Review of Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut – a way of life

Ghost of Tsushima scored last year with players around the world, who gave it even higher evaluationthan journalistic reviews. Very simply, the game can be described as a variation on the Assassin’s Creed series, which is entirely in history (it contains no confusing passages from the present / future), did not flood its world with so many repetitive activities and most importantly: it offered a completely breathtaking aesthetic hiding the user interface (similar to Red Dead Redemption 2). A quality combat system and an impressive story are also important, although he may have been inspired too much by iconic samurai films and is therefore somewhat predictable. Now the game has arrived in a new category of “Director’s Cut” enhanced editions for the new PlayStation 5.

• Platform: PS5 (reviewed) PS4
• Date of publication: 20. 8. 2020
• Producer: Sucker Punch Productions (USA)
• Genre: Open World RPG
• Czech localization: yes, subtitles
• Multiplayer: up to 4 players
• Data to download: 60 GB
• Game time: 40+ hours
• Accessibility: 17+
• Sales version: box and digital
• Price: 1,999 CZK (Xzone)

Expedition to the island of Iki

By far the biggest attraction for fans of the original game is, of course, the brand new part of the game, in which you go to a new location to expand the story. Iki Island is accessible from the second act of the game. But you can also enter it at any time later, even after the main story has been completed. This can be quite useful, because the battles and enemies on the island of Iki are quite intense, so it pays to come there with improved equipment and abilities – but of course it also depends on the difficulty you set for your play.

If you expected the story to be just a stand-alone sticker without a deeper meaning for the overall game, I have good news for you: the authors have managed to come up with a plot that organically fits into Jin’s fate and adds so much key information about his family and past that he does not want to believe that the developers did not invent it in advance. Of course, I will not divulge anything, I will only repeat the plot known from the trailers: on the island of Iki there is an aggressive group of mysterious Mongols, whose ranks are full of shamans and are led by a mysterious Eagle – your goal is to stop these enemies before they set out to ravage Cushi. But as it turns out, the island of Iki has a special meaning for the main character Jin, and the past blends impressively with the present. The result is an enrichment of the overall story of the game and its protagonist in a way that came to me more impressive than the finale of the original game and corrected my impression of the cliché of predictability of the original. It’s a pity that the excellent impression of the story passages is sometimes spoiled by “generic open-world” animations and cameras of some sequences. It also occurred to me that some of the biggest battles were unnecessarily stretched, but again, it is true that you will experience the most impressive moments from the whole game.

Iki Island has a special meaning for the main character Jin.

But Iki Island is much more than a handful of new story missions. It is a thoroughbred new location, which is as rich in content as the regions of Cušima from the original game: you will find all sorts of side activities to fill, from conquering enemy fortresses or playing the whistle for cats (!) And liberating the region to mystical stories with rewards in in the form of unique equipment or even extra story missions beyond the main story. You will also have the opportunity to unlock new abilities, which I will not disassemble for sure, so as not to spoil your surprise. The most important addition to the game is a new type of enemy, which are the shamans mentioned: it brings a new element to each battle, where you must first find and deal with them (usually a bit hidden on the edge of the battlefield) to stop using their magic to strengthen enemies around. However, given the exceptional aesthetic quality of the game, the best feature of Iki Island is quite possibly its beauty, including beautiful beaches, waterfalls or overgrown burnt villages. Iki Island contains the most beautiful locations in the game. Depending on the difficulty on the island, you will spend about five hours with a story and about five other side activities.

Other improvements

The original game has previously received a patch that allowed it to be played in (upscale) 4K resolution and 60 fps on the PlayStation 5. An analysis of this solution can traditionally be found by experts from Digital Foundry. At that time, it was really just a matter of increasing fluency, nothing else. Director’s Cut on the PS5 comes with two graphics modes (performance or graphics) that are just as smooth and hard to tell at first glance – I’m looking forward to analyzing them from Digital Foundry myself, but from what I’ve seen, I assume that the graphics mode is really running in native 4K and I assume it will have additional improvements such as anisotropic filtering. Anyway, I played the game in graphics mode and it seemed beautiful and completely smooth.

As expected, the haptic response in the DualSense driver adds a new dimension to the experience, although it sometimes seemed to me that the authors use it perhaps too much (for example, during the introductory animation of the game logo, horse trot, wind blowing, etc.). Also, don’t underestimate the impressive sound of the controller’s speaker, which plays whispers in certain passages, for example, and complements beautifully with the 3D sound of the game (if you have the appropriate sound equipment). The creators have also incorporated a number of the most frequently requested fan improvements, so you will find a new option in the game to lock enemies, alternative controls or, for example, visually hide your quiver with arrows. Connoisseurs will also appreciate the new synchronization of facial expressions to Japanese dubbing. Add to that an excellent online game mode (our impressions here) with an amazing raid and you have a real “director’s edition” of the game, ie the best possible version for all Cušima fans.