Ghost of Yotei Review – Once in a Generation

Ghost of Yōtei Review

If 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima placed Sucker Punch Productions in the upper echelon of developers, 2025’s Ghost of Yotei solidifies them as one of the greatest teams in the history of gaming. Ghost of Yotei is a beautiful, brutal, and unrelenting tour de force that builds upon its predecessor in every conceivable way. Each second, from the moment Yotei’s protagonist Atsu appears on screen, all the way to the credits roll, is an exhilarating, breathtaking masterclass on game development that puts the industry on notice. An easy contender for Game of the Year, Ghost of Yotei demands your attention. Prepare your katanas. It will sink its claws into you with a flurry of incredible storytelling, fast-paced, fluid combat, and flawless environmental exploration.

Set in the year 1603, Ghost of Yotei takes place at the beginning of Japan’s Edo period. The rigid social hierarchy of the Edo period plays perfectly against Atsu’s motivations. Ghost of Yotei kicks off with a flashback to the murder of Atsu’s family. It’s a dark, depressing scene that lays the blueprint for the merciless journey ahead. In a way, Ghost of Yotei’s narrative feels a bit like Red Dead Redemption’s. Traditional samurai are a dying breed, and the player is thrust into a tale of revenge despite the world around them barreling towards modern peace.

Emotional, Riveting

Throughout Atsu’s lengthy adventure, you’ll feel love, loss, betrayal, heartache, contempt, and a slew of other emotions that are expertly woven, beat by beat. It’s not a story for the faint of heart, and as was the case with Jin during Ghost of Tsushima, Atsu’s ruthless demeanour did a good job of making me ponder the morality of her actions. Do two wrongs make a right? How many people need to die before Atsu will find peace? How many lives must she ruin? There are layers to Ghost of Yotei that are seldom found, that force players to consider what truly makes someone good or evil. How much killing needs to happen before you become the very thing you set out to destroy?

In the face of these hard-hitting questions, Ghost of Yotei presents itself amongst one of the most beautiful backdrops I’ve ever seen in a game. The island of Ezo is stunning, in every blade of grass, every falling leaf, and every sunlit valley. It’s absolutely incredible what Sucker Punch was able to accomplish here.

Ghost of Tsushima stunned with its beauty. In fact, Tsushima looked so good that I found myself doubting if I’d be as blown away by Yotei’s environments. Boy, how wrong I was. Every inch of Ezo has been crafted with love. It’s painstakingly detailed, to the point that I’m no longer sure if Death Stranding 2 can claim to be the best-looking game ever made. Ghost of Yotei is pure, stylized bliss that consistently left my jaw on the floor. But what’s even more incredible is that nearly every inch of the map is packed with things to explore and discover.

What’s Over There?

For every bit as dense as Ezo is, there’s an equal amount of content for players to get their hands on. It’s challenging to stay focused on the main story when the world offers so many enticing and rewarding distractions along the way. One of Ghost of Yotei’s true strengths is its ability to consistently feed players meaningful content without ever feeling overbearing or mundane. Even when tasked with more menial objectives, such as finding bamboo strikes, I was always building Atsu in a purposeful way that made the next task more enjoyable. Credit also needs to be given to Sucker Punch’s decision to tie character upgrades to exploration. Instead of using the terribly clichéd method of doling out experience points, Ghost of Yotei develops Atsu through discovery. Gaining a new weapon or ability is never dull, and with each subsequent finding, my excitement to explore grew further.

Speaking of weapons and abilities, Ghost of Yotei’s combat is beautifully visceral and heartpounding. New weapons and enemy types demand a careful balance between what players utilize. This not only encourages, but at times, demands that players make use of everything Atsu has at her disposal. It always pains me when a game offers players dozens of options to tackle its challenges, but lacks balance in their effectiveness. Ghost of Yotei walks this thin line with grace. It guarantees by the time the credits roll, you’ll be an expert with all of its tools, whether that’s a blade or bow, and everything in between.

Violent Dance

What’s more important, however, is that there isn’t a single weapon that isn’t a joy to use. Encounters with enemies are a graceful ballet of dodges, parries, and strikes that are as brutal as they are beautiful. I’ve said it before, but Atsu is an absolutely ruthless character that pulls no punches when it comes to dispatching her foes. Limbs fly, heads lop, and the screams of her enemies permeate her battles. Gorgeous animations accompany each fight, admittedly becoming a bit repetitive after hundreds of kills. The swift, slick feeling of Ghost of Yotei’s combat never tires, despite this repetition, and remained engaging and entertaining throughout my entire time in Ezo. Hearing the gurgling of an enemy’s sliced throat is especially sobering, and something that continuously made me wince.

Ghost of Yotei’s sound design doesn’t just begin and end with a juicy throat, however. Everything from the clash of steel and howling winds to the sounds of footsteps and enemy cries is immaculate. Ghost of Yotei is as much an auditory masterpiece as it is a visual one. I implore players to grab a good set of headphones before diving in. This isn’t a game to play with cheap TV speakers. Furthermore, the original soundtrack is utterly phenomenal. It runs the gamut from pulsating highs to solemn lows, while maintaining cultural authenticity that genuinely transported me to early 1600s Japan. Music plays a significant role in Ghost of Yotei. It serves as a companion to the visuals and action, blending a perfectly surreal and artistic cocktail that routinely blew me away.

Bring the Hardware

I should also mention, having touched on playing Yotei with a solid set of cans, that Sucker Punch has also arguably made the best use of the PS5 Pro hardware that I’ve seen to date. The ‘Ray Tracing Pro’ mode is a tremendous way to get invested in Ghost of Yotei. It offers a rock-solid 60 FPS while also delivering superb, ray-traced visuals. There haven’t been many games that have made me feel my PS5 Pro purchase was justified. Ghost of Yotei is one of the few that has finally made me think dropping nearly a grand on the system was worth it. This is a once-in-a-generation type of game. It’s a top-of-the-line triumph that deserves to be experienced with top-of-the-line hardware.

Ghost of Yotei is one of the best games I’ve ever played. From top to bottom, beginning to end, it is the epitome of what Triple-A game developers should strive for. It completely delivers on all fronts – combat, narrative, visuals, world-building, and audio. But, most importantly, it’s simply a ton of fun. Sucker Punch Productions has raised the bar to a seemingly insurmountable height. When it’s all said and done, people will look back at this generation and regard Ghost of Yotei as a true magnum opus. It’s games like these that remind me just how special the medium can be.

***A PS5 code was provided for this review***