Ghost of Yotei Review: Sucker Punch Delivers a Worthy Sequel
Ghost of Yotei is the sequel that Ghost of Tsushima deserved, taking everything that worked about the original and expanding it in thoughtful, sometimes surprising directions. Set in 1603 around the slopes of Mount Yotei in Hokkaido, the game follows Atsu, a new protagonist whose personal story of loss and reinvention anchors the sprawling open world with genuine emotional weight. Sucker Punch has clearly listened to feedback from the first game, addressing pacing issues, deepening the stealth systems, and delivering a combat experience that might be the best in any open-world action game to date.
Combat has evolved significantly from Tsushima's already strong foundation. Atsu's fighting style blends traditional katana techniques with Hokkaido-specific weapons including a devastating chain sickle that transforms crowd control encounters into balletic chaos. The stance system returns with two additional stances, bringing the total to six, each with expanded skill trees that offer genuine build diversity. Duels remain the highlight, and Yotei features some of the most cinematic one-on-one fights ever designed. A particularly memorable late-game duel set atop a frozen waterfall during a blizzard stands as one of the finest moments in PlayStation history.
The open world of Hokkaido is breathtaking in scope and detail. Dense forests, volcanic hot springs, frozen tundras, and coastal fishing villages create a landscape that feels more varied than Tsushima's relatively homogeneous island. Wildlife plays a larger role, with bears, wolves, and foxes that interact with the ecosystem dynamically. The guiding wind mechanic returns and remains elegant, though Sucker Punch has added optional waypoints for players who want more traditional navigation. Side content is substantially improved, with fewer repetitive outpost liberations and more unique narrative vignettes that flesh out the world's inhabitants.
Where Yotei stumbles slightly is in its technical performance on base PlayStation 5 hardware. The game targets sixty frames per second in performance mode but frequently dips into the low fifties during large-scale battles, and quality mode's thirty-frame target occasionally stutters during rapid camera movement. These issues will likely be resolved in post-launch patches, but they are worth noting at launch. Despite these minor technical hiccups, Ghost of Yotei is a magnificent achievement. It earns a nine out of ten and cements Sucker Punch as one of Sony's most reliable first-party studios.