This is popcorn gaming at its most excessive, placing us in a foreign land viewed from a Western perspective that forgoes accuracy in favour of spectacle, and in that regard it’s a resounding success. It’s a commendable effort, but one that is constantly undermined by the game’s aesthetic fetishization of classic cinema and Samurai motifs that never allow its critique of a tired historical system to land with appropriate impact. Sucker Punch Productions’ open-world adventure takes steps to deconstruct that reputation by forcing our hero to abandon his tried-and-true code and murder Mongols from the shadows, rather than stepping into the light and facing enemies head-on. Jin Sakai is a man who has spent his entire life dedicated to an archaic code, a familial tradition defined by honour, war, and a stoic commitment to shedding bloods under the pretense of protecting innocent civilians. Ghost of Tsushima is obsessed with the allure of the Samurai.
