By: Tyler Miller
This afternoon we got a brand new State of Play about Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, in which we got a nice, detailed look at gameplay, in addition to some extra features that the game has in store. Let’s break it all down.
Exploration
For a while now, many have wondered how the act of exploring and traversing the world of Tsushima will be like and that was the first thing addressed in the video. The team at Sucker Punch is striving for deep immersion in the game, so whenever you set a waypoint on your map, a Guiding Wind appears in the world for you to follow. If you lose your way, you can easily call on the Guiding Wind again to see where to go.
As you ride your horse throughout the world (which you can call to you), you’ll come across materials that you can collect while on your horse and other visual indicators that will show you where different tasks or locations are. Some shown examples of this were birds that will fly alongside you as a guide towards hidden locations, smokestacks indicating people in need of help, and foxes that will guide you to hidden shrines.
Combat
Combat is broken into two distinct styles. You can go into fights as Jin, the Samurai, and focus more on face to face fights; or Jin, the Ghost, which is centered around stealth. We were first shown Jin fighting as a Samurai. When you encounter enemies, you can enter a classic samurai standoff with them which results with enemies being taken down with a single strike. If you choose to fight them in a more traditional way, parrying enemies will open them up for attacks. There are also different combat stances for you to use. Changing up your stance during fights is key to causing as much damage as possible against different enemy types.
We were then shown Jin going through the same scenario, except this time as the Ghost. Distractions such as firecrackers and smoke bombs were used to lure enemies out and distract them, opening them up to attacks. Ninja kunai are also available for quick ranged attacks. When fighting as the Ghost, the Mongols learn to fear you. This is something that can be used to your advantage. In the gameplay, this was demonstrated with two enemies running away from Jin, although one of them didn’t make it away alive.
There’s also a grappling hook that can be used for climbing or swinging across gaps. Jin used this to sneak aboard a boat in the enemy shipyard that he was trying to destroy. This portion of the gameplay ended with him successfully completing that mission.
Customization
Players will be able to customize Jin’s look throughout the game. His armor can be changed up and it’s not just for cosmetic purposes. Each piece of armor offers gameplay advantages that can enhance your play style. There are dye flowers in the world that you can collect and use to change the color of your armor to fit whatever appearance you like. Charms are items you can find that give you different gameplay benefits. You also earn technique points to use for unlocking new abilities.
Extra Features
The game will be coming with a Photo Mode that is incredibly deep. Not only can you mess around with things such as filters, faces, and depth of field. You can also alter the particles that are in the photo, the speed and direction of wind, and add music tracks if you want to record a video.
For those that want to be completely immersed in the world, there will be a Japanese voice track available for use from the very start of the game. This will come with English subtitles of course. And as an extra neat little feature, there is a mode called “Samurai Cinema” that applies black-and-white film grain filter over the action, making it look more like classic samurai films. This can also be enabled from the very start of the game.
That’s all the new information that we got from the State of Play today, but Sucker Punch did promise that more will be coming soon in the lead up to the game’s July 17 launch.
TheComfySpot 