Ghost Of Tsushima Ending EXPLAINED

3. The Impossible Decision: Does Shimura Live Or Die?

Those last couple of hours as Tsushima comes to an end are some of the game's best. The final battle with Khotun is expertly handled, and just like the assault on Castle Shimura at the end of Act 2, it's equally brilliant seeing all your allies enter the fray. That sense of triumph of also seeing your uncle come to your aid after the previous conflict, however, is immediately off-set by the crushing reminder that his relationship with Jin is at an end. It can never go back to the old normal.

Upon defeating Khotun, Jin receives a letter from his uncle requesting his presence. Jin obliges, not really knowing what's to come. They ride, as Shimura explains how Jin's decision to disobey him and rally his own forces to rout the mongols from Tsushima has come at a heavy cost. Shimura may no longer adopt Jin as his own son, the shogun has disbanded clan Sakai, and Jin has also been declared an outlaw.

Shimura has been promised another chance to start a family by the shogun, so long as he kills Jin and restores the authority of the shogunate on Tsushima.

This is about as tragic as a story can get. Shimura, for all his faults, raised Jin, and the two share a close bond. The forthcoming duel is something neither wishes to do, but something both are bound by. That sense of inevitability dominates Tsushima's narrative, and was the only place the story was going to end once Jin embraced the legend of the Ghost.

One thing that isn't inevitable, however, is Shimura's fate. This wouldn't be a Sucker Punch game without at least one anguished decision for the player to make, and the one they include here is quite the doozy.

After besting Jin's uncle in combat, he requests that he be given an honourable death. It then falls to the player as to what Jin does next. He can walk away, sparing his uncle an untimely death but dooming him to live the rest of his days without a family, or he can grant him his wish and kill him, in doing so performing one last honourable act as an actual samurai.

It's a truly difficult choice, and compounding matters further is the fact it's impossible to tell which ending is the "correct" ending. Lord Shimura is effectively Schrodinger's Uncle at this point, but there are some clues Sucker Punch provides to let you know which path may be the more accurate...