![]() Combat feels cinematic, dense, and tactile, a blessed relief from lesser games' systems, whose bloated, chunky mechanics often feel weightless, primitive or downright dull. The use of different stances may become a little arbitrary over time, in the sense that each stance is designed to be effective against a very rigid set of enemy classes, but it's a welcome touch of variety and authenticity that many other games fail to capture. Ghost of Tsushima's combat is a triumph, feeling meaty, varied and exceptionally well-balanced. If the next Ghost of Tsushima continues Jin's engrossing journey from honor-bound warrior to morally ambiguous savior of Japan, it must maintain the themes and conflicts that made its predecessor such an emotionally resonant piece of work. The danger is that a sequel could undermine the story it so carefully crafted in the first game if it fails to pay any attention to narrative whatsoever in favor of flashy visuals and gimmicky mechanics. RELATED: Horizon Zero Dawn's Most Morally Ambiguous Ally Has a Surprisingly Wholesome Arc Video games are increasingly treating their stories with the care and attention once reserved for other media, and the maturity and emotional resonance of the Ghost's climactic finale is one of the finest in recent memory. The story of Jin Sakai's internal struggle between the traditional values of his ancestral home and his emergent realization that he will have to break with said values to defeat the fearsome Mongol invasion is one of the major reasons for the game's undeniable success. If the Ghost franchise is to forge its own identity, it has to do something to deviate from a blueprint that is becoming increasingly tired and frustratingly generic. Side missions only ever involved either finding an item or killing some generic enemies (often at the same time), while the essential AAA open-world template of most modern Ubisoft titles seemed to have been lifted and used directly by Sucker Punch, safe in the knowledge that it was a dependable fit. While there's nothing inherently wrong with the format, Ghost of Tsushima's main problem was tying itself too tightly to it. All take place in an explorable open world, many have stealth elements, and almost all have some form of crafting, collectibles, and fast traveling. ![]() Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, Horizon Zero Dawn, and even The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon are following the same basic template. At this point, there can't be many triple AAA players who aren't growing slightly tired of the typical open-world formula that has become so prevalent over the last decade. ![]()
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