Yesterday’s PlayStation State of Play revealed a collection of new and upcoming games coming to PS5 and PS VR2, one of which is Ghost of Yotei, the newly announced follow-up to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima. Ghost of Yotei is and isn’t a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima but don’t let that deter you from being interested. If you played the original game, whether on PS4, PS5, or the more recently launched PC port, then have faith that Sucker Punch is going to knock it out of the park again with this next game.
Sucker Punch confirms the game will be launching in 2025, however, the studio has not given out a specific release date.
Recently announced Ghost of Yotei is not a true sequel, and that’s perfectly fine
While the game isn’t a true sequel, it is the continuation of Sucker Punch’s Ghost series. The game sees a new protagonist, Atsu, taking the reigns in place of the first game’s main character Jin Sakai. And there’s a very good reason for that. Ghost of Yotei takes place a few hundred years after the story events of Ghost of Tsushima. If the name didn’t give it away, Ghost of Yotei also takes place in a new setting. The game will still be set in Japan. However, it’s much further northeast of Tsushima Island in the region of Ezo, which is known as Hokkaido today, and is where you’ll find Mount Yotei.
The game also takes place in the 1600s, specifically 1603. This puts the game’s getting at the very beginning of the Edo period in Japan. And it’s likely that this fact will play into the narrative somehow. Having said that, Sucker Punch isn’t sharing a whole lot of detail about the game currently. Nothing about the narrative has been mentioned. The studio does show off a trailer that has a mix of cinematics and gameplay footage.
Based on Ezo’s (Hokkaido’s) size compared to Tsushima and other regions of Japan, we’re hoping the size of the game’s map will be just as big if not bigger than that of Ghost of Tsushima. Additionally, the game features several new gameplay mechanics. Sucker Punch says it’s being built from the ground up for PS5. That means we’ll no doubt see some PS5 Pro features being taken advantage of.
Prepare for new combat mechanics, new weapons, and more
While the trailer doesn’t reveal loads of information, you can pick out some details about new gameplay mechanics. There will be new weapon types to use and most assuredly new combat tactics or abilities that go along with them. A big part of Ghost of Tsushima’s combat was the way you could unlock a variety of abilities through different sword stances. As well as the various “Ghost” abilities that leaned more heavily into stealth combat.
In Ghost of Yotei, Atsu is given some shiny new ways to fight enemies. The two most obvious additions are the ability to dual-wield katanas, and the kusarigama. At the end of the trailer, you can also briefly see Atsu use a rifle of some kind. We also see Atsu carrying a Shamisen on her back, which I’m hoping is used in some way to hide another set of weapons to use at her disposal. However, it’s likely this could be used as the new instrument to change the weather. Similar to how Jin Sakai used a flute in Ghost of Tsushima.
If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, you can view it below. Or you can watch the entire State of Play here.
