Developer Sucker Punch Productions’ Nate Fox and Jason Connell, co-directors of Ghost of Yōtei, appeared in voice today for an 18-minute presentation detailing a bit of the game’s story and new features ahead of its release on PlayStation 5 on October 2.
In Ghost of Yōtei, players control Atsu, who the citizens of Ezo (which contains Mount Yōtei) seee as the Onryō, a ghost hellbent on revenge. The rumors circulating around her are not entirely untrue, as she is out for revenge and will stop at nothing to achieve it. Atsu’s family was slaughtered by the Yōtei Six, a group that she has sworn to kill one by one. After her family is killed, Atsu left Ezo, but has returned 16 years later fully prepared to act out her plan of vengeance.
The showcase for the game shows that, when returning to Atsu’s childhood home, players can push a button to instantly travel back in time to when Atsu was a child to gain a better understanding of her past and her family. It’s unclear where this ability is limited to, but the technology looks impressive.
As players explore the world and get into trouble, they will collect cards that represent clues and potential locations to explore. When you interrogate a character after defeating them, you will apparently get a choice of cards. Some cards will push you towards interesting places with upgrades. Others will show you where to get into fights. The card system is how you will keep track of various missions.
Also, as you fight on your path to take down the Yōtei Six, your reputation will grow, as will your bounty, making Atsu more susceptible to random passerby trying to start trouble. Atsu can also chase bounties herself, which will be part of the card collection system.
In terms of exploration, Sucker Punch showed Atsu sliding down a hill, a new ability, and finding an Altar of Reflection, which gives her access to new abilities. You can buy maps to important locations from cartographers, but taking some inspiration from Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Atsu can also look through a spyglass in the distance and mark interesting locations players want to explore without ever entering a menu.
As was the case in Tsushima, the wind will guide you to your new destination, but Fox and Connell point out that you can now guide your horse through paths of flowers to ride faster.
Fox and Connell also made frequent points that the game is designed to be taken at whatever pace players want. Along with story missions and exploration, Atsu was briefly shown playing a game with coins sliding across a table and cutting down bamboo, just as Jin Sakai did in Ghost of Tsushima.
When you’re not riding your horse and playing games, Atsu gets into fights and uses a broader range of weapons than Jin. She can use a katana, kusarigama, ōdachi, dual swords, or spear. She also has access to bows and arrows, muskets, kunai, bombs, and blinding powder. Her arsenal is deep.
In one sequence shown, Atsu grabbed an enemy from a distance using a kusarigama to pull them close and kill them. Then she threw a spear at an enemy from a distance before closing in with dual swords to the rest of the group. She has no qualms with using whatever is necessary to win a fight. We also saw a stealth sequence where Atsu took out a collection of three enemies at high speed without alerting anyone, much like Batman was able to do in Arkham Knight. Weapons can be changed mid-combat, and it will apparently be necessary for each fight to move between weapons.
We also learned at least a little more about animal companions. Atsu has a wolf with her, or can choose to have a wolf with her, and we saw a scene where the wolf helped her take down an enemy very quickly.
In the open world, Atsu can set up camps to rest and cook food, but it will also make various characters and peddlers show up. The implication from the presentation is Atsu can set up camp and invite specific peddlers to join her where she can buy various tools, weapons, clothes. Sucker Punch showed off tons of various clothes options and combinations. These various character-based shops will let you know when they have new inventory.
Two music tracks from the game from composer Toma Otowa are apparently immediately available on various streaming services. The soundtrack is using Eastern instrumentation with Western flavors to hopefully craft something unique and authentic.
The game, at launch, will be playable in Japanese with English subtitles, and Sucker Punch has once again partnered with famed Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa’s estate for Kurosawa mode. This mode allows you to play the game in black and white, adds film grain and audio effects and more. But Kurosawa isn’t the only director Sucker Punch is working with. Miike mode, inspired by director Takashi Miike (13 Assassins, Ichi the Killer), zooms the camera in closer and adds more blood and mud. Watanabe mode, inspired by director Shin’ichirô Watanabe (Samaurai Champloo, Cowboy Bobop) lets players explore while listening to lo-fi beats that have been curated by Watanabe.
Photo mode is also making a return, which is good news as it produced some of the most impressive photo mode images of the previous generation of consoles. One photo during the segment showed Atsu with a bear. Maybe it’s another friendly animal partner?
Ghost of Yōtei is coming to PlayStation 5 on October 2. So far? It looks fantastic.