Ghost of Tsushima

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This is a game where you play as a Samurai in feudal Japan during the Mongolian invasion. The most significant flaw is clearly casting the Mongolians as the villains. We all know how I feel about my boy Genghis.

This game is GORGEOUS. It's perhaps not the same photorealism as stuff like the Naughty Dog games or even Red Dead, but it makes up for it by being vibrant and brilliant. I took probably 100 screen shots during the time I played. I really can't overstate how beautiful this game is. You can be in a wood surrounded by cherry blossoms one moment, then looking up into a towering shrine the next. I don't ever have to actually go to Japan now because I lived there for 50 hours and saw all the best parts.

This game has some pretty good qualifies besides. The combat is fun and satisfying, and there are some terrific cinematic elements. Those qualities together should make this a top tier game. However, it didn't really feel top tier the whole time. This game felt incredibly bloated and repetitive, just mailing in dozens of generic side quests and minor objectives, basically all of which devolve into just killing more Mongols. I would really go hard on this game, but I really can't because the bloat isn't mandatory and again I am mad at myself for spoiling my experience by wasting so much time on the bad stuff.

The story is pretty good and I wish I would have stuck with it instead of constantly interrupting it. It touches on some really interesting themes, and those themes are explored through the gameplay which is cool. Essentially, Samurai are warriors but they fight with honor. Yet you are fighting a war, and so it's hard to win without playing some dirty tricks. The gameplay reinforces that idea because while it's more honorable to challenge the Mongols and fight them head on, it's so much easier to sneak around and kill them while they sleep. The cost of defeating these invaders is definitely explored and comes to a really climatic conclusion, yet somehow I didn't really feel convinced. Maybe it was a cultural thing, and I actually appreciate the game making me think like a Japanese warrior.

I thought this game was great. Some thought it was 2020's game of the year, and I'm not ready to go there because I don't think it did anything new but rather felt like a a fresh skin on a game I've played a dozen times. That's fine, because I'll play a million games like this so long as it puts me in new, cool settings, offers a good story and looks as breathtakingly nice as this one. It was a great 20 hour game that I unfortunately played for 50 hours. It's not the game's fault I guess, but my experience never make me feel like I was witnessing a masterpiece.