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classic but effective postcard [TEST]


Ghost of Tsushima test – Last major exclusivity expected on Playstation 4, Ghost of Tsushima offers PS4 owners an epic fresco in feudal Japan. A perfect game for the summer which will however be divisive depending on whether or not you like the classic formula of the open world game.

[Mis à jour le 17 juillet 2020 à 9h00] It is advisable to start this test with what will jump most in the eyes of the spectators amazed by the graphic qualities shown by Ghost of Tsushima during its first rounds of communication: Sucker Punch made a lot of technical concessions to allow the final game to turn. Tested lengthwise and crosswise for more than two weeks on PS4 Slim, Ghost of Tsushima is not ugly, but it alternates enchanting environments with very poor decor. The main characters, meanwhile, are very good but sometimes swear in certain scenes where we can feel, here and there, blunt cuts applied by the development team so that the Sony console can follow. This phenomenon, commonly called “downgrade”, is common in the video game industry but it must be said that we did not expect it on a console end-of-life game. Still, it is present on Ghost of Tsushima, be warned.

Epic walk in the footsteps of Kurosawa

© Sony

What the latest addition to Sucker Punch has lost in visual outburst, he compensates however in his work on atmospheres. Immersed on the island of Tsushima of feudal Japan, the player is quickly enveloped by a cocoon of inspirations that the developers have largely drawn from the side of the filmography of Akira Kurosawa. The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Ran … Everything is done to summon the very particular aesthetics of samurai films, their meticulous gestures before a saber fight with the epic breath of the great battles through the development of secondary characters who form the guard closer to the hero. Particular work has been done on the framing of the game’s cutscenes, which sometimes seem straight out of a film of the genre. Sucker Punch loves samurai movies and it shows!

In Ghost of Tsushima, the player embodies Jin Sakai, a young warrior present during the rout of the island’s samurai who tried to stop the invasion of the Mongol army led by Khotun Khan in 1274. Among the only survivors, Sakai goes quickly realize that the code of honor of the samurai alone will not be able to save his island from the oppressor. He will choose to continue the path of the “Ghost” capable of murdering his enemies without being detected, a strategy that some members of his entourage will not fail to criticize for his lack of honor.

Ghost VS Samouraï

© Sony

In game, the developers have decided to make people feel the duality of approaches available to Jin Sakai. On the one hand, fairly permissive infiltration phases and very similar to what we can see in games like Assassin’s Creed: many hiding places, melee assassination abilities, access hatches for go unnoticed, silent ranged weapons to get rid of enemies in its path … Everything is there. On the other hand, a combat system as a samurai which provokes its enemies in face to face duels. Whenever you encounter a group of enemies, you can duel them and eliminate a few before the fight begins. Once this highly stylized duel animation is over, the surrounding enemy warriors will jump on you.

Ghost of Tsushima is not one of those kinds of games that let your opponents gently wait for death until you are ready to take them down. Here, multiple enemies can hit you at the same time, arrows can hit you as you fight other soldiers. You will also have to make sure to adapt your combat posture to the opponent facing you. There are four postures, each effective against each archetype of enemy in the game, so you’ll have to learn to modify it during combat. In addition, if Jin Sakai is able to triumph over his opponents in a few strokes of katana, his enemies will be just as cruel and it will suffice here too a few parries and dodges failed for the player to succumb.

© Sony

The game from the developers of Sly Cooper and Infamous, however, offers many abilities that will allow the player to improve his arsenal of abilities to respond to the onslaught of the Mongols. Among these, powers allowing to use a concentration gauge to get up after a hard blow but also to cut everything. After a few hours, the feeling of progress and power is there and we start to feel the same confidence in his abilities and his arsenal as a samurai in his katana.

We may regret that the scenaristic dimension of the game does not allow the player to really make the choice between Jin the Ghost and Jin the Samurai. Certain missions of the main quest indeed force the player to apply the methods of the Ghost to then allow the scenario and the secondary characters to reproach Jin for his exactions. Ghost of Tsushima could perhaps have afforded a slightly more ambitious system that would have allowed the player to truly make his choice.

The creed of the open world

With Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch returns to the action game in open world, a genre that the studio knows well for having developed the two Infamous. Adorned with the finery of feudal Japan, “Ghost” is none the less an umpteenth representative of the genre that made the heyday of the generation of current consoles. Controller in hand, it is not uncommon to think of Assassin’s Creed, a sort of catalyst for this formula. Ghost of Tsushima, just like its model, offers a mass of additional activities adapted to its theme: cleaning of Mongolian forts, liberation of occupied villages, various sanctuaries to honor, hot springs to discover, haikus to write … The map of the game, as long as you explore it, is filled with mini-quests of this kind to which are added secondary and tertiary missions where you will try to help as much as possible the people under oppression.

© Sony

Regarding these quests, we particularly appreciate the side missions, all linked to characters who will form the close entourage of Jin Sakai. Through these quests, the player will learn more about the motivations of these characters. The result is a stronger bond with these characters that will also be found in the missions of the main quest. In the same genre, we will also like the few mythical quests, completely optional, which will ask the player a little more work (especially exploration on the island) to obtain new powers very useful in combat or new armor with abilities various. These legendary quests are also highlighted by kinematics stylized in ink which allow them to stand out.

© Sony

Despite the overall classicism that emerges from the Ghost of Tsushima experience, you can’t take away from the game your desire to free yourself from the usual shackles of the mini-map and guide arrows that too often tarnish the immersion of games in open world. Here, the player will be able to rely on a wind mechanism which will indicate, after light pressure from the central pad of the joystick, the general direction in which the player must go to continue his mission or else to find the landmark he s ‘is fixed on the game card. The system works so well that it is not uncommon to move from one point to another without entering the Ghost of Tsushima menu once. A very good idea that allows you to take advantage of what Tsushima Island has to offer.

Boring classicism or addictive escape?

Expected as the last big exclusivity to be released on Playstation 4, Ghost of Tsushima feeds a lot of hope in those who imagine it like the swan song of the Sony console. In its final state, the game refers more to the endless open-world action games like Assassin’s Creed that we have probably seen too much for 10 years. In this, Ghost of Tsushima will tire the most weary of the genre just as it will enchant those who have long dreamed of an Assassin’s Creed immersed in feudal Japan. If the technical copy is not up to what we would have liked to see from a game of end of generation of consoles, remains a very pleasant game to browse as well for its atmosphere, its combat system and its story very inspired by Kurosawa’s filmography. You can no longer frame the formula of open world games of recent years? Maybe go your way. Looking for a great escape game for your summer on PS4? Jin Sakai is waiting for you in Tsushima for a controlled adventure of 20 to 40 hours depending on whether you are a completionist or not.

Buy Ghost of Tsushima

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