Ghost of Tsushima Review 2025 (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC)

Guest Blog post by Adam Foster @AngelicWiganer / @snoopfozziefozz

Is Ghost of Tsushima worth playing in 2025?

I recently have devoted a lot of time to my PlayStation 5. This has been as a result of obtaining a PlayStation Portal. It’s been the best thing I have bought. In my house where we have a wife and two small children who are all vying for control of the main television in the house, it’s been a delight to just let them fight for control while I sit on my portal happily playing away. So, I’ve been taking some time to catch up on these first party games from Sony to see what the fuss is all about.
 
Ghost of Tsushima at its premise sees you play as Jin Sakai in a third person action game. He is part of a clan who is seeking to gain revenge and retake his uncle’s castle, following on from an invasion from Khotun Khan and the Mongol army who invaded the island of Tsushima back in 1274. Jin attempts to do this on his own but following an unsuccessful attempt he realises he must gain allies to make this happen. Whilst doing so and defeating smaller Mongol armies along the way, he has his own internal battle of whether to stick to honourable samurai codes or using more tactical ways whilst maintaining minimal casualties.
 
As the story develops Jin is referred to as “The Ghost” and his new methods of combat do not go down well with his uncle Lord Shimura who insists that these methods are dishonourable and ultimately will make him a traitor of The Shogun who will want him executed, even if Jin successfully stops the Mongol invasion.
 
When Sucker Punch started development of GoT in 2017, they wanted a game which had much more emphasis on melee combat than their previous games. They certainly achieve that here. Jin’s main form of combat is with his katana blade. You start off with a basic stance, but the further you progress through the game, the more stances you will unlock. In addition to this you will also gain items to aid you in combat such as throwing darts, bow and arrow, smoke bombs and my personal favourite the poison blow darts.
 
Although the game does have a clear, linear story, you can go wherever you like as its set in an open world, and the graphics are beautiful. It is clear the world has been inspired by other games such as Shadow of the Colossus as the area is full of serene grass lands and mountains and rivers. You also have the option of playing the game in three diverse ways. I played normally with an English Dub; you have the option of Japanese dub or playing in a cinema style in Black and White too.
 
To complete the game just following the main story took me around 25-30 hours to complete, if you want to unlock everything, suits, attire, then you are looking at close to sixty hours. If I were to describe what Ghost of Tsushima was then for me it’s a very slow burner.

Jin is poised and ready for battle

You can choose to be more sneaky

The first act really feels like a chore at times to get through and only really feels like it gets going once you unlock more stances and combat skills with your technique points.
​
I’m not saying the game isn’t enjoyable, in places it was fantastic, and you really get into the combat and develop a real satisfaction when you have taken out multiple enemies in a short space of time.
 
What lets the game down for me is the lack of depth in the main story, it barely scratches I feel what could have been an epic game. Sucker Punch have focused too much on what all the generic samurai film tropes are without giving some time an attention to each character and what they bring to the plot in general.
 
It is all very well and good having a beautiful looking game with a fantastic combat system and wonderful levelling up. But if the story is not there to carry that, then you lose the desire to carry on with the game.
 
I am glad I persevered, even if the ending of the game was slightly anti-climactic. Is Ghost of Tsushima a great game. No, not by any stretch of the imagination. For me, it doesn’t come close to having the polish and class that other first party games have had such as The Last of Us, God of War: Ragnarök, Spider-Man 2 etc. But its decent enough to warrant a playthrough.
 
With the recently announced Ghost of Yotei coming to PlayStation soon, one can only hope that Sucker Punch can build on this game and truly make a wonderful sequel on what will elevate the “Ghost” franchise to new levels.

​Guest Blog post by Adam Foster @AngelicWiganer / @snoopfozziefozz