There's something uniquely special about seeing a world like Tsushima's once again. The rustling trees, the god rays piercing through treetops, and the orchestral silence of Sucker Punch's ambient soundscape — they all come together to form visual poetry that is hard to replicate. For what it's worth, Ghost of Yotei seems to be holding on to that magic.

However, I can't help but notice how the latest State of Play didn't leave me excited. In fact, it left me apprehensive, and in some cases, mildly disappointed. There is no doubt in my mind that I'm going to play this game on day one, but the game, according to what we all saw in the last State of Play, feels less like a bold sequel, and more like a safer reimagining. I'm still pretty hopeful about many things in Ghost of Yotei, but I can't shake off the feeling that the game isn't evolving enough where it really matters.

The world is still stunning. The characters? Not so much

Character models continue to look dated in the Ghost of Tsushima sequel

There's no denying that the world of Ghost of Yotei looks absolutely breathtaking. In stills and wide camera sweeps. Ezo looks as beautiful as Tsushima ever did. Sucker Punch's visual language and environmental artistry are still unmatched, and that counts for a lot. But the moment a character opens their mouth, the illusion, for me, breaks.

The character models in Ghost of Yotei continue to look last-gen. Even when Tsushima was released back in 2020, the character models looked dated. I had every hope that with the first game's success, Yotei would look phenomenally better and next-gen, something along the lines of Death Stranding 2, and yet, Atsu's face, and even that of every single character I've seen yet, is largely unimpressive and still last-gen. Other than its artistic direction, which remains unparalleled, Yotei does look less impressive visually than AC Shadows, and that is not something I thought I would ever say.

Be it the wind systems, the fullness of the towns, castles, and marketplaces that we still haven't seen in Yotei, it all paints a picture of a graphically inferior game to Assassin's Creed Shadows, despite coming out half a year later, spending more or less the same time in development, and while it will always have a superior art style, the polygons really don't lie.

Atsu's revenge story feels overly familiar

There looks to be no new ground broken here

Yotei's story is something I was nervous about, and from the looks of it, I was right. The story follows Atsu, whose family was slaughtered by the Yotei Six, a band of ruthless mercenaries. She comes back 16 years later, transforms into the 'onryō', or the ghost, and picks them off one-by-one.

The first problem, of course, is how much more surface-level it seems off the bat, especially compared to Ghost of Tsushima, where Jin's journey circled around his mental war against his own morality and ideals, and how he had to become something far greater than his own principles allowed in order to fend off invading forces from his homeland.

Atsu's journey is a much more intimate and personal story, yes, but the Yotei Six are certainly going to tie in as bigger bad guys who make the people of Ezo suffer in one way or another. That said, I just played AC Shadows in March, and while the term 'Onryo' may be flipped this time around to fit the protagonist instead of the band of antagonists, the similarities are impossible to deny or ignore. Even if I chose not to consider Shadows, the story is still pretty tried and tested, whether in movies like Kill Bill, or games like Sifu. I wonder how Sucker Punch reacted when they saw AC Shadows open on a young girl seeing her family slaughtered at the hands of a band of masked enemies. Talk about simultaneous invention.

The combat looks rewarding, but barely any different

Weapons have replaced stances, but I smell nothing fresh

Combat was inarguably the most rewarding thing about Ghost of Tsushima, and that stellar parry-heavy combat system is returning in Yotei. I couldn't be happier, and this time, I don't have apprehensions as much as I have plain disappointment at how nothing feels new. Between the Kusarigama, the Katana, and the dual-wield Blades, the weapons in the game continue to remind me of Shadows. I'm not saying that's inherently a bad thing, but it's far from uncharted territory or a mechanic that makes a sequel feel fresh.

Stances might have been replaced by different weapons, but unless I see stances return for each weapon, the combat system remains largely the same, and sorely missing some depth that a sequel could've given it. Even in the animations and the way combat sequences flow together, I couldn't help but notice that we're not getting something new. A remix, sure, but something novel? No. Maybe that's enough for most returning fans, and I could very well be singing a different tune once I've sunk 10 hours into Atsu's skill tree. But as someone who adored Tsushima's combat, I had hoped for more refinement, not just repetition. Yotei seems to have chosen familiarity over freshness, and that's not always the worst decision. It's just not what I'd expected from a sequel five years in the making.

The English VO is going to stick out this time

What's up with Atsu's accent?

I don't want to make a whole thing about Atsu speaking without an accent in the English dub, since I'm going to be playing exclusively with the Japanese version, but for those who are going to be playing the game's English version, I can't help but see the game's cutscenes and acting performances shaping up to be more like Shadows', whjich I described Dhar Mann-quality videos with Mastercard commercial blocking.

The developers recently stated that Yotei's Ezo is around the same size as the map in the first game. This time around, however, the game is looking to be more packed with content and better-quality side quests to involve the player in. While I'm all for it, in all honesty, realizing that the Ghost of Tsushima map was limited to just three areas was a disappointment because of how enjoyable every inch of it was. Now, Yotei's map might fix that by being the same size but still giving us more to do and stay engaged, but in 2025, running the game on the PS5 Pro, the best iteration of the game's first-party hardware, I'm reserving judgement about whether keeping the map the same size was the right call to make on Sucker Punch's part.

Cautiously optimistic, but not won over

It's easy to look at a game like Ghost of Yotei and get swept up in the wind, the haikus, and the cherry blossoms. There's an undeniable beauty to it all, and even now, Sucker Punch is operating at a level of artistic and environmental mastery that's hard to critique. Still, I walked away from this last State of Play with less excitement and more concern.

There's a fantastic game in here somewhere, and I know it. But right now, Ghost of Yotei feels like it's playing too safe to live up to its name. I hope I'm wrong, because I would love to be. For now, though, I'm genuinely unimpressed.