We Sat Down With the Creative Directors on Ghost of Yotei
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with developer Sucker Punch’s creative directors, Nate Fox and Jason Connell, to discuss the highly anticipated Ghost of Yotei. As a follow-up to the wildly popular Ghost of Tsushima, Nate and Jason know that they have big shoes to fill with its sequel. The task of building upon a foundation while remaining true to what fans love is often not an enviable task. Still, the team behind Ghost of Yotei is embracing the opportunity to astonish their fan base once again.
The first thing I wanted to ask was what some of the key cultural or mythological influences were that Sucker Punch drew upon when developing Ghost of Yotei’s world.
The Myth of Onryo
“We’re very inspired by the myth of Onryo,” said Fox. “It seemed like the perfect match for our character that is on a quest of vengeance against the Yotei Six, a group who massacred our main character’s family.” The feeling of being a walking legend is an attractive narrative proposition for Sucker Punch, and one that aligns with the living, breathing myth Jin Sakai became in Ghost of Tsushima.
Environmental storytelling is as important as building narrative through character development to Sucker Punch, and they’re poised to deliver an experience that constantly unfolds through its world. Their trip to modern-day Hokkaido had a profound impact on the development process of Ghost of Yotei, and the beauty that Sucker Punch experienced firsthand will significantly influence the atmosphere of Ghost of Yotei’s environment.
Key Pillars
“What we learned, working on Ghost of Tsushima, is that its environment was a key pillar of the game. We know that we have to celebrate that. What we’ve tried to do is push really hard on exploration in general. But, also, because the game has more of a focus on an open world, it will reward people who like to play wide. If you pull out your spyglass and look around, there’s a lot to be found. And there’s a whole host of rewards for those that are curious enough to look around. But if you do just want to get lost in the world, and immerse yourself, we’ve built enough of those types of tools that let you celebrate the art while still making progress,” says Connell.
I also wanted to know if player choices will have a significant impact on how the story unfolds. Fox advises, “While Ghost of Yotei has an incredible amount of freedom, when it comes to Atsu’s story, there aren’t branching storylines. We’re telling one story.”
That’s a good thing, though. Too many games are victims of a lost sense of focus. While trying to appease everybody, developers often struggle to convey their message effectively. Ghost of Yotei’s freedom of exploration combined with a singular, set narrative will assuredly be one of its strengths come launch.
Choice Does Matter
Though that doesn’t mean Ghost of Yotei will be devoid of choice. Sucker Punch is dead set on providing players with more options than ever before when it comes to tackling combat. Based on Ghost of Yotei’s latest State of Play trailer, I was concerned that the stance system from Ghost of Tsushima wouldn’t return. I was ecstatic to find this isn’t the case.
“We love the stance system,” says Fox. “It’s back in Ghost of Yotei, except instead of four stances, we now have five. You’ll have five different melee weapons to choose from, and while they’ll be good against particular opponents, it’s even broader now because these weapons have unique abilities. For instance, the spear will allow you to knock enemies backwards.” Undoubtedly, this new system will create improvisational environmental opportunities not present in Ghost of Tsushima.
I’m always curious what developers learn from one game to the next, both positive and negative. So I had to ask if Sucker Punch was aware of any issues during Ghost of Tsushima’s development cycle that they wanted to avoid this time around.
Lessons Learned
“There’s so much from Ghost of Tsushima that we started down the path of, like rewarding exploration,” says Fox. I love the guiding wind feature, because it tells you where to go, but it really empowers you to frankly not follow the wind. We took that in Yotei, and tried to go even farther. Not because we want players to ignore goals, but to reward their curiosity. We wanted to take that success from Tsushima and double down on it. We think it’s magic.”
Fox added, “Once we decided that we were heading into a region that has epic mountains, vast sightlines, we start getting into some of the limitations of our technology. We spent a bunch of time on terrain tesselation, higher fidelity, and volumetric fog. Our goal has never been photo realism. We want enough realism to capture you, but there’s also a sense of stylization and art that comes through to make sure that poetic version of nature really comes through.
Parting Words
Finally, I gave Nate and Jason a chance to share a few parting words with those who are as excited as I am about Ghost of Yotei.
Connell advises, “I know, for me, as somebody that directed the last game, we’re so thankful for all of the fans. Truthfully, we love working on these games, and it’s such an honor to be able to take such a successful game and develop a sequel that stands on the shoulders of that. We get to make exploration better, we get to double down on our art style. We get to deliver a version of Ezo that is captivating and beautiful, but that’s in the style of a Ghost game. Also, being able to add all of the weapons we wanted in the last game, and do them right, is such an honor and such a privilege.”
Ghost of Yotei launches on October 2nd, 2025. Thank you to Nate Fox and Jason Connell for taking the time out to speak with us.
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