Ghost of Yōtei: Samurai Saga or Open-World Sigh? A Curious Look at Sucker Punch's Latest

AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer · Thu Sep 25 2025

Sucker Punch's *Ghost of Yōtei* delivers exhilarating samurai combat and a heartfelt revenge story, but its dated, hand-holdy open-world design and repetitive sidequests leave a curious gamer like me wondering what could have been if it embraced a more linear path.

Right, so Sucker Punch has dropped *Ghost of Yōtei* upon us, the follow-up to their rather excellent *Ghost of Tsushima*. And, fair warning, I’ve been tinkering with this story all morning, and bloody hell, it’s wilder than it first appeared. Or perhaps, simpler than it should be. It’s got me pondering the meaning of 'open world' again, like a wizard trying to decipher a spell that's half brilliant, half… well, a bit of a yawn, mate.

Here’s the rub: I genuinely enjoy these games. I’m a bit of a sucker for the Sucker Punch style of open-world adventure – a kind of Diet Assassin's Creed, if you will. Lighter, shallower, easier to grasp when your brain's already working overtime trying to figure out if your internet's quantum-entangled or just on the fritz again. Sometimes, after wrestling with the unfathomable complexities of the digital realm, you just need a game that’s the video game equivalent of an infinite, blue-lit bedtime scroll. And *Ghost of Yōtei* definitely tries to be that.

But what is it *actually* trying to be? If you forget the marketing speak and just look at the gameplay, it’s a breezy, hell-yeah action flick, wrapped in the glorious aesthetic of Western-style samurai movies. Less Kurosawa, more 'mud and blood' 13 Assassins, where subtlety is politely asked to leave the room. The setup is pure revenge: young Atsu’s family brutally murdered by the Yōtei Six, leaving her pinned to a burning tree, earning her the nickname Onryo – a vengeful ghost returned from the dead. And let me tell you, that opening scene, riding into a rotten town to scythe down the first of the Six, is an absolute cracker. First 'hell yeah' achieved, no question.

Now, for the bit where my gentle skepticism kicks in, because it wouldn't be a Jeff article without it. Soon enough, Atsu’s galloping through long grass, following the wind, helping villagers with little favours. Sound familiar? Because it should. The structural tweaks *Ghost of Yōtei* boasts are, if we’re honest, ultimately quite minor. The world is split into more parts, sure, and it’s intentionally wetter, bleaker, greyer than Tsushima – a stormy game focused on quietness, the way light filters through trees. (Though it still kicks up enough brightly coloured leaves to make you wonder if a party just ended, but hey, it looks nice!)

But then we get to the 'clue-based' exploration, which, honestly, feels like the devs are pinching you by the nose and dragging you around. You’re still following the wind, which is aesthetically pleasing but fundamentally just a fancy waypoint. It's the infamous Bioshock Arrow, just invisible! And those golden birds? They’re back, guiding you to 'not-so-hidden' side activities. Quests might give you a vague area to search, like 'find the golden mother-daughter tree,' but when said tree glows bright enough to be seen from orbit, it's hardly a challenge, is it?

The new map system is another head-scratcher. You pick up little sketches from NPCs or buy them from a merchant who, like a digital omni-presence, pops up at every settlement and even when you pause to make camp on a mountain. The idea of matching a sketch to a location on your main map sounds neat on paper, right? But in practice, it’s unbelievably simple. The maps are locked to specific regions, and they snap into place even if you’re vaguely in the right spot. I reckon not one of the dozens I found took more than five seconds to correctly place. It’s like they assume we, the players, have the spatial awareness of a stunned gnat.

And that, mate, speaks to a wider issue. *Ghost of Yōtei* often treats you like an idiot. While it deserves a massive shout-out for ditching the cluttered UI – a genuine achievement for a blockbuster open world – it then backseat drives at the first sign of a pause. Climbing, for instance, is restricted to pre-marked grey ledges (a more artful version of Tsushima's infamous yellow paint, I suppose). Most of the time, you just push the stick. But if you dare try to jump a bit faster, or scratch your nose mid-climb, a giant 'PRESS L TO CLIMB' descriptor pops up. Seriously? I'm 20 hours in, halfway up a mountain; I think I’ve got the hang of it.

The puzzles are equally baffling in their simplicity. Thankfully, there’s less of the *God of War Ragnarok*-style verbal hints, but the puzzles themselves are pointless. Before you sit three fox statues in different poses, behind them, another statue of a fox doing one of the poses. Press R2 on the statue that matches it. That’s it. It’s like trying to chew a milkshake – you’re better off just pulling your teeth out.

This relentless hand-holding creates a 'flattening effect,' a deadening of reward. Tracking down a mythical suit of armour doesn't feel like an achievement because it required nothing of you beyond letting the game push you down a pre-determined waterslide. The game wants to sand its rough edges down to the point of total sphericality, removing any chance of being stuck or frustrated. Structurally, it’s a linear game disguised as an open one, with most missions taking place in locked-off, single-route areas.

Now, I’m not saying linearity is bad – it can be brilliant, especially for the melodrama and storytelling *Ghost of Yōtei* excels at. But burdening it with an open world leads to this rigid in-between, and Sucker Punch hasn't really improved on Tsushima's issues. The sidequests, the low point of the first game, are still the low point here. Petting a cute fox after it leads you to flowers is lovely the first time. The third time, or the sixth? It quickly becomes checkbox busy work – another charm! – rather than an end in itself. Even the more involved sidequests devolve into generic tasks you’ve already done a hundred times, like clearing out an enemy camp or upgrading a weapon. I actually had a note to reference *The Witcher 3* for exemplary open-world side-questing, then realised I’d written that in my *Tsushima* review four years ago. Here they’re prehistoric, mate.

Thank the gods, then, for the combat. This is where *Ghost of Yōtei* truly shines and genuinely improves. The camera is better, there’s a lock-on if you want it, and a much better range of enemies to slash. The dynamic weapon switching is where it really comes alive – the gloriously savage spectacle of eviscerating foes with two katanas at once is pure joy. Sure, it can devolve into a bit of a rock-paper-scissors game with specific weapon counters for specific enemy types, but the sheer fluidity and brutal grace of Atsu’s animations are unmatched. That hybrid of Arkham and Sekiro is wonderfully honed to this sad, furious character, a wounded animal. Flicking blood from her blade and slowly sheathing it after wiping out a dozen grunts? Nothing cooler in third-person action, I reckon.

New tricks like extending assassination streaks with kunai throws and smoke bombs let you go full shinobi, wiping out whole groups with choreographic flair. It’s magnificent.

Presentation is a mixed bag, though. Those pre-rendered cutscenes are absolutely gorgeous, immaculately lit, a perfect facsimile of Western-style cinema. But the in-engine cutscenes, of which there are far more, are clunkier. And on-the-ground conversations? Bless 'em, but it's often two static marionettes wagging chins in an empty field, maybe with a skidding bear in the background. You can’t invoke Akira Kurosawa’s name and then give us that, Sucker Punch, fair dinkum.

Still, the performances are a highlight. Erika Ishii gives a genuinely vulnerable and authentic turn as Atsu. Lord Saito, her nemesis, has that perfect unsettling warmth, implying a cycle of trauma rather than plain evil. And that’s Yōtei’s storytelling strength: it’s a revenge story, yes, but more deeply, it’s a tale of trauma and its recurring nature. It’s predictable in its biggest moments, but in an action flick, that’s often fine.

Ultimately, *Ghost of Yōtei* works best when you just don’t think about it. And I don’t mean that as a slight. It has a clearer vision than its predecessor; there's less tension between high and low art, it's just straight, well-trodden blockbuster stuff. Sometimes, that’s exactly what I’m after – a digital milkshake that’s easy to swallow. But often, it leaves you wondering about the deeper, more flavourful experiences it could have been.

This dive into Atsu's ghostly adventure was inspired by Chris Tapsell's detailed review on Eurogamer, which you can find.

Tags: Action-Adventure, Samurai, Open World, PlayStation, Game Review

Original article: Eurogamer