Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut Review – Lifestyle

Last year, Ghost of Tsushima gained popularity with players around the world, who gave it even higher ratings than the press reviews. Very simply, the game can be described as a variation on the Assassin’s Creed series, which, however, is completely in history (there are no intricate passages from the present / future in it), did not flood its world with so many repetitive actions and most importantly: hiding the user interface (similar to Red Dead Redemption 2). A quality combat system and an impressive story are also important, although it is perhaps too inspired by iconic samurai films and therefore somewhat predictable. The game is now in the new Director’s Cut category with enhanced versions for the new PlayStation 5.

• Platform: PS5 (review) PS4
• Publication date: August 20, 2020
• Producer: Sucker Punch Productions (USA)
• Genre: open world RPG
• Czech location: yes, subtitles
• Multiplayer: up to 4 players
• Data to download: 60 GB
• Game time: 40+ hours
• Availability: 17+
• Sales version: box and digital
• Price: 1999 CZK (Xzone)

Expedition to the island of Iki

By far the biggest attraction for fans of the original game is, of course, the brand new part of the game that takes you to a new location to expand on the story. Iki Island is available from the second act of the game. But you can also enter it any time later, even after completing the main story. This can be very useful because the battles and enemies on Iki Island are pretty intense, so it’s worth going there with upgraded gear and abilities – but of course, this also depends on the difficulty you’ve set for your game.

If you were expecting the story to be just a sticker on its own with no deeper meaning to the game as a whole, I have good news for you: I don’t want to believe that the developers didn’t come up with it beforehand. Of course, I will not reveal anything, I will simply repeat the plot known from the trailers: on the island of Iki there is an aggressive group of mysterious Mongols, whose ranks are full of shamans and are headed by the mysterious Eagle. – your goal is to stop these enemies before they go to devastate Kushi. But as it turns out, the island of Iki has a special meaning for the protagonist Jin, and the past is impressively combined with the present. The result is an enrichment of the game’s overall story and its protagonist in a way that left a stronger impression on me than the original game’s ending and corrected my impression of the original’s predictability cliches. It is a pity that the excellent impression of the plot passages is sometimes spoiled by the “general open” animations and cameras of some episodes. It also occurred to me that some of the biggest battles were unnecessarily drawn out, but then again, it’s true that you’ll experience the most impressive moments of the entire game.

Iki Island has a special meaning for the protagonist Jin.

But Iki Island is much more than a handful of new story missions. It’s a purebred new location that’s just as rich in content as the Kushima regions from the original game: you’ll find all sorts of side activities, from conquering enemy strongholds or playing cat whistle (!) regions to mystical stories rewarded with unique gear or even extra story missions in addition to the main story. You will also have the opportunity to unlock new abilities, which I will definitely not disassemble, so as not to spoil the surprise for you. The most important addition to the game is the new type of enemy that is said shamans: it brings a new element to every battle where you have to find and deal with them first (usually they are a bit hidden on the edge of the battlefield). stop using your magic to buff the enemies around. However, given the game’s extraordinary aesthetic quality, Iki Island is perhaps the best feature of its beauty, including beautiful beaches, waterfalls, or overgrown burnt villages. Iki Island contains the most beautiful locations in the game. Depending on the difficulty on the island, you will spend about five hours on the story and about five other side activities.

Other improvements

The original game previously received a patch allowing it to play at (upscaled) 4K resolution and 60fps on the PlayStation 5. Traditionally, you can find an analysis of this solution from the experts at Digital Foundry. At that time, it was only about improving the fluency of speech, nothing more. The Director’s Cut on PS5 comes with two graphics modes (Performance or Graphics) that are just as smooth and hard to distinguish at first glance – I’m looking forward to analyzing them myself at Digital Foundry, but from what I’ve seen I’m guessing that the graphics mode does indeed work in native 4K and I expect it to have further enhancements such as anisotropic filtering. Anyway, I played the game in graphical mode and it felt beautiful and perfectly smooth.

As expected, the haptic feedback in the DualSense driver adds a new dimension to the experience, although at times I felt like the writers used it too much (even during the intro animation of the game logo, horse trot, blowing wind, etc.). .). Also, don’t underestimate the impressive sound of the gamepad’s speaker, which plays in a whisper in certain passages and perfectly complements the 3D sound of the game (with the right sound equipment). The creators have also included some of the most frequently requested improvements by fans, so you will find in the game a new ability to block enemies, alternative controls, or, for example, a visual hiding of a quiver of arrows. Connoisseurs will also appreciate the new facial synchronization with the Japanese dub. Add to that a great online game mode (our impressions here) with an amazing raid, and you have a true “director’s cut” of the game, i.e. the best possible version for all Kushima fans.