This morning saw the debut of a stacked new, 20-minute PlayStation State of Play presentation dedicated to Sucker Punch’s upcoming open world sequel, Ghost of Yōtei, which comes to PS5 and PS5 Pro this October 2nd. The showcase featured new insight into the game’s story, exploration, combat and some fun surprises, and in case you’re yet to check it out or just don’t want to, we’ve put together a bit of a rundown on what we saw.
Or, just watch the thing right here:
As we know, this game takes place around Mt. Yotei in Ezo (now Hokkaido, Japan) some 329 years after the events of Ghost of Tsushima and stars Atsu, a warrior who folks believe is a wrathful, revengeful ghost known as an Onryō – and the reality is pretty close. Atsu is out for revenge on the Yōtei Six, a gang responsible for the slaughter of her family and will seemingly not stop at any cost, including her own life.
In the video, we get a quick look at how the game introduces Atsu’s past by way of playable flashbacks, much like in Tsushima, but here the past version of her world is impressively accessible by a quick button press. It’s not clear how embedded into the entire game that system is, but it looks neat.
Once again, the game will revolve around player freedom and exploration, Sucker Punch claiming it’s set out to make an open world experience that’s more player-driven than ever. One way it seems to be doing this is with “clues,” morsels of information presented on cards and acquired through various means and choices, that tease out new paths to follow and discoveries to uncover.
Atsu’s legend as the Ōnryo will also grow around her, drawing attention from foes and opportunists alike. But she’ll also be able to take on her own bounties across the region resulting in more of those epic one-on-one samurai battles from the previous game.
Through the examples shown, I’m not sure the open world in Yōtei will be as revolutionary as the talking points want to impress, seemingly doing what Tsushima (and the recent Assassin’s Creed Shadows) did and redressing pretty standard open world gameplay designs with classical Japanese theming. A big fuss is made about letting players explore and choose what to do at their own pace, which is definitely not an original idea – but I’m yet to play the thing, so we’ll see where it all goes. The fun and beauty in Tsushima was simply about roaming around gorgeous spaces on horseback, and those good vibes look to remain wholly in place.
Combat definitely looks like a nice evolution on the first game, with Atsu able to wield an abundance of weapon types from katana to spears, kusarigama, ōdachi and dual swords, each option proving more effective against different types of enemies and each with its own upgrade paths. The kusarigama in particular look brutally effective, with the video showing Atsu launch them into the back of an unsuspecting enemy to yank him right into her path for a bloody finish.
There still look to be plenty of samurai film-inspired clashes, but there also seems to be a lot more variety this time in the way that Atsu can initiate combat or pick enemies off individually. With more weapon and enemy variety, and the ability for both Atsu and her opponents to disarm each other, combat will hopefully be even more dynamic than before. Ranged and thrown weapons like bows, kunai, guns and more are here, too.
Atsu will occasionally fight alongside allies, too, and the presentation showed off what will no doubt become a fan-favourite – a whole-ass wolf. Players will be able to camp out in the world at night, where they can rest, play the shamisen and cook, and Atsu’s allies and vendors can even join her at your camp to give you access to insights, quest and gameplay threads, and new gear wherever you are.
There’ll be a heap of options for players’ audiovisual experience of the game too, with full Japanese voice track and lip sync available from day one and an expanded list of film-inspired modes to play in. The Kurosawa Mode treatment returns from Ghost of Tsushima, but now we also get two more.
Miike Mode emulates the work of Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, 13 Asssassins) by pulling the camera in closer during combat and adding more blood and dirt to the action, while Watanabe Mode brings the stylings of Shinichirō Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) by way of a lo-fi soundtrack directed by the man himself that’ll play during exploration and combat. Odd, perhaps, but charming for sure.
The presentation was capped off with the reveal of two very special new PlayStation 5 console designs inspired by the game, which will be launching alongside Ghost of Yōtei on October 2, 2025. You can read more about those right here.
Has this new look at Ghost of Yōtei tickled your tantō? Will this be a day one buy? Let us know in the comments or over on social media!
