Video Game

Ghost of Yotei

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

With great gameplay, should come great story, however this game drags you through a murky and pointless story.

The Actual Review

Gameplay

From Ghost of Tsushima to this game, you could see the explosiveness of the fighting. In this one I really did feel like the different weapons made a difference in the fighting where previously you could just brute force your attacks and still win. Now, however, you can, but it will take much longer.

The weapons do also feel very individual. The Katana is such a different play style than the dual Katanas and the spear. I obviously can't remember the spears name.

One of the early thing that will upset you is the horse riding. In the first zone, every time you get on the horse is does this cinematic view and there are no real instructions on how to get rid of it. If I hadn't found a random video talking about to change it, I might have run across the whole of Japan to avoid it.

The collectables are a bit tedious honestly. Having 1000 different cosmetic issues to collect is more frustrating than useful. The foxes are still cute, but they run so far. The wolves are also a nice change. Having this random companion show up during a fight is really enjoyable change. However, finding a wolf den and then running 6000 m to fight the people that attacked it just makes no sense.

This game, instead of a Haiku, you got paintings. Those were fun and well-thought-out.

Graphics and Sound

This is where Sucker Punch excels. Their sound design for the weapons, the attacks, the music, the sound of the wind. Outstanding. I want to take a second to talk about the music and the Shamisen. Listening to it and how it is displayed in the game is very well done. There are a couple parts in the end where you play and then do the same Haiku as the previous game. Looking around and choosing different source words. Very well done.

The graphics in this game are stunning, but at the same time not as vivid. What made Ghost of Tsushima so good was beauty of the scenery. These pops of red, yellow, and white. While this game has some of that, there is this layer of darkness that takes those pops away.

Story and Characters

This is where this game just tanks. The is story about revenge, but without the dedication. There are times when the story speeds through and gives you good information and a feeling of I need to do something right now. However, most of it is this sense of running around the map to find things that are pretty obvious.

Most of the Yotei Six that you are hunting, you end up sneaking to get close to and then kill. That could have been done much earlier in the playthrough if it didn't force you to deal with tedious side stories constantly. For instance, there is a weapon master in each area that you are forced to talk for the most part to continue the mission. They usually have some quip about the person you are currently hunting for, and that leads you on. However, if you scour the map, you typically can guess how you are going to get in, but the story line stops you. It just gives you this feeling of be boxed in.

Part of that boxed in feeling is because they give you an option of whom to go after first in the story, but if you go one way, you run into an important character. If you go another way, you don't. However, there is no mention of that character at all even though if you had met him already, he would have naturally played a part. This is the continual issue, these moments of the story forgetting or intentionally not telling you about something so there moments laden with emotional undertones that just don't resonate at all. They are too forced and introduced too late in the game for them to matter. By the time you are given these emotional epiphanies for the playable character, you've already started to not care because the story is lazy.

Most of the characters are fine. That is the best thing I can say about them. There is no character that is good or awesome or anything. The story as a whole made them entirely single threaded and predictable.

My Rating

I enjoyed being back in this world, mainly because of the fighting. Compared to the last one, there was a much higher requirement to change weapons and I really enjoyed that. It was fun to switch around based on those around me and have to play accordingly. I couldn't care less about the story. In fact, all three of the hosts of the podcast stopped playing or forgot about the game because the story was so forgettable. There isn't any weight or care early enough in the game that it drives you forward. If I gave numerical scores to games, I'd give this a 4 for the story. But I think that is more a comment about my high expectations of that game that didn't pan out. So while I was not impressed, others might be and the game overall is fun. Therefore, it is "Worth a playthrough"

Parental Rating

There is limited language from what I remember. Actually I think there were a few F-bombs so most likely, my parents would not have been happy about me playing this. There is a crazy amount of violence, obviously. The "sex" component is some butt nudity when getting into the hot springs. That is it.