Ghost Of Tsushima REVIEW: 7 Ups & 2 Downs

2. It's A Breath Of Fresh Air

Ghost of Tsushima Duel
Sony Interactive Entertainment

I would be lying if I said there weren't times while playing Tsushima that I was worried the game would devolve into a typical open world title. There are camps to liberate and collectibles to find, but it's the way the game goes about integrating those elements that prevents any kind of malaise from setting in.

Playing Tsushima felt like opening the windows and letting in a cool, refreshing breeze. The industry has seen some tremendous as well as forgettable open world titles over the current console generation, but few play like Tsushima does.

The emphasis on environmental storytelling has paid off tremendously, if not for the fact it divests from clunky UI and the kind of icon mania that has typified many current-gen open world offerings, then because it actually indulges in my love of flowers and bird watching. Songbirds will frequently appear and lead the player to points of interest, and well, it's just plain nice to admire the flora from time to time (the golden forest is a particular highlight).

It's just a wonderfully composed experience, and one that should be relished. Exploring shrines, temples and even just the various vistas dotted across the open world is just as satisfying as the combat. Granted exploration can be a bit finicky at times (scaling up and down cliffs doesn't feel as fluid as it should be), but reaching your destination is always worth it.

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Content Producer/Presenter

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.