Ghost of Yotei Will Be Less Repetitive Than Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima's sequel, Ghost of Yotei, aims to overcome a major criticism leveled at its predecessor: repetitive gameplay. Developer Sucker Punch is actively working to "balance against" the repetitive aspects of its open-world design.

Ghost of Yotei: Enhanced Exploration and Gameplay

Addressing Repetitive Gameplay in Ghost of Tsushima

In a New York Times interview, Sony and Sucker Punch shed light on Ghost of Yotei, focusing on its new protagonist, Atsu, and a significantly improved open-world experience. Creative director Jason Connell highlighted the challenge of avoiding repetitive gameplay in open-world titles: "One challenge...is the repetitive nature of doing the same thing over and over," he stated. "We wanted to balance against that and find unique experiences." He also confirmed players will master both firearms and melee combat, a departure from the katana-focused combat of the original.

Despite Ghost of Tsushima's respectable 83/100 Metacritic score, its repetitive gameplay drew considerable criticism. Reviews described it as "a competent but shallow...attempt to replicate Assassin’s Creed style open world adventure," and suggested a smaller scope or more linear structure would have been beneficial.

Player feedback echoed these concerns. Many praised the game's visuals but criticized its repetitive combat encounters, with one player noting the limited enemy variety.

Sucker Punch is directly addressing this feedback to prevent a similar issue in Ghost of Yotei. They aim to maintain the series' signature cinematic presentation while improving gameplay variety. Creative director Nate Fox emphasized the importance of capturing the essence of feudal Japan: "When we started working on a sequel, the first question we asked ourselves is ‘What is the DNA of a Ghost game?’...It is about transporting the player to the romance and beauty of feudal Japan."