hearing a mythical tale, to the Kurosawa Mode filter that paints the world in a cinematic monochrome and was given the blessing of Akira Kurosawa’s estate. It would be understandable for developer Sucker Punch to feel nervous about releasing a game so close to the critically-acclaimed The Last of Us 2, and as PS5 glimmers on the horizon, but it shouldn't. This is a worthy swan song for the PS4, and a tribute to the Japanese culture it so clearly reveres."
Score: 4.5 / 5
IGN (Mitchell Saltzman)
"Ghost of Tsushima is an enormous and densely packed samurai adventure that often left me completely awestruck with both its visual spectacle and excellent combat. By steadily introducing new abilities instead of stat upgrades, its swordplay manages to stay challenging, rewarding, and fun throughout the entire 40 to 50 hours that it took me to beat the campaign. A few aspects are surprisingly lacking in polish in comparison to other first-party Sony games, especially when it comes to enemy AI and the stealth part of its stealth/action split. Still this is an extraordinary open-world action-adventure game that solves several issues that have long gone unaddressed in the genre, while also just being an all-around samurai slashin’ good time."
Score: 9 / 10
Gamespot (Edmond Tran)
"The game hits a lot of fantastic cinematic highs, and those ultimately lift it above the trappings of its familiar open-world quest design and all the innate weaknesses that come with it--but those imperfections and dull edges are definitely still there. Ghost of Tsushima is at its best when you're riding your horse and taking in the beautiful world on your own terms, armed with a sword and a screenshot button, allowing the environmental cues and your own curiosity to guide you. It's not quite a Criterion classic, but a lot of the time it sure looks like one."
7 / 10
VG24/7 (Kirk McKeand)
"It has its moments, but like Jin Sakai in the opening hours, the past holds it back. It’s Open World: The Video Game. It’s far too easy, too – the lack of consequence for failure makes it feel like you’re just going through the motions. If you’ll excuse the wind-based pun, it’s a breeze. While playing it, I often found my mind wandering. By the third and final act, I just wanted it to be over. Like the samurai, Ghost of Tsushima feels like a relic of a bygone era."
Score: 3 / 5
GAMINGBible (Julian Benson)
"Ghost of Tsushima is a fine open-world game. It ticks all the boxes of what you would expect it to do. Multiple biomes, a skill tree to unlock, hundreds of collectibles, crafting, a 20-hour campaign and lots of side quests. But it doesn't do anything more than that. The story it tells in its campaign seems to be actively at odds with what you do in the game, and not in a way that develops to a point. Indeed, it reads almost like a mistake. This is one of the last exclusive games for the PlayStation 4 and it's disappointing that it has nothing new to say."
Score: 6 / 10
Overall, it seems as though Ghost of Tsushima is a solid action-adventure that might not break the wheel in terms of gameplay but definitely offers a memorable experience altogether. While a number of reviews criticized its stealth gameplay and tendency to lean on generic open-world tropes, it's evident there's a truly authentic samurai experience contained within Ghost of Tsushima, to the point where many claimed it was worthy of the classic films it was heavily influenced by.
Surprisingly it seems the game has been slightly polarizing, with the scores ranging from the middle of the scale to the very top, yet, it seems how much you'll enjoy the game falls down to whether you can forgive its more traditional open-world direction. Fans won't have to wait long to see if they agree with these reviews either, with the game launching this Friday.
Ghost of Tsushima will be available on July 17, exclusively for the PlayStation 4.
