I loved Ghost of Tsushima so I had been counting down very excitedly for Ghost of Yotei. The setting takes place 329 years after the events of Ghost of Tsushima in the area of Mount Yotei in Ezo. From the beginning Ghost of Yotei grabs your attention with the introduction of a woman entering a village and the villagers warning her not to interfere with someone known as the Snake. We are then introduced to this woman who is Atsu explaining her reasons for targeting the snake and the group he's a part of the Yotei Six and their leader Saito and it's very much full on justified revenge. Erika Ishii does an amazing job as Atsu right from the start and I instantly liked Atsu. Obviously the fight with the Snake happens here and this allows the game to give a bit of a tutorial on the game controls and Atsu's fighting skills. It's a great start to everything with a badass duel and setting up the beginning of Atsu's status as the Onryo a vengeful spirit seeking vengeance for past wrongs.
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| Atsu searchs for the Snake. |
There's an interesting back and forth between the past and the present in Ghost of Yotei. When Atsu returns to her family's home, she can switch back to the past showing memories of her childhood with her family. You get to see what Atsu was like when she was a child alongside her brother Jubei as well as seeing what her parents were like. I loved the minigame of forging swords with Atsu's father and then learning to play the shamisen with her mother. It's smartly done giving us this insight and allowing us to get to know her family and become emotionally attached to them. We see that Atsu and her family were happy, that there was understanding, and love.
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| Atsu as a child with her brother Jubei. |
I was happy to see that the open world here is just as beautiful as it was in Ghost of Tsushima. The vibrant colors of flowers, the wind guiding us, and of course there is photo mode in the game. I was also delighted that this game also had plenty of accessibility options including being able to change the difficulty settings of the game and they also included Kurosawa mode where you can play in black and white. They also kept in the foxes and fox shrines. I loved finding all the foxes and of course petting them. I spent a ton of time in photo mode because the stunning vistas and different areas are gorgeous.
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| Enjoying the view. |
There is no level grinding in Ghost of Yotei which makes sense because Atsu is an entirely different character and this is a new story and it's hers. Instead, Atsu has an arsenal of various weapons at her disposal and as part of her journey she picks up some new ones and learns how to wield them. Unlocking skills in her skill tree for each weapon requires finding shrines all over the world map which encourages exploring everywhere. Depending on what type of enemy she's fighting Atsu can switch weapons easily to turn the fight to her advantage. I quite enjoyed this combat system because it made battles feel intense and I was having fun with it figuring out what I needed for certain fights like defeating a guy who was twice Atsu's size and when I figured it out and won I felt pretty darn excited about it.
I loved exploring in Ghost of Yotei and I always love doing side quests in open world games like this. Atsu meets so many interesting people and this comes full circle with what is called her wolf pack. These are people who Atsu cares about as well as friends she makes along the way who can help her with different things like improving her armor and weapons or replenishing tools she uses. Atsu can set up camp and if they can, one of them will show up and sit with her and help her out.
My personal favorite was Atsu meeting the Ainu people. For those who may not know, the Ainu are the indigenous people of Japan and are considered the native people of Hokkaido. I loved that they were included and that it was done in a thoughtful and mindful way. Apparently the devs made a point of traveling to Hokkaido and meeting with an Ainu cultural advisor, met with the Ainu and learned about their culture, their items, and had advisors directing them on how to best accurately and respectfully portray the Ainu in the game. Atsu interacts with an Ainu kotan (Ainu village) and there are several quests she can do with them. She also meets with some of their merchants on her travels and is able to trade with them. I loved this part of the game and honestly, I wished there had been more with them because the Ainu are an incredible people and I loved hearing their stories, their songs, and listening to their explanations about their day to day life. I would find myself visiting with them often throughout the game.
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| Atsu chats with the Ainu. |
The main story itself is great. As I said before, Erika Ishii did an amazing job voicing Atsu. The entire voice acting cast are fantastic and I would just stop and talk to everyone. I felt for Atsu when she was going through the rage and trauma she felt and this is showcased really well with a wolf that sometimes appears to Atsu who she helps sometimes by exacting revenge on hunters who are killing wolves. I truly felt that in a way the wolf represents Atsu's anger and it's a smart choice because I loved that wolf, but I also understood that shared rage about the unfairness of bad people getting away with causing harm because of an imbalance of power. However, I also appreciated the brief moments of peace and joy that Atsu had such as quietly playing a song on her shamisen or taking the time to stop and pet an adorable fox. It adds a level of much needed balance when I would explore or take a little break from the intensity of the main story.
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| Atsu pets a cute fox. |
There is even a beautiful nod to Jin and Ghost of Tsushima in one of the Tales in the game and it hit me hard with the emotions and I found myself teary eyed at those nods to him and references to his story. The Tales were some of my favorite things about Ghost of Tsushima and I'm glad to see they had them here in Ghost of Yotei and some of them were heartbreaking, but also connecting to Atsu with the theme of familial love especially between a mother and daughter. It's wonderfully done and the rewards for doing these are worth it as they range from different styles of armor to weapon upgrades.
I loved every minute of Ghost of Yotei because of the great storytelling with the main story and some of the side stories tying everything together. Learning about the past of the Yotei Six was also intriguing because you come to realize it's not necessarily one sided and Saito himself is quite the egotistical villain. I absolutely despised his character especially when it was revealed how self serving he is multiple times throughout Atsu's adventure. There were far too many great moments in the story to count and some of them wrecked me emotionally, but it made for an epic journey for Atsu right down to the finale and I'm so glad I got to experience all of it.
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| Atsu takes a moment. |
*Ghost of Yotei is available to play on Playstation 5
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