2020 feels like a generation ago and this particular game game at me for my first playthrough when my grandfather passed from COVID issues. As a result, it has a very particular place inside my skull, which results in overly rose-tinted glasses. The game is not perfect, but it’s so much better than its contemporaries that even 4 years later it’s a gold standard for open world story-telling.

Without really rehashing the core plot, you play as Jin Sakai, a samurai who is trying to find a path of redemption after his known world is turned inside out by the Mongol horde. It takes very broad strokes on the concepts of honor & duty being more important that results, and through Jin, you navigate multiple storylines that see how you and other NPCs try to find a viable future. Some people are blinded by rage, others by love. Some make a set of bad decisions that simply snowball to evil. If I were to truly summarize the entire storyline, it’s how people manage grief and find peace with themselves and others. So… a tad on the nose given my state of mind when I first played this game.

The PC re-release doesn’t add any new content (assuming you played the original and Iki Island), but it does add a ton of visual enhancements. Straight to the point here – Ghost of Tsushima is friggin’ beautiful. It takes large strides to force you to slow down and appreciate the environment, with very long vistas. Many of today’s games add a ton of stuff on the screen, and make it look realistic, but few decide to give you the horizon as a goal. If the Switch actually had processing power, the closest comparison would be the recent Zelda games.

Mechanically the game still feels ahead of it’s time, with an open world with relatively minor icon sprawl. You could play most of the game without the map, as there are plenty of in-game mechanics show you a way forward. A golden bird brings you to interesting content. Following white/black smoke plumes brings you to new quests. You see a lighthouse on the horizon, you can get there. Follow a road, you’ll encounter a chunk of content das a result. Combat is focused on the parry/dodge/counter mechanics of the time. Sure, you can opt to sneak everywhere (and honestly, it’s the only option when hostages are in the mix), but you can just run right into a camp and take everyone out “with honor” if that’s your choice.

The natural flaws here are in the set of values being presented. As a modern, western society, our core set of values conflicts with what’s presented. It seems simplistic and naive. Each NPC espouses a specific set of views that are monochromatic. Taken together they paint a complex painting, but as individual pieces there’s just not much there. (Do I think that Ubisoft’s AC Shadows, set 200 years later will do better? Hell no. AC is as historically accurate as a Dan Brown novel and purposefully built that way.)

4 years later, Ghost of Tsushima remains a shining example of open world design and story structure. It is meant to be experienced, rather than played. Not too many games fit that definition. And it still hits me as hard today as it did then. Feels a bit like time travelling…