10 Best Samurai & Ninja Video Games Of All Time

7. Ghost Of Tsushima

ninja gaiden
Sucker Punch

There’s no way a list about great samurai and ninja games can’t include Ghost of Tsushima. While the open-world isn’t perfect, it’s certainly better than many open-world games out there.

Players control Jin Sakai in an oddly fictionalized version of the first Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274. Jin is the last survivor of the samurai on the island and he has to go from a noble samurai warrior to a ninja-like guerrilla fighter, in the hope of averting the historical result of Tsushima’s complete conquest and destruction at the hands of the Mongol army.

Jin, likely loosely based on Tsushima inhabitants Saito Sukesada and Hyoe Jiro, can be played in multiple styles. You can ride gloriously into battle and fight as a proud samurai, taking on the invaders in fierce one-on-many battles. Or you can creep in and dismantle their whole army like a a sneaky little shinobi.

The moving storyline and solid combat mechanics are bolstered by several very close-to-right cultural references, such as a proud samurai taking breaks to compose poetry - even if the Haiku didn’t exist at the time. The waypoint system of using the wind to find your way is brilliant too - a clever reference to the legendary 'Divine Wind' storms that actually beat the Mongols.

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Contributor

Author of Escort (Eternal Press, 2015), co-founder of Nic3Ntertainment, and developer behind The Sickle Upon Sekigahara (2020). Currently freelancing as a game developer and history consultant. Also tends to travel the eastern U.S. doing courses on History, Writing, and Japanese Poetry. You can find his portfolio at www.richardcshaffer.com.