Ghost of Tsushima Iki Island review: two types of ghosts

There are two Tsushima ghosts. One is an exquisitely crafted open-world game that, while highly derivative, offers one of the smoothest blockbuster and action experiences in recent memory – a beautiful, finely tuned adventure that offers endless rewards with minimal friction for those who they keep playing. The other is the video game version of a guy who only communicates in movie references, so in love with his idea of ​​movies he endlessly reminds that it becomes impossible to connect with anyone underneath. First Ghost it’s flattering to consider. The latter is shameful.

The awkward title of the latest edition of the game, Ghost of Tsushima Director Cut, increases that tension between these two philosophies of considering the game. It indicates that it is the best version of the epic samurai that made the exclusive PlayStation 4 2020 a hit with gamers, but it does so with a term clumsily taken from the movie, one that completely falls apart when you think about it for more than a second. . (How is this a different “cut” from the video game? What was removed or restored? Why doesn’t the original version deserve this distinction?)

Tsushima ghost is far from the only game to be re-released with this nomenclature, and Sucker Punch developers may feel the same way as Hideo Kojima, who noted that while it is a “director’s cut” from Death stranded is being released, it is not your preferred term. But Ghost by Tsushima, more than other games, invites that comparison, because it is openly a tribute to a very narrow portion of samurai cinema, the kind that is idealized in the West, where it is imported with love and reworked in westerns or Star Wars.

Inviting players to think about the world outside of their lovely little sandbox has proven problematic for Tsushima ghost. The Kurosawa tribute it purports to be crumbles when the acclaimed filmmaker’s catalog is seriously considered. Its status as a work of historical fiction is on equally shaky ground, as its version of 13th century Japan is one that appears to be steeped in propaganda rather than true history. Tsushima ghostThe admirable personal story saw the protagonist Jin Sakai reconsidering the samurai style, but in practice his examination was one of methodology, not politics or culture. Jin, the samurai of Tsushima, called on his enemies to face them one by one on the battlefield in “honorable” duels. But an invasion by the Mongols forced Jin to turn into a ghost and cause a “dishonorable” death from the shadows to save his home.

But the samurai style meant something different in history than it did in the main campaign of Tsushima ghost. The Iki Island expansion begins to question that, if only briefly. It begins when Jin discovers a town suffering from a mysterious mental affliction. Upon arrival, Jin learns that another Mongol clan led by a shaman named Anshar Khatoun, known to his followers as The Eagle, is gathering power on the nearby island of Iki. This island has great significance for Jin Sakai: it is where he saw his father die.

That childhood trauma forms the backbone of Ghostexpansion, and is the source of your most interesting ideas. The main story of Iki Island finds Jin hiding his identity as the new Lord Sakai to defeat the Eagle with the help of the so-called “raiders” who killed his father. In his conversations with them, Jin is forced to consider another time, when the invaders were not Mongols, but samurai, and his father was the one who committed the same kind of violence against the invaders for which Jin detests Mongols.

All this, according to the developers, at the service of “a story about healing. “In the roughly six hour run time of the new campaign, GhostThe Iki Island expansion presents these ideas, but never finds the space to delve into them, nor does it give much credence to the pain the raiders endured. Jin’s alliance of convenience is enough, in the end. Tsushima ghostThe vision of healing does not imply justice, but rather the cloying image of two people shaking hands across the aisle, reducing decades of violence to a mere disagreement that can be resolved with some sick teams. (To be fair: teams is it so ill.)

One of the reasons Tsushima ghost It’s so engaging to play it comes down to developer commitment. While many reviews, including ours, highlight the fact that you’ve seen pretty much everything Tsushima ghost has to offer elsewhere, it is also a game so fully committed to its samurai theme that all of its systems and mechanics are mass-marketed feel made to size. As the game asks you to do old video game stuff, like engaging in stealth combat or mixing light and heavy attacks, to name a couple, it also allows you to challenge enemies to engagements; Launch duels that strip you of everything but your sword to briefly transform into a game of deadly fighting; allows you to play the flute to attract the animals closer as a pet. He does all of this with a careful eye for presentation that is constantly looking to reward players while at the same time getting out of his way. Yes Tsushima ghost was their first video game, it would be tempting to think that they invented all this for the first time.

The care present in Tsushima ghostThe design makes your undercooked version of your own ideas harder to forgive. He takes his themes seriously and becomes a story about a feudal landowner who discovers that maybe life isn’t about him, but is centered on him anyway. The Jin Sakai that players engage with through the game, the Jin Sakai who composes haikus, loves animals enough to play them little tunes on his flute, he never knew a row of bamboo that he didn’t want to cut for fun. , seems to have the interiority that the Jin Sakai of GhostThe narrative does not. One is a thoughtful guy that you might want to hang out with. The other is not. It’s a bit embarrassing.

Ghost of Tsushima Directors Edit was released on August 20 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. The game was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a pre-launch download code provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Vox Media has affiliate associations. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.