Ghost of Tsushima might not be the most graphically impressive game to grace the PlayStation 4, but in terms of art direction and sheer visual beauty, it's by far one one of the most unique.
Sucker Punch Production's latest effort doesn't provide the perfect samurai story, but it does possess plenty of little flourishes that help distinguish it from other AAA titles of the current console generation. Whether it's the fact Jin can play the flute to change the weather, or follow foxes and birds to nearby points of interest rather than having to utilise tried and tested forms of open world navigation - i.e., a waypoint - the studio have found more than a couple of ways to help mitigate the sense of familiarity that comes with approaching an open world title in 2020.
Ghost of Tsushima doesn't end up reinventing the wheel quite as dramatically as some may have hoped, but it does the basics extremely well, with a ridiculous level of attention being paid to even the most minute of details.
Whether it's wiping the blood off Jin's katana, outstretching your hand through the tall grass as you roam the countryside, or even just taking the time to cuddle a fox, Tsushima has loads of little details that help make it feel like more than just another open world game.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
