Summary
Sucker Punch’sGhost of Tsushimawas a surprise hit when it landed in 2020, offering up an incredibly captivating and unique gaming experience largely unlike anything before it. Its open world made the most significant contribution to its praise, as it immersed players in a gorgeous recreation of the environments and landscapes offeudal Japanthat they likely didn’t realize at the moment would still be talked about years later. Even so,Ghost of Tsushimawasn’t perfect by any means. This is where its successor,Ghost of Yotei, has a chance to shine even brighter — particularly, in one major area.
There are a lot of thingsGhost of Yoteicould do to improve upon the formula of its predecessor, with its open-world approach arguably being chiefest among them. However, evenGhost of Tsushima’s narrative, engaging as it was, didn’t manage to live up to expectations by the time the credits rolled, and it all came down to how it chose to end things. It’s tough to argue thatGhost of Tsushimadidn’t have an emotionally-charged conclusion, but it made an implicit promise that it, for some reason, refused to keep. Fortunately,Ghost of Yoteican now follow through with that promise and give players what they should have had in the first game.
Ghost of Yotei Needs to Make Up for Tsushima’s Ending
Ghost of Tsushima’s Choice-Driven Ending Went Nowhere
Ghost of Tsushima’s story is very compelling and thought-provoking, as the internal conflict present with its protagonist,Jin Sakai, is both relatable to players and almost understandable from an objective point of view. Jin saw that the odds were stacked against the people of Tsushima Island when the Mongols invaded, and he considered it his personal responsibility to do whatever it takes to protect the island, even if it meant forsaking his own honor and the code he was raised to observe. Unfortunately, a story is often only as good as its conclusion, and while that isn’t necessarily wholly the case inGhost of Tsushima, its conclusion certainly made the conflict its narrative held so dear fall somewhat flat in the end.
Just as Jin struggles off and on with abandoning the honorable conduct of a samurai in favor of a more dishonorable approach that increases his odds of success, players are given the option at theend ofGhost of Tsushimato choose the honorable path by killing Lord Shimura after defeating him in battle, or the dishonorable path by walking away and letting him live. While the choice is reflective of the conflict that takes place both within Jin and with Shimura throughout the story, the choice that players make largely goes nowhere, as it has no effect on the epilogue.
Unfortunately, a story is often only as good as its conclusion, and while that isn’t necessarily wholly the case inGhost of Tsushima, its conclusion certainly made the conflict its narrative held so dear fall somewhat flat in the end.
Once the final battle is over between Jin and Shimura inGhost of Tsushima, the only real effect it has on the gameplay that follows is in the form of some dialogue. Apart from that, nothing really changes. This choice is made even more pointless by the fact thatGhost of Yoteiis not only set 300 years afterGhost of Tsushima, but it features an entirely different protagonist as a result. In other words, there’s no reason to believe thatGhost of Yoteiwill do anything with the choice that was made at the end ofGhost of Tsushima.
Ghost of Yotei’s Choice-Driven Gameplay Needs to Impact Its Future
That being said,Ghost of Yoteicould and should still make up for the way its predecessor concluded its own story. Sucker Punch has confirmed thatGhost of Yoteiwill consider players' choices more thoroughly this time around, which potentially means big things for its ending. Nevertheless,Ghost of Yoteican’t simply give players a big choice at the end of the game; that choice needs to have an impact that carries over into its epilogue — assuming, of course, that it will have aepilogue likeGhost of Tsushima.
Atsu’s story of “underdog vengeance,“as Sucker Punch calls it, inGhost of Yotei, could see her faced with a thought-provoking choice at the end of its narrative. Perhaps players will get to choose once again whether to kill or spare a certain individual, though the context is likely to be much different inGhost of Yoteithan it was inGhost of Tsushima. Either way, whatever choice or choices players make throughoutGhost of Yotei’s story or at its conclusion should be seen, felt, and experienced in its epilogue, effectively making up for its predecessor’s misstep.
