Ghost of Yotei

Written by Jason Dailey on 9/25/2025 for PS5  

As a rule of thumb, a sequel should improve on the original no matter the art form, be it movies, television, books, or video games. Of course, that’s not always the case, but I can confidently say that it is true of Ghost of Yotei, despite it not being a direct sequel to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima. With Ghost of Yotei, the series has become an anthology thanks to a 300-year time jump that moves well beyond the story of Jin Sakai, though developer Sucker Punch’s latest doesn’t just advance the calendar a few centuries—it propels the series to new heights in every way.

It is a risky proposition leaving behind a protagonist and world that you just introduced a few years ago, and to much success, but it has paid off in spades with Ghost of Yotei (pronounced "Yo-tay"). It is a game and characters that stand fully on their own, so playing the first game is not necessary to enjoy Yotei at all. In fact, Yotei improves upon Tsushima so substantially that I’d probably just recommend you start with this game. Yeah, Sucker Punch cooked with this one.

You play as Atsu, a young woman whose family was murdered when she was a child by a group of rogues known as The Yotei Six. Atsu’s violent trauma as a child forges a traumatically violent woman fueled by vengeance. She becomes known as the “Onryo,” which loosely translates as “Ghost”—an almost mythical figure known for her vengeance through traveling tales, songs, and bounty posters. The depiction of Atsu on her bounty poster becomes more intricate as her story progresses and her legend grows, but she also grows as a human being along the way. On her journey to cut down the Yotei Six—led by by Lord Saito—Atsu is ultimately a force for good, despite being blinded by rage at times. She’s John Wick with a katana, and she’d probably do just fine bringing a knife to a gunfight.

I vastly prefer Atsu over Jin Sakai as a character, and her story resonated better as well. Atsu’s aura is that of a gritty badass that has an appetite for death which feels far more formidable and menacing than Jin Sakai did. I got a lot of Wild West film vibes from Ghost of Yotei, and especially Atsu’s character, who reminds me of Clint Eastwood’s Josey Wales and Jeff Bridge’s version of Rooster Cogburn. Which is to say that Atsu means well, in a bloody sort of way. To that end, you’ll often be aiding the residents of Ezo on your journey, defending them from the forces of the Yotei Six leaders, and in doing so becoming this Batman-like figure around the island.

Not only will you be blinded by Atsu’ rage from time to time, but you’ll also be taken aback by the beauty of Ezo, the island in northeast Japan overlooked by Mount Yotei where the game takes place. Known in the modern day as Hokkaido, Ezo is a real place and a stunning backdrop (not to mention stark contrast) to Atsu’s tale. I played on the Ray Tracing Pro graphical mode on PlayStation 5 Pro, but there is also quality, performance, and ray tracing modes available. No matter your preference, this is one of the best-looking games you’ll play on Sony’s hardware, except for the water, which doesn’t look great. But you’re not coming for the water so much as you are the beautiful vistas, the pops of color, and the breeze which doubles as a wayfinding tool again this time around.

The big standout in Ghost of Yotei is the lighting engine, which is insane. At times, it was impossible to not just stop and marvel over the valley beneath me or the mountain above me and at how the sun poured over both. The beauty of Ghost of Yotei isn’t just in its pure graphical fidelity, but more so its stylishness, art direction, and use of color. Stylistically, the world has this sort of mystical realism that adds to its cinematic nature. It’s like playing a video game version of The Odyssey, where you come across all these mysterious characters and locations that never quite feel real nor fictional, which creates a sense of both wonder and danger across Ezo.

The island of Ezo is not just a pretty video game world to admire. There is so much to do in Ghost of Yotei that it’s difficult to travel from one objective to another without getting sidetracked for hours. Campfire smoke billows in the distance signaling someone or something to interact with, rival factions fight each other on the road, traveling merchants give new points of interest, and ronin bounty hunters track you down, just to name a few. And that’s in between discovering new quests just by stumbling on them or overhearing someone talking in a village. The adventures you find (or that find you) by exploring are all worthwhile too.

The map is open but divided into regions, with each region feeling like a self-contained story to some extent. In the first two regions I visited, I took my time, explored every nook and cranny and shiny object that piqued my interest. Before I knew it, 30 hours had flown by, and I was only 30% done with the main story with a review embargo date fast approaching. I didn’t want to, but I had to force myself to be more disciplined in the mid-to-late game and ended up at the 47-hour mark by the time I finished the story. Which is to say that I really have no idea how long the main story is on its own—maybe 25 hours—but my advice is to not worry about that. Play Ghost of Yotei the way you want to play it and enjoy it. Follow what interests you and good luck trying to not get distracted two or three times on your way to the next thing.

While the world is large, Sucker Punch didn’t just add virtual real estate to give us a bunch of stuff to do. On the contrary, the map of Ghost of Yotei feels handcrafted to both keep you engaged yet respect your time. This is perhaps best illustrated by the tile-based quest system which is accessed straight from the map screen and lets you scroll vertically and horizontally through tiles that give a brief description of the activities you’ve discovered, shows you exactly where they are on the map, what rewards they give, and even lets you fast travel straight to them if you’ve discovered a nearby landmark. Let me be perfectly clear: Ghost of Yotei’s map and quest system is the new gold standard in open world video games.

This is how you design a world full of meaningful things to do without overwhelming the player. And this is how you organize all the things there are to do. I was legitimately pissed (in a good way) that I didn’t have enough time to do every single thing before finishing the main story and this review—that’s how well designed it is.

I’m doubling down on this and saying that Ghost of Yotei’s open world is the best I’ve experienced since Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s dynamic, it’s dangerous, and it’s tough to walk away from. You might take down a tough bounty, camp for the night to restore health and spirt, and then be caught off guard by someone after the bounty on your own head while trying to whip up some grilled mushrooms or play a tune on the shamisen (guitar). It’s brilliant, and I can’t get enough.

I know I’ve gone all this time without really discussing combat, and that’s because I saved the best for last. If the world and quest design are the meat, then combat is the potatoes in Ghost of Yotei. And damn are they some delicious potatoes. Atsu is a sharply honed instrument of death, laser-focused on obliterating (or decapitating) her enemies. Her combat style reflects both her skill as a fighter and her fury as a vengeful survivor. The animation work that has been done on Yotei’s combat is nothing short of excellent, with every fight looking and feeling cinematic, especially the boss fights.

In my review notes, I wrote on subsequent lines: “Combat feels really good,” and “Combat is so [expletive] good.” Third-person melee combat doesn’t get much better than Ghost of Yotei. It’s timing and parry based for the most part, particularly if you’re playing the higher difficulties where learning enemy attack patterns and knowing when to counter are critical to survival. Overall, though, combat is a little tougher than I remember from the first game, even on medium difficulty where combat represents a fair challenge as new enemy types are added in over time. And of course, the biggest tests come from boss fights, as well as bounties and duels with ronin.

One major change from Ghost of Tsushima is the replacement of weapon stances with different weapons entirely, which is an exponentially better system than the original game. Instead of swapping stances to deal with different enemy types, now you swap weapons to counter the type of weapon your enemy is wielding. Atsu carries a katana, of course, but can also swap to dual katanas, a yari, a kusarigama, and an odachi, in addition to ranged weapons. These are acquired as you progress through the story and can be improved by completing training quests with a Sensei for each weapon discipline.

These improvements dovetail into an extensive skill tree that unlocks new attacks and buffs for each weapon type. And here’s the best part about the skill trees: you unlock new skills simply by visiting shrines in the open world. No XP bars to fill, no currency needed acquire them, just explore the world and take a bow at shrines. Now, you do improve your weapons by upgrading them with resources, but that comes naturally as you play.

Ghost of Yotei’s combat is both a power fantasy and a well-balanced challenge. There are encounters where you will cut down a handful of enemies in a matter of seconds. There are also encounters that are a straight-up shinobi slugfest, requiring you to reach deep in your bag of skills and equipment to survive.

At times, especially during boss fights, Yotei’s tense combat feels like a fighting game in how you learn attack patterns and trade blows, waiting for an opportunity to counter. It’s also an evolution of the free-flowing Batman Arkham-style combat that’s a bit more grounded. Add in Atsu’s agility and flair as a combatant, and the result is a beautiful ballet of blades and blood that should not be missed.

The bottom line is that I love Ghost of Yotei. It stands on the shoulders of the original game yet still stands entirely on its own. The “Ghost” series has moved into anthology territory, and I think that has proven to be a brilliant move on Sucker Punch’s part. Atsu is a better character with a better story than Jin Sakai, but she’s also more of a force of nature, while still being a force for good. Her unfortunate circumstances inform her brutal fighting style, which in turn has created exhilarating, and at times, breathless combat.

Between battles, Ghost of Yotei deeply respects your time as a player, streamlining dozens of hours of content with quest and world design that should be the new gold standard for open world video games. When we reflect on 2025, I don’t know which ones, but Ghost of Yotei is going to win some awards.