It’s hard being a woman in medieval Japan. Yes, you have to contend with rampant sexism, the imminent threat of death and navigating a massive turf war.
But there’s also the small matter of seeking revenge for the murder of your entire family at the hands of a brutal warlord. Should you manage to do that, the reward of an honourable suicide awaits.
Such is the fate of Atsu, the new protagonist of Ghost of Yotei, Sucker Punch’s follow up to their 2020 smash-hit Ghost of Tsushima.
Both stories are ones of grief and revenge. Tsushima’s Jin was the last surviving member of the Sakai clan, who led a fightback against the Mongol leader invading his island, Khotun Khan. Atsu, meanwhile, is the daughter of a swordsmith who was killed by the brutal Lord Saito – along with the rest of her family – decades previously.
Now freshly returned from a career spent sharpening her blade on the mainland, she’s back on her home island of Ezo (modern-day Hokkaidō) to finish off Saito and the Yotei Six, his warlord cronies.
So far, so familiar. But there the similarities end. Whereas Jin was a scholar – refined and elegant in his fighting style – Atsu is more of an out-and-out brawler.
There’s no finesse to her attacks, and certainly none of the stance-switching which made my life a misery during the Tsushima playthroughs. What she does have is access to an ever-expanding arsenal of weaponry that will gradually be used to counter the increasing array of foes found across Ezo.
Starting off with the humble katana, Atsu’s weapon wheel will eventually expand to include kunai (good for staggering the enemy), double katanas, spears and even the kusarigama: a vicious weapon constructed from a pickaxe attached to a heavy ball with a few metres of spiked chain.
It’s this variety which makes battles fun – that and Atsu’s ability to seamlessly switch between any of those weapons mid-combat.
As she heads from quest to quest (the game is very formulaic in its storyline, with almost no meaningful side-quests or characters), we also see the return of items like bamboo strikes (for levelling up the Spirit gauge), charms for upgrading abilities, and hot springs for relaxing in (which caused me to sigh enviously every time Atsu took a dip on-screen). In that sense, it really feels like Sucker Punch has taken their original formula and upgraded it with better graphics.
And Ezo is stunningly beautiful. Simply galloping through the landscapes on offer here is a rewarding adventure in itself. It’s wonderfully varied: endless meadows of wildflowers, craggy peaks topped with drifts of snow, forests of autumnal trees dropping red leaves.
It also feels very alive. At points, a certain little gold bird will make an appearance to guide Atsu towards points of interest (another returning character from Tsushima). Fox cubs can be spotted frolicking between boulders. And the use of wind as a guiding tool remains a gorgeously imagined way to get players to their destination without making them a slave to their mini-map.
Atsu, too, is a compelling protagonist. Ably voiced by Erika Ishii, it’s her feelings of rage and sorrow that give the game its momentum – something Sucker Punch digs into still further via flashback sequences where you get to know her family, play the shamisen with her mother and meditate upon life during those moments in the hot springs.
It’s all very melodramatic, and the developers continue their ongoing homage to Japanese cinema – and Japanese culture – in almost every frame. The result is something equal parts meditative and gory: still great fun, even if it isn’t anything new.
Available on PlayStation 5 from October 1
