Ghost of Tsushima takes gamers back to the year 1274 in feudal Japan. Assuming control over the samurai Jin Sakai, it's up to players to stop an occupational force of Mongol invaders who have taken over the island and are now setting their sights on the rest of Japan in Ghost of Tsushima's story. While it's important to learn new techniques for defeating foes, it's just as essential to keep Jin's equipment shiny and spotless.
Over the course of the main story, Jin will have to liberate the different parts of Tsushima island that have been overrun by Mongols. The only solution is to kill them, and players have many options from stealthy assassinations to cutting them down in a Standoff. However, Jin's katana will become more dirty over time as it's dyed red from the blood of Mongols. Thankfully, players who don't want to be seen as a manslayer all the time can opt to clean the blade.
Cleaning the Sword
Unlike many of the prompts and commands in-game, cleaning Jin's katana doesn't involve pushing or holding down any buttons. Instead, players have to swipe right across the PS4 controller's touchpad. For anyone who hasn't used it before, the touchpad is the square area set in the middle. If done correctly, Jin will execute a special move to flick the blood away. But the animation does take a fair bit of time, so it's advised to finish off all enemies or scare them away before swiping for some style points.
In addition to cleaning the blood off, this move is also the only way to manually sheath Jin's sword. Although Jin automatically puts away his weapon after leaving combat for a set amount of time, players can take advantage of this controllable action to get the perfect moment in anime or movie-style fashion.
Since there isn't any benefit to cleaning Jin's blade or leaving blood there to rust, why is this feature part of the game? As Sucker Punch took painstaking lengths to make Jin's journey as realistic as possible, it's unlikely that actual samurai would neglect to maintain their katanas in favor of displaying such stains as a trophy or mark of honor. Furthermore, the move gives some variety to player choice rather than locking them into the same forced animation throughout the story and combined with the beautiful in-game settings make for some incredible images especially in photo mode.
In the end, cleaning the sword isn't a requirement to finish fights or progress the plot. But the option is always there for Ghost of Tsushima players to feel like they're taking a step in Jin's sandals.
Ghost of Tsushima is now available for the PS4.
Source: AllGamers
