During this years’ Game Awards, Sucker Punch, the studio behind PS4-exclusive titles such as the Infamous series, finally revealed a release date for their new game, Ghost of Tsushima. They also released a new trailer, which really left me wanting more.

Ghost of Tsushima has been in development for more than 5 years now, and ever since its first reveal back in 2015, I was hooked. The game ticks all the boxes required to up my excitement level when it comes to games. A huge, beautiful open world, massive single-player campaign, and RPG mechanics. All in a setting of feudal Japan, complete with Shoguns, Samurai, and epic sword fights.

What exactly is Ghost of Tsushima?

From all that we know so far, Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world action RPG, taking place in the year 1274. According to the developers, you are playing the main protagonist Jin Sakai, who is fighting Mongolian invaders on a small island, situated between Japan and Korea. The island’s name: Tsushima.

The year is 1274. Samurai warriors are the legendary defenders of Japan—until the fearsome Mongol Empire invades the island of Tsushima, wreaking havoc and conquering the local population. As one of the last surviving samurai, you rise from the ashes to fight back. But honorable tactics won’t lead you to victory. You must move beyond your samurai traditions to forge a new way of fighting—the way of the Ghost—as you wage an unconventional war for the freedom of Japan. Andrew Goldfarb, Sucker Punch

While you progress through the storyline, you will level up your character and gear, and in typical RPG fashion, learn new skills until you eventually become the Ghost of Tsushima. A feared warrior that strikes from the shadows, quickly killing his enemies with surgical precision.

Combat focusses on sword fights with your Katana and other weapons. You take on groups of enemies with various combo-attacks, parrying, and counter-attacks. You can also attack from range with a bow. There will be numerous boss fights throughout the game, including the side missions. As seen in the 2018 E3 trailer where we watch Jin fight against the Ronin Masako. The same trailer also shows quite a bit of stealth action.

Ghost of Tsushima release date and a new trailer

Ghost of Tsushima, which is a PS4-exclusive title, will be released in summer 2020. Alongside the release date, Sucker Punch and Sony presented a new trailer during the 2019 Game Awards show. The cinematic trailer is over 4 minutes long and shows a bunch of gameplay scenes. It was the longest trailer of the entire show.

Ghost of Tsushima – Game Awards 2019 cinematic trailer

Similarities to Assasins Creed, The Witcher, Shadow of Mordor

While watching the trailer, I was immediately reminded of early Assassins Creed games. You see the game’s protagonist sitting on top of a high building, watching his enemies from above, before lunging down on a foe, killing him with his sword as he lands on him.

Later in the trailer, we can watch Jin fighting multiple opponents with his sword, throwing fire- and smoke grenades onto his opponents. In another scene, we can see Jin scaling horizontally on cliff ridges and buildings. All this reminds me of some of the core mechanics of Assassins Creed. While the swordplay and lunging off buildings also reminds of Shadow of Mordor. And last but not least – and I really don’t want to stretch it here – I had to think about The Witcher 3, seeing Jin explore the vast open-world on a horseback.

Ghost of Tsushima – A sight to behold

Speaking of open-world: Ghost of Tsushima is a beautiful game. Very beautiful. It has a very interesting art style and I don’t think I exaggerate when I say “art”. A common scene throughout the game is the lush vegetation, which is animated in a very unique way. Huge amounts of leaves are swept up by the wind, swirling through the air almost everywhere. Large grass plains and blossoming trees seem to move in unison when the wind blows across. It almost looks like a choreographed dance. The developers even included a rare occurrence of leaves forming the shape of faces when the camera hovers above the scene.

In the new trailer, we get to see the massive open world of Ghost of Tsushima. Vast landscapes, snowy mountain ranges, huge forests, villages and towns. We also get a glimpse of changing weather cycles and seasons. Part of the game seems to be taking place during harsh, icy winters while other parts of the trailer seem to be showing bright and sunny summer times, as well as colorful autumn and spring scenes.

According to Sucker Punch, Ghost of Tsushima is the biggest game world they have ever created, by a wide margin.

Let me close by showing you some more in-game photos. What do you think about the game and its beautiful world? Let us know in the comments section below.