Ghost of Yoteiis the next hotly anticipated game from Sucker Punch, chasing 2020’s much-laudedGhost of Tsushima. Audiences are hoping thatGhost of Yoteiwill retain what worked from the first game, such as exploration, narrative, and hard-hitting combat, while targeting some areas for improvement, like stealth and encounter design.
Those are some of the most common criticisms ofGhost of Tsushima’s gameplay, at least; other facets of the game’s design have drawn their fair share of ire as well. Something particularly disappointing about the game, for many players, relates to its broader open-world design, which mostly consists of natural landscapes with little to no room left for interesting man-made structures or dense pockets of civilization. Most of the towns and settlements players visit inTsushimalook and feel about the same, with nothing more than a handful of samey merchants, and perhaps a few minor treasures to discover for good measure. In a nutshell, towns and cities can feel like an afterthought, and while it would be nice to see their screws tightened inGhost of Yotei, expectant fans shouldn’t get their hopes up.
Why Ghost of Yotei Probably Won’t Have Better Towns and Cities Than Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Yotei Is Set Even Further from Civilization
Ghost of Tsushimawas set on the titular island off the coast of Japan—not exactly close to major cities like Edo (modern-day Tokyo). This makes the modest nature of the game’s towns understandable, even if it is still a bit disappointing. IfGhost of Yoteiwere to be setcloser to some sort of city center, then it would be reasonable to expect more well-realized and robust slices of civilized society. But for better or worse, it looks like the reality of the sequel will be quite different.
Ghost of Yoteiis set in Hokkaido, an island separated from mainland Japan by the meager Tsugaru Strait. The northernmost region of Japan, Hokkaido has historically been sparsely populated, which can be attributed to a few major factors, including the low temperatures and inhospitable mountain ranges characteristic of the area. Even today, Hokkaido’s population density is among the lowest in all of Japan. Removing the modern conveniences and technological advancements that make living in such a place viable and comfortable would make Hokkaido even less appealing for settlers and city-builders, and it’s against this historic backdrop thatGhost of Yoteitakes place.
Ghost of Yoteitakes place in the early 1600s, long before Hokkaido was connected to mainland Japan by the Seikan Tunnel, an underwater railway constructed in the 1980s. This makes it even further removed from many of Japan’s more urban areas.
Ghost of Yotei Probably Won’t Have Much Civilization, but That’s Okay
Naturally, a lot of gamers want an open-world game likeGhost of Yoteito offer the most multifaceted experience possible. This is understandable—modern video games require significant time and financial investment, after all—but not every game can provide every type of experience. Indeed, whilegames likeCyberpunk 2077andGTA 5go all-in on city life, presenting audiences with detailed and dazzling metropolises, other games choose to channel the beauty of the natural world, which can often be just as exciting.
With luck, this is whatGhost of Yoteiwill be like. There are certainly ways for it to improve uponGhost of Tsushima’s environment designand open-world exploration without implementing major cities, so the omission of such attractions isn’t the end of the world. In fact, steering even further away from civilization could free Sucker Punch up for new, inventive ideas in the naturalistic open-world, giving the developer the time and space to double-down on what made exploration work so well in the first game.
Ghost of Yotei
WHERE TO PLAY
Discover a bold, new story of a warrior in Japan who is on a mission of vengeance all her own.Set 300 years after the critically acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yōtei is standalone experience set in 1600s rural Japan. The story follows a haunted, lone mercenary named Atsu. Thirsty for revenge, she travels through the beautiful, rugged landscapes of northern Japan, hunting those who killed her family many years earlier.
