Is Ghost of Yōtei Trying Too Hard? The Lo-Fi Beats Mode Says Maybe.
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Ghost of Yōtei's new lo-fi beats mode has me scratching my head, mate – it’s a brilliant, daft idea that highlights the game's core conflict between being a cracking action blockbuster and trying a bit too hard to be 'High Art.' Maybe it's time games just embraced their own awesome chaos, eh?
Right, so you know that feeling when you're meticulously crafting a powerful spell, whispering ancient incantations, and then accidentally summon a flock of chillhop-listening gnomes instead of a fire elemental? Yeah, that’s kinda what it felt like watching the Ghost of Yōtei gameplay deep dive reveal recently. One minute, Sucker Punch is talking about licensing wind from Akira Kurosawa’s estate and referencing mud from *13 Assassins* – all very serious, very cinematic, very… *art*. The next, a record scratch, a sudden digital whiplash, and – *clunk, screeeeeeech* – can I interest you in some lo-fi chillhop beats to study/decapitate to? Bloody hell, what a gear shift!
I’m probably being a bit cheeky with Sucker Punch here, because you can tell they’re genuinely excited about their new game. They’re earnest nerds, mate, pouring their hearts into it, and that’s something you’ve gotta respect. But sometimes, when passion meets the relentless pursuit of artistic gravitas, you get something that feels a bit like trying to perfectly balance a majestic samurai sword on a bouncy castle. It's an intriguing sight, but you can’t help but wonder if it's really the most effective way to wield that blade.
Confession time, before I properly dig into this: I’m probably as much of a sucker for this stuff as Sucker Punch are. I mean, I’m a white bloke who’s been to Japan a couple times, and – shocker – I’ve got a Google Doc titled ‘Tokyo Ramen Quest’ that’s probably more detailed than my actual life plan. I even bought a kitchen knife in Asakusa and, for a very brief, questionable period, I was really into making little cocktails with flavoured sake. Oh, and I’ve hovered over the 'Buy' button for a nearly two-metre-tall French Grande Kurosawa exhibition poster on eBay that absolutely would not fit in my living room. In other words: I get it! Samurais are cool; I am a cliché. Guilty as charged. But even as a fellow dweeb, this whole situation with the *Ghost* series has me scratching my head like a confused dragon after a bad teleportation spell.
Here’s the rub, though, and it’s where this whole *Ghost* mini-series – *Ghost of Tsushima* and now *Yōtei* – gets a bit… peculiar. On one hand, you’ve got a group of genuinely earnest developers pouring their hearts into making something they clearly care about, with as much attention and sincerity as they can muster. And what they produce is usually pretty darn great. *Ghost of Tsushima* was, at its core, a superbly executed take on a very familiar, middle-of-the-road third-person action game intentionally crafted for a broad audience. You sneak a bit, stab a bit, fill out a simple skill tree, and pop an ultimate-slash-rage-mode by pressing L3 and R3 together – just like at least half a dozen other contemporary Sony first-party action blockbusters. And that’s perfectly grand, innit?
It’s an action blockbuster movie in game form! If you believe in meeting things where they are – and I do, mate, it saves a lot of existential angst – then *Tsushima* achieved its own goals very well. It, and we can be fairly certain *Yōtei*, aren’t exactly ‘High Art’ in the same vein as some of the films they take overt inspiration from. For the most part, they’re bracingly fun, not-too-serious popcorn joints that are ultimately about making the player quietly mutter 'hell yeah' to themselves when Jin Sakai blocks an arrow with a perfectly timed sword swing. They are exceptional, low-barrier-to-entry entertainment, and they absolutely needn't strive to be anything more to be considered great in their own right. Fair dinkum.
But here’s the flip side: there’s this lingering scent, this faint whiff of self-seriousness to these games, which seem to wear their ‘hell yeah’ *menpo* over a strictly po face. Jin Sakai, bless his honourable heart, went on and on about his honour to a meme-able degree – even despite that being, as most historians will tell you, not really a thing for actual samurai. The game’s climax played out under weeping red-leaved Japanese maple trees, a scene so dramatic it felt like it was auditioning for an Oscar. And completion unlocked a trophy called ‘Mono No Aware’ – deep stuff, eh? And that Kurosawa Mode – ostensibly a black and white filter with some film grain and audio crackle – is, come on, a bit much. (Again, this is coming from the giant poster muppet here, I’m fully aware of the hypocrisy!).
It's like games still have this weird inferiority complex, constantly wanting to be validated as ‘art’ by mimicking movies, rather than fully embracing their own unique strengths. You wouldn't expect a brilliant opera to suddenly cut to a TikTok dance challenge to prove its relevance, would you? It’s a bit of a head-scratcher.
Which brings us back, full circle, to the lo-fi beats mode we’re getting in *Ghost of Yōtei*. Sucker Punch says they wanted to 'celebrate two other influential directors who have had an impact on the genre as a whole.' Those being *13 Assassins’* Takashi Miike (extra mud!) and the chillhop vibes of *Samurai Champloo* and *Cowboy Bebop* director Shinichirō Watanabe.
These are homages, absolutely. But I might wager a guess they don’t entirely work in practice. Kurosawa’s style, for instance, wasn't about things just *looking* epic while being in black and white, as I’m sure Sucker Punch knows. It was about movement, particularly camera movement, which is pretty difficult to truly capture when your game’s camera ultimately moves very strictly *with* (and *by*) the player. It’s like trying to recreate a grand ballet with everyone’s feet glued to the floor – you get the pose, but you lose the poetry.
Likewise, Miike’s mode apparently brings the camera in closer to deliver 'a more intense, raw experience.' Which it may well achieve, for sure. But reckon that might be a bit of a faff when you’re trying to manage a horde of angry Mongols, eh? It’s probably at the expense of being a practical way to play a game designed to have a camera set further back. It’s a design choice that might just make gameplay a tad… frustrating.
But the lo-fi chillhop? Now *that* might actually be a laugh! I could absolutely see myself playing with that for a bit – epic duels soundtracked by mellow beats, decapitations to a laid-back rhythm. It’s an admirably unserious way to go about your many hours of grisly cinematic dismemberment. And that’s precisely where the head-scratcher comes in.
To put it another way: all this just makes it very difficult to really know how to come at these games. On one hand, you've got this ‘incredibly serious, grim-faced tale of family vengeance set against achingly pretty vista after achingly pretty vista.’ On the other, ‘chill beats to decapitate to.’ It’s like trying to mix a perfectly brewed ceremonial tea with a dodgy energy drink. The flavours just… clash. And it leaves you wondering if the game wants you to meditate on the human condition or just kick back and enjoy the ride.
So, what does this all mean for us, the actual players? It makes it genuinely hard to figure out how to *feel* about these games. Do we take them seriously, appreciate the earnest attempt at homage? Or do we just kick back, switch on the lo-fi, and enjoy the hack-and-slash for what it is? Look, I'm a gamer, mate. I love a good *Assassin’s Creed*, for all its quirks, or a silly action flick marathon like a double-bill of, I dunno, *Transporter* and *Transporter 2*. I’ll be there, sword in hand, ready to yell 'hell yeah' when *Yōtei* drops later this year, just like I did with *Tsushima*.
But it’d be a lot easier to just *enjoy* it without this constant hum of ‘am I cultured enough to appreciate this deeply profound work of art?’ in the background. My two cents, as a digital wizard who’s seen a few too many reality-bending glitches and accidentally summoned more than a few pixellated mischievous sprites: games are brilliant on their own terms. They don’t need to dress up as movies to prove their worth. They don’t need to chase ‘High Art’ when ‘Bloody Good Fun’ is already an art form in itself.
So, Sucker Punch, if you’re listening (and I bet you are, you clever lot), maybe just let the *Ghost of Yōtei* be the awesome samurai action game it’s destined to be. Embrace the fun, lean into the epic battles, and if you throw in some more delightfully chaotic, unserious modes like the lo-fi beats, I’m all in. You’d be much cooler if you stopped trying so hard, reckon? Sometimes, the most powerful magic is found in simply being yourself.
Tags: Ghost of Yotei, Gaming Industry, Game Design, Sucker Punch, Action Games
Original article: Eurogamer