not to be missed, last night's State of Play was an opportunity to discover more about the highly anticipated Ghost of Tsushima. After a fairly full 18-minute demonstration, a majority of players seem to be disappointed. This is not my opinion and I will therefore try to explain myself below, hoping to open the debate.
A real AAA production
As much to give you directly my opinion on the alleged downgrade so described: I do not know what you saw, but I saw an absolutely magnificent game and this, despite the very average quality of the PlayStation stream (compression artifact too visible ). I think the PS4 Pro is spitting its guts with Ghost of Tsushima. And I’d like to say to those who say the game is a thousand leagues from Red Dead Redemption 2, that they should wait to see the game actually turn before their eyes rather than judge on a compressed stream. Without being an expert in compression, we can also quite easily guess the faults that are the video and the faults that really fall to the game. For my part, apart from some slightly light textures, I find that the title of Sucker Punch puts full view. The lights are sublime, the effects of particles and impressive winds and overall the modlisations are top-notch. And the display distance is frankly convincing (there are still quite a few details of several hundred meters).
I find even more surprising the gamers claiming that Sony is, in any case, the champion of the downgrade. Perhaps they stopped at the reveal of the PS3 and its famous videos of MotorStorm and Killzone 2 totally unreal. But since then, Sony has not stopped showing concrete. Have you forgotten the slap inflicted by The Order 1886 its release? The beauty of an Uncharted 4? The open world that flatters the horizon of Horizon Zero Dawn? Oh and not to mention God of War. In short, I think that the First Party studios have proven their expertise to us.
A total change of scenery
The great strength of Ghost of Tsushima is its ability to fully immerse us in its potic universe. The contrast between the brutality of the fighting and the beauty of nature is striking. The artists of Sucker Punch have fine-tuned the artistic direction. Like a master canvas that one could contemplate for long minutes in a museum, it is a safe bet that one will spend a lot of time in GoT turning the camra 360 around his horse with admiration. The dense vegetation does not stop moving with the wind, the birds guide you by singing, the sun pierces through the trees, the period costumes are rich in details… In short, difficult to be choosy in front of work accomplished. The developers have even thought of fans of old samurai films in black and white with a mode simulating precisely … a film in black and white! The result is very beautiful and the entire title will be playable with this rendering if you activate it.
If sight represents around 70% of the information collected by the brain, hearing remains predominant for immersion. The music transmits a lot of emotions and the sound effects reinforce the realism and the coherence of the experience. Although it is too early to say, Ghost of Tsushima seems to set the bar high for our ears. Music literally transports us to Asia. And as Japanese voices will be selectable, the scenery should be total.
Assassin of Tsushima
If there is one point on which everyone agrees, it is the gameplay of Ghost of Tsushima. Yes, it all looks furiously like the last Assassin’s Creed. To tell the truth, if we removed the title "potic" side, nothing would differentiate it from an Assassin's Creed in feudal Japan. This period having until now been ignored by Ubisoft, Sucker Punch seems ideally to fill a gap. That said, a little innovation wouldn't be too much. The arc, body-to-body and infiltration phases feel the dj-vu. So, certainly, everything seems effective, but we can not help thinking that the developers have taken too literally the adage “it is in old pots that we make the best soups” .
Personally, I haven't done many games involving sword fights. But the distant memories of Onimusha or the great Last Blade II (in a different genre, therefore) are very present. I find it quite enjoyable to have the chorgraphis fighting screen with a gameplay low on the counterattack. From this point of view GoT could well fulfill its mission. I also appreciate the fact that Sucker Punch is not censored. Even if violence is an eternal debate, including blood and severed limbs in a game of this kind is a real plus contributing to realism and therefore immersion.
The demonstration showed us a fairly basic mission in which the hero, Jin, attacks a camp and destroys a boat. So we're not much more advanced on one of the essential points of any good RPG: its narration. Since the monumental slap put on by The Witcher III, it is difficult to find role plays capable of fascinating us not only via their main quests but also via their side quests. If Ghost of Tsushima succeeds, then he could be much more than an assassin’s Creed fodal.
Sucker Punch in a new dimension?
This is only a personal opinion but, for me, Sucker Punch is not yet quite a legendary studio. Sony is lucky to have several: Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, The Last of Us) obviously, but also Sony Santa Monica (God of War), Team Ico (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian ) or Guerilla (especially with Horizon Zero Dawn). Precisely I find that Sucker Punch is still looking for his Horizon Zero Dawn. Guerilla had done a very good job on the Killzones (especially the 2) but it was with Horizon that they really made everyone agree. The observation applies to Sucker Punch. The Sly and InFamous are very good games but it still lacks this cult title that would tip the studio into another dimension.
And what did you think of this Ghost of Tsushima video?
