Ghost of Yōtei's large gameplay showcase had new weapons, smoother exploration, and a 'lo-fi beats' mode from Samurai Champloo director Shinichirō Watanabe
After watching the Ghost of Yōtei State of Play stream, I am satisfied it will be the form of sequel that is extra involved in refinement than reinvention. The 30-minute presentation confirmed off plenty of gameplay, notably specializing in Atsu’s expanded arsenal of blades and a brand new interrogation-based exploration system that appears actually neat.
Oh, additionally there is a lo-fi beats to homicide to mode with unique tracks by legendary anime director Shinichirō Watanabe (Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop), as a result of Sucker Punch can not help however be corny about the entire “playable samurai movie” factor. Kurosawa mode additionally returns, this time elevated by optionally available Japanese voices and lip syncing (one thing the primary recreation must have had at launch, however did not).
However actually, I will be flipping these gimmicky modes off after two minutes. I am taking part in Ghost of Yōtei for some exploratory slice-and-dice, one thing that we’re not precisely starved for after Murderer’s Creed Shadows dropped only a few months in the past.
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The similarities between the 2 western-developed, Japan-set video games are laborious to disregard, particularly now that we all know Ghost of Yōtei’s new protagonist, Atsu, is on a vengeance quest to kill a band of evil bastards who killed her father… similar to AC Shadows’ Naoe. I suppose overlap is inevitable once you go together with a cliche.
One large distinction: Sucker Punch describes Atsu as neither a samurai or a ninja. She’s a mercenary prepared to make use of any weapon or “soiled trick” to get by. The massive gameplay implication of that’s that Atsu roams Japan armed with quite a lot of blades—katanas, spears, kusarigama (chain blades), odachi (lengthy katanas), and twin swords. The 5 weapon sorts appear to switch the position of Ghost of Tsushima’s katana stances. Atsu can swap weapons in the course of fight, and every weapon counters completely different enemy sorts. Sucker Punch confirmed one instance: The odachi lengthy katana will slice up heavy enemies quickest.
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We additionally noticed the return of bows, plus that rifle from the reveal trailer final yr. Judging by the best way one bullet took down an enemy, I am guessing Atsu’s weapons shall be used sparingly.
Weapon swapping appears to be like enjoyable, however I am a little bit unhappy Ghost of Yōtei is downplaying the katana. I preferred having one signature weapon that carried me via the entire recreation—Jin’s sword had actual story significance behind it, and I do not assume Atsu shall be as valuable about gear.
My largest spotlight of the presentation was Ghost of Yōtei’s up to date movement for locating quests. As a substitute of a standard quest display screen, Atsu picks up leads by speaking to her pals and interrogating baddies. At one level, we see this interrogation interpreted as a display screen that allows you to select between a handful of quests the supply might reveal, and what loot they result in. On one hand, that is a cool solution to discover stuff, nevertheless it additionally appears to be like very gamey to decide on what quest data to extract as a substitute of following a standard, authored questline.
The present concluded with an advert for a Yōtei-ified PS5 console and controller, if you happen to’re into that form of factor. Ghost of Yōtei is out October 2 on PS5. There is not any PC date but, however hopefully a port will come faster than the primary, which solely arrived final yr.