Ghost of Tsushima’s journey began years ago, with a presentation at E3 2018 that attracted players from all over the world to a title that promised a samurai adventure in a beautiful and hostile environment. Last year, Ghost of Tsushima might have been overshadowed by PS4’s big release of 2020: The Last of Us Part II. Curiously and despite less than a month of difference between the launch of one and the other, both titles managed to coexist wonderfully in terms of sales and, above all, in reception.
For many players, Ghost of Tsushima is among the best games of last year and it is not for less. The way in which the Sucker Punch title approaches the open world gameplay is a breath of air to somewhat stagnant mechanics and repeated ad nauseam. On the other hand, the beauty of the island of Tsushima is enhanced with an artistic section that left colorful and varied images.
Tomorrow, more than a year after its initial release, Ghost of Tsushima arrives with a new version, a Director’s Cut that is something like the definitive version. A way to unite remastering and expansion to release a full pack on PS5, while PS4 also receives some quality of life improvements and the Iki Island expansion. Without further ado, we bring you the Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut review for PS5.
A great game at its best
One of the things that the end of each generation brings us is that the developers do everything possible to get every last drop of power and performance out of machines that have been with us for more than 7 years. The PS4 solo end of life brought us The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima and after this Director’s Cut of the Sucker Punch game, it is clear that we can expect a similar version of the Naughty Dog game.
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is played on PS5 taking advantage of the capabilities of Sony’s next-generation console, which translates into a dynamic 4k resolution with image reconstruction techniques (very effective, as we saw in Ratchet and Clank: A Dimension Apart) to have a frame rate of 60 fps.
To these technical improvements must be added PS5’s new 3D audio, powered by the console’s Tempest engine. This new audio model gives the game a life of its own, since if we play with headphones we will notice our surroundings more alive than ever, something that is more than appreciated in a title where there are so many animals and sounds of nature such as Ghost of Tsushima.
Last but not least, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut has Dualsense support on PS5. This support makes the triggers adapt when tightening our bow, for example, or that we have haptic feedback on the rear panel of the control, giving our experience greater immersion.
In the technical section we could also mention minor improvements, but which I have personally appreciated, such as better lip syncing of characters with Japanese dubbing, something that was criticized in the original version of the game on PS4. In this Director’s Cut, the way in which Japanese dubbing matches the movements of the characters’ mouths has been improved. So far the improvements regarding the PS5 version. Now it’s time to comment on what we thought about the Iki Island expansion, which will also be available on PS4.
On a trip to the island of Iki
Starting our trip to the island of Iki should be easy if we have already played the main title. If we are new to Ghost of Tsushima We will have to advance to Act 2 of the main game. Once there we can start the mission that takes us to Iki. Once we start the expansion we will not be able to return to the main island until after a certain point in the story, but hey, we recommend that you follow the natural flow of the game and if you are new you finish the main game and then fully immerse yourself in the expansion of Iki, since the content is completely independent.
Iki Island is, as they tell from Sucker Punch, a way to continue Jin’s journey and to give fans a little more of what they loved so much in the game last year. Although what we are going to find is basically a structure very similar to that of the main game, the new enemies will add some diversity to the confrontations.
Ankhsar Khatun is the leader of a Mongol tribe that has decided to take the island of Iki and that it will result in a threat to the people of Tsushima, so to avoid their arrival on the island that we are or have already liberated, we will try to eradicate their presence as soon as possible.
The fact that the rival leader is a shaman It allows the confrontations to be less conventional and certain hallucination components are often used, something similar to that seen in the Wrath of the Druids expansion of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
The fact is that we cannot comment much on the plot of this expansion either, since beyond respect for the developers, who insisted that the end-user experience be the freest of any clue or possible gut, we feel that this is content made by and for fans of Ghost of Tsushima, since beyond this new island and enemies we will also get answers about Jin himself and his mythical clan.
Regarding the duration of Iki Island, you must hope that it will keep you entertained for more or less the hours that its own creators commented, being about 15-20 hours of new content, exploration, mysteries and adventure.
The definitive version accompanied by a more than worthy expansion
Iki Island serves to follow the adventures of Jin Sakai and give new content to some fans who loved the title that Sucker Punch released last 2020, while the improved version of PS5 makes us face the definitive vision (or in this case, the “director’s cut”) with everything type of improvements in the technical and quality of life section, accompanied by the use of DualSense components that provide greater immersion to an already excellent game in terms of setting.
Along with the news discussed, obviously the game comes with all the content of the original title, as well as the Legends expansion, which takes us to online confrontations and which will receive a free expansion for both PS4 and PS5 called Rivals on September 3. Unfortunately, we could not test Legends mode, since Sucker Punch alleges that they want the experience we report to be the same as that of end users as of August 20.
While various elements can be discussed such as ways to transfer games from PS4 to PS5 or pricing policies such as having to pay to upgrade your game from PS4 to PS5, the reality is that the global product that is Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut on PS5 is excellent, being the definitive version of one of the best games that we could enjoy on our PS4. Now the only thing left is that Sucker Punch, in addition to continuing with the Jin saga, is also encouraged to launch a new InFamous. For asking that it does not remain …
▪ Release date: 07/17/2020