Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut

By the way, Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut is also available on PlayStation 4, where you can regularly buy it as a new game, or, if you already own the original one, upgrade for CZK 529. But beware, it’s not the same GoT: DC as on the PlayStation 5, as we’ll say right now.

Old dog, new tricks

There is a lot of news in the director’s version, but the biggest and most visible is undoubtedly the whole new island of Iki. The Mongols didn’t miss it either in reality or in the game, and you can go there in the role of Jin just at the beginning of the second act. You leave Cushi behind, you go to your neighbors and very quickly you find out that the Mongol occupiers are only part of the problem. And that it’s all surprisingly personal.

In the versions for both PS4 and PS5, you will find new control schemes, the option to hide the quiver and, surprisingly new, also the option to turn on the enemy view lock. Compared to the original free combat system, this is a big change that I was not able to get used to, and after a while of testing, I returned the combat to the default settings. If one needs the opportunity to focus on enemies gradually and send them to Mongolian hell one by one, they will be happy. I prefer to swim freely through a crowd of enemies.

On PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 you will also find a cooperative multiplayer called Legends. However, it was turned off at the time of the review.

All other innovations are exclusive only to the PlayStation 5 version. Specifically, the dynamic resolution of 4K trying to keep the game at 60 frames per second, the use of haptic response and adaptive triggers DualSense, and finally the Japanese lip sync. His absence in the original game was a great disgrace and it is a pity that the owners of PS4 are still dependent on Japanese dubbing, which sometimes does not fit into the characters’ characters.

Mother of wisdom

Let me not repeat a year old and well-known information about the basics of gameplay, story and game in general – the vast majority of content is the same as a year ago. If the Ghost of Tsushima completely missed you last year, I will gladly refer you to our original review, which, by the way, I would sign with a clear conscience today.

Ghost of Tsushima is also for me a clear nine-piece game with a strong story, an even stronger duel and a stylish audiovisual, in the backdrop of which it is a pleasure to spend time. Of course, the design of the open world, some activities and random NPCs are not exactly the pinnacle of the gaming industry, but they are also far from the lowlands, and those few reproaches are stomped into the country by crowds of clear positives.

Ghost of Tsushima is simply still the best Assassin’s Creed from Japan, only without the technical problems, content made through copiers and microtransactions. In addition, with an infinitely fun duel and for me a significantly better story and characters. Perhaps in no other open world have I enjoyed so much doing what I usually never do: Luxating everything I can get my hands on.

All this also applies to Iki. The new island, like the old one, is beautiful. The creators did nothing at all to prevent it from being overpainted over-saturated kitsch (but the black and white Kurosawa regime is still available) and I am very happy about it. Ghost of Tsushima is not ashamed of his burnt visuals, just as I proudly admit to his lovers. The local variety, combined with strong warm colors and an artistic license for Japanese realities, is exactly what I would expect from mainstream production.

Personal secrets

There is a lot waiting for you at Iki, but above all you should prepare for more of the same. Which is, at least for me, a clear plus. I vividly remember how my stomach churned after finishing the original game – a year ago it wasn’t enough for me, I longed for another run and Iki is finally offering it to me now. And with everything, including proven gameplay and a surprisingly powerful story. It stands on its own, but at the same time it can tastefully fit into a broader context.

Not only the traditional Mongols are waiting for you at Iki, but above all the insidious villain Eagle, who really gave me a break at the end of the game. I’d rather not count it, but I think I repeated this duel perhaps more times than the encounter with the central villain of the whole game, Chotun-khan. Khan’s motivation, personality and the threat he embodies for the whole of Cuša come to me more interesting and stronger than in the case of the Eagle, plus he has one huge advantage on his side: the size and length of the original game. He simply gets a much bigger podium, while Eagle has to make do with little.

Even with a small charm, I won’t reveal the details to you anymore. Perhaps I will only suggest that it will not be just another routine liberation of the new location – you will enjoy it as well, however, the ties with Iki are extremely personal for Jin and the outcome of the whole island episode was really interesting to watch. Not only did some of the successful side characters go through the development, but Genie himself was able to move in some way on a relatively small area of ​​several story missions. Realize the past and the present and confront the demons. Those outside and those in their heads.

More of the same with a bonus

As such, Iki offers countless beautiful nooks and hands with a bunch of Mongols. You may sweat a lot with new enemies, but it can also be a trumpet – it depends on when you go to Iki and how much life, Resolve, improved weapons and armor you will have. I went to Iki at the first possible opportunity and I admit that in the first moments I felt just a little bit relaxed, no matter how the levels are played here. Still, it wasn’t frustrating, and the game also allows you to change the difficulty in both directions whenever you want.

On the new island you will find a series of several great story tasks, a number of smaller side quests and a lot of different activities, including several brand new ones. The practice of archery did not interest me so much, which cannot be said of a meditative (mini) flute playing. It remotely resembles the mechanics of music games, and if you manage to drive a dot through a winding path using the DualSense motion control, you will be rewarded with the opportunity to cuddle with a cat or a monkey. As with folding haiku, it’s a nice contrast to all that splashing blood.

If you only pursue the main story and do a little here and there, you will be able to run Iki within ten hours of pure time, but the potential is much greater. I haven’t (yet) luxuriated it all, but it is estimated that the completion of the new island could take you over two dozen hours.

Like Cushima, Iki is home to a few moments that I just can’t get out of my head. Unfortunately, due to the strict NDA, I can’t poke everything I want and deserve, but I can mention, for example, a duel with a blind samurai and everything that preceded it. I can mention the impressive action on ships. I can mention breaking up a strange cult with a little detective work. And I definitely want to mention the new Sarugami armor.

It takes a while to adapt, but I liked it almost immediately. Sarugami will turn off standard parsing for you, but if you do a perfect bounce, you will be rewarded with a string of two slow-down attacks. It’s a bit like Standoff, and Resolve increases a lot.

Sarugami pushes the saw of the concept of “high risk – high reward” as much as possible, and it will come in handy even in ordinary fights, but it is absolutely priceless in fights with bosses. So if you have quick reflexes and even faster fingers, otherwise your opponents will make sashimi out of you in a few seconds. High risk, high reward.

For less quick reflexes, the novelty comes in the form of a horse attack: By holding L1 while driving, you accelerate until you can break through enemy groups, not unlike riding on a bridge in the final of Helm’s Groove. There is another minor novelty associated with the horse, namely saddle bags that function as an extended inventory. Suddenly you will run out of Kunai or bombs only if you are really very uneconomical with them.

The gameplay is pleasantly refreshed by new enemies and I was not happy at all about shamans. They are usually nearby, they are humming something and thus quite fundamentally amplify all the bad guys in the area. You can ignore them and cut everyone else, only it will be much harder. It is desirable to run to the shaman as quickly as possible, explain to him with the blade of a katana that he should not hum, and only then solve the rest of the enemies.

But in general, don’t expect anything radically different from Iki, blatantly original or downright new. It’s really just an extension of the original game, the addition that I personally longed for last year and which I’m happy for this year. Although the developers strive for maximum diversity on all fronts, they still remain in those ruts from last year. Unless you’re interested in Ghost of Tsushima for some reason, Director’s Cut won’t change anything at all.

Once good, still good

I honestly have nothing to add to the negatives said a year ago. None of this has been fixed by the creators, nor have they made any new bugs. Perhaps I could just wonder in disbelief why on earth it is impossible to skip movies. It didn’t work in the original game, it doesn’t work in Director’s Cut, and I honestly don’t get it. In addition, if you have the original game from last year and you don’t have that much time, listening to some long debates is especially frustrating.

I couldn’t be happier with the technical condition of the game. On PlayStation 5, I didn’t notice a single framer stutter. Everything ran smoothly, loading is almost non-existent here, even if you travel between islands. And I can’t even complain about bugs.

Players with a keen eye, a sense of detail and digging may only notice that they have no honor here with a game tailored to the current generation of consoles. Some assets simply look like they were from the previous generation, but firstly it’s almost invisible, secondly it doesn’t interfere in any way, and thirdly you have to really actively look for such things. It is still true that 99 percent of the Ghost of Tsushima is magically beautiful.

Satisfied samurai

Not that twelve months was a long time, but even after a year, the Ghost of Tsushima did not grow old. The original game is still played more than well, Iki is a great addition that manages to spice up “more of the same” with a few pleasant adjustments. On PlayStation 5, it all looks perfect and runs perfectly, and with DualSense features, the game is just a bit more lively than with regular DualShock. If you own a new console from Sony, Jin Sakai will definitely make you happy.