Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut – Analysis

Although the Sucker Punch Productions be a company that once produced successful games in the series Sly Cooper It is InfamousI think it was with Ghost of Tsushima who finally managed to sit in the pantheon of PlayStation and the Sony Interactive Entertainment because he managed to develop one of the most surprising and exquisite games of the generation Playstation 4 that alongside Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice presented one of the best adventures set in Feudal Japan. It also achieved the feat of revitalizing a previously unknown Japanese location which consequently saw its local tourism revitalized. At a time when the waters of a new island are quite choppy, let's see if you can calm them down while replicating what happened on consoles. Playstation 4 It is PlayStation 5 in 2020 and 2021.

Unlike the countless games based on this period, Ghost of Tsushima It is not set in the traditional Sengoku period, but rather during the invasion of 1274 that led 80 samurai to face thousands of invaders from Mongolia. One of these 80 warriors is Jin Sakai who was inspired by a historical figure. However, as strange as it may seem to you, we are initially presented with the warrior as a somewhat one-dimensional character as he is motivated by elements worn out in this type of work. However, as Jin shares a constant obligation to follow a code of honor known as “Bushido”, he very quickly manages to escape some clichés that hold him back.

Combat is one of the main pillars for its development and clearly reflects its creed by presenting a system where a single blow with the sword is enough to determine who emerges victorious. However, before the fatal blow is delivered, players must break the opponent's stance. The most effective way is to make them lose concentration to deliver an incisive and deadly blow, it should be noted that during these moments the game takes on a very cinematic and intense perspective. Another attractive feature of this element is the fact that well-executed blows increase Jin's “ki” so that he regains some of his vitality.

Another way to eliminate the enemy and do justice to the name of the game is to transform Jin into a ghost to spread fear in the hearts of the Mongols and thus annihilate several enemies at once in incredible slow motion scenes. However, if Jin decides to leave his honor at home, he can use objects from a distance to harm his opponent, such as arrows, create ambushes with his companions or transform into an authentic ninja warrior. This was my favorite element to conquer the Mongol army of Ghost of Tsushima because as a longtime fan of the series Tenchu I recognize that the game used a lot of elements of shinobi assassins who kill in silence. Like Rikimaru and Ayame, Jin also has a hook to climb onto roofs or walls, uses smoke bombs to confuse his opponent, strikes with kunai and blowguns, and sneaks through foliage and shadows. However, this is still one of the divisive aspects of the Bushido philosophy, as the path of shadows goes against the principles of the righteous samurai, and it is up to the player to choose the easy path or the right path.

The plot of Ghost of Tsushima follows Jin's life through a series of missions while getting to know the other survivors on the island better, leading to a good story arc, although it doesn't take many risks. Part of the narrative is the recreation of the island and you can believe it is incredible! The island of Tsushima is full of lush nature and each landscape exudes elements of Japanese architecture, culture and folklore. Despite being a game developed by an American studio, I have to admit that they managed to capture the classic beauty of Shinto, stone lanterns, tori gates, shrines dotted with red maple forests, bamboo groves and windswept cob plains, all of these elements immediately transport players to Feudal Japan, I would even say that the entire presentation is far superior to several Japanese productions inside and outside video games.

Another of the company's business cards Ghost of Tsushima It's like there is no “UI” on the screen. Traditional maps or compasses have been replaced by wind direction to indicate where Jin's next target is, birds fly around places of interest and foxes invite us to follow them to hidden sanctuaries. Even after a few years, this way continues to be one of the most organic ways for the player to explore a scenario. Believe me, there is a lot to discover on the island because if the player decides to deviate from the main story, they will find Mughal army fortresses to liberate, search missions to participate in, lighthouses, and a series of minigames related to the samurai way of life, such as tameshigiri (cutting bamboo with a sword), meditating or composing haiku. There is also no shortage of objects waiting to be collected, and the possibility of learning techniques or improving weapons and yoroi (traditional armor) from different artisans spread across the island.

Ghost of Tsushima it was already a huge game and with the expansion of Ikki's island in the Director's Cut and much more. The story is fantastic and each act grows in scope and intensity. When we started Jin's odyssey, we were impressed by the amount of items that can be improved and customized, I felt a breath of fresh air in this genre with the techniques and postures that we can learn and with all the unlockable resources, because practically everything is available from now on. the beginning. On a map where points of interest are always appearing, whoever takes Jin's epic with serenity will be rewarded.

This is one of the aspects that creates balance and invites players to assimilate the beauty that exudes in every corner of the island. It is not just about a deep knowledge of classical Japanese aesthetics in the use of color, the recreation of scenes and communion with nature. The camera's focus, lighting and permanent particles, ashes, falling leaves, fireflies or dragonflies also complement a painting where each frame is an authentic work of art. In my opinion, it continues to be the most refined open world game today.

Everything reaches even more refinement with its masterful soundtrack sprinkled with traditional instruments such as the koto shamisen and the flute, written by Ilan Eshkeri It is Shigeru Umebayashi. This is one of those games that I highly recommend playing with Japanese audio because everything is much more authentic despite being completely localized in different languages ​​including European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.

Authentic is also the reputation of the Nixxes Software as the best studio for game portability Playstation 4 It is PlayStation 5 for the PRAÇA. This is because its developers always go further and try to add specific features to the ecosystem PRAÇA and its different types of users. So, like the previous release, Horizon Forbidden Westwho can read their analysis here, in addition to the 16:9 format, the Nixxes Software placed all ultra-wide or ultrawide screen configurations such as 21:9, Super Ultrawide 32:9, 48:9 and triple monitor configurations. In this batch, players will be able to take full advantage of any screen configuration they have. The game has several presets (low to ultra) with the following graphic options:

• Motion Blur Strength
• Texture Quality
• Texture Filtering
• Shadow Filtering
• Shadow Quality
• Level of Detail
• Terrain Detail
• Volumetric Fog
• Depth of the Field
• Screen Space Reflections
• Ambient Occlusion
• Bloom
• Vignette
• Water Caustics

In our usual configuration, that is, a build composed of a processor AMD Ryzen 9 5950Xa graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 MSI Suprim64 GB RAM at 3600 MHz and a drive Samsung 990 PRO NVMe M.2 SSDI was able to enjoy Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut in 4K resolutions with all graphics pushed to the maximum at more than 120 frames per second. I can also guarantee that Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut It didn't suffer from the usual shader compilation problems and hiccups that plague this system so much. Shader compilation starts when the map is loaded and only takes a few seconds, at least on one unit NVMe and are stored in the cache, and subsequent game loads will be much faster unless you change the graphics card or update the graphics card drivers.

However, the visual refinement balanced with the fluidity of the game is in most cases due to an incredible implementation that I hope to see in other releases in the future. Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut is the first game where we can combine technologies NVIDIA DLSS 3 It is AMD FSR 3that is, it is possible to enjoy the frame generation technology of OMG with the visuals of NVIDIA even if we don't have graphics cards from the series NVIDIA RTX 4000. Who has one MSI Claw you can rest assured because Nixxes Software also implemented the technology Intel XeSS 1.3 on this port. But what about other notebooks on the market, namely the ones I own, the Steam Deck and the ROG Ally?

On the laptop Valve with the default settings the game manages to remain quite stable and above 30 frames per second, sometimes reaching the level of 40, a perfectly playable rate, although the ROG Ally with your more powerful APU you will naturally be able to go further. The greatest feat of Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut at ROG ALLY is that it is capable of running between 50 and 60 frames per second thanks to technology AMFMalso known as AMD Fluid Motion Framesor the equivalent of frame-generating software to improve the smooth feel of computer games. OMG. With an energy rate of 25w, resolution of 900p and preset on medium (except Shadow Quality and Filtering) I was able to enjoy this great outdoor adventure at practically 60 frames, of course with the battery draining almost in real time.

Who paid attention to the pre-launch of Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut at the PRAÇA You should certainly remember the controversy surrounding the mandatory registration of an account PlayStation Network to play it on PRAÇAwhy Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut has the honor of being the first game to have the PSN “overlay” on this system. In other words, at any time during the game we can activate the PSN interface with four options: search for friends, see our list of PlayStation additions, trophies won, which will be the same on PC and consoles, and settings. Many users were terrified by this implementation, but as the game does not have “DRM” and works offline, registration is only necessary for the “Legends” multiplayer cooperative mode, and naturally it is a way of unifying screens and the ecosystem PlayStationyou can believe that the inevitable The Last of Us: Part II Remastered, God of War Ragnarok It is Marvel's Spider-Man 2 at the PRAÇA will also follow this path even without multiplayer components.

Along with Bloodborne and God of War: Ragnarok, I think Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut is the PlayStation game most eagerly awaited by PC players. Once again Nixxes Software has surprised us again with a masterful, extremely refined and optimized port that will have absolutely no problems when running on a modern PC or any of the portable devices currently available on the market. Visually, it remains stunning and proves to be a true manual of what Sony should do on a platform that will prove to be increasingly important in the future. At a time when the return to Tsushima is imminent on PlayStation 5, be sure to revisit the first adventure with even greater refinement.