Ghost of Yōtei Is Hopefully the Last of Its Kind

Just a couple hours into Ghost of Yōtei , the latest PlayStation 5 exclusive from Sucker Punch, I knew exactly how my day-to-day experiences with this game would go. At the start of every session, I identify what main quests are available to me at this time, check my map for any side quests, bounties, or places of interest I haven’t completed yet, and then chart a course for the next hour or so of play. 

I hop on my horse, ride across the gorgeous fields and streams at the foot of Mount Yōtei , and start checking off boxes. First, locate an Altar of Reflection so I can unlock a skill point. Then, challenge another swordsman to a fight to the death to unlock a charm. After that, I’ll complete a bounty hunt so I have enough cash for weapon upgrades, and then I’m off to kill a base camp of Saito thugs with relative ease. I’m having a lot of formulaic fun.

With any luck, though, this will be one of the last times I play a game like this.

More Stuff

In Ghost of Yōtei — a sequel to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima — players assume the role of Atsu, a young woman from Ezo, Japan (modern-day Hokkaido) in 1603 who seeks to avenge her parents and brother, all of whom were mercilessly butchered by a renegade militia known as the Yōtei Six. Sucker Punch tells this story through a piecemeal approach: You only see bits of the past at a time, with constant hints that there’s more to what’s going on than Atsu just killing evil men. 

Obviously, the kind of narrative backdrop Yōtei presents lends itself well to an open-world video game, where the player can advance through the story at whatever pace they like and in a potentially non-linear manner. Since this revenge tale lacks big-picture urgency, there’s tons of optional side activities as well, all of which add color to the whole experience but mostly exist to beef up Atsu ahead of main quest showdowns through money, skill trees, armor upgrades, and other goodies. 

With sharp yet simple combat mechanics and top-notch production values, Ghost of Yōtei offers a comforting, familiar feedback loop: Ride around a big map on your horse, find stuff, kill stuff, buy stuff, upgrade stuff, occasionally talk to people, do main quests, and then back to all the stuff. Progress is easy to attain and even easier to track. It’s a constantly engaging experience, albeit a largely frictionless one as well.

I’m enjoying my time with all this stuff. But it is mostly stuff. Things to do. Boxes to check off.

Checklist games are less about wandering through fantastical lands and happening upon neat things by chance, and more about being told exactly what’s available to you ahead of time and letting you determine how much of it actually interests you.

Boxes Checked

I wrote earlier in this piece that I’ve spent several hours playing Ghost of Yōtei , but it would be just as accurate to say I’ve been playing Ghost of Yōtei for nearly two decades. I played Ghost of Yōtei briefly in 2008 when I bought a used copy of the first Assassin’s Creed from GameStop for $15. I played Ghost of Yōtei when I was searching for Riddler trophies in Batman: Arkham City in 2011. I played my favorite version of Ghost of Yōtei in 2022 in the form of God of War: Ragnarök , and I played my least favorite version of Ghost of Yōtei two years earlier in the form of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. 

To be crystal clear, I’m not saying all open world action-adventure experiences are exactly the same. When talking about games that share the same essence found in Yōtei , I’m referring more specifically to what some have called Ubisoft-style games (as they popularized these kinds of worlds with Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry). Personally, I prefer calling them “checklist” games. Unlike the massive locales found in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, Elden Ring, or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, checklist games are less about wandering through fantastical lands and happening upon neat things by chance, and more about being told exactly what’s available to you ahead of time and letting you determine how much of it actually interests you.

In some cases, a checklist game will truly respect and value the time of its players with well-written side quests, stunning vistas, and compelling characters. In other instances, the world is just a backdrop for more and more content, with little substance to be found. In either case, the game literally tells you what you can find before you find any of it. As a result, these are worlds centered on specific activities and rewards instead of mystery and spontaneity. The actual vista you find at the end of a shrine climb in Yōtei might amaze you, but you also know the second you see those big gates what kind of gameplay to expect for the next few minutes.

Too Much Clarity

Open worlds attract players because they present (sometimes literal) mountains of possibility. With checklist games like Ghost of Yōtei, you pretty much know all of the possibilities early on. All the points of interest fall into a specific set of categories. Once you start earning money and grabbing resources, it becomes immediately clear what you can buy or craft. Story quests are longer and have more intricacies than smaller side quests. Every time you get a new weapon, the game explains how and when to use it relative to your other weapons. Everything fits neatly together in a game like Ghost of Yōtei, making for a smooth, seamless gameplay experience with few, if any, surprises.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with these kinds of titles. As a general rule, I don’t find any particular video game genre, mechanic, system, or design philosophy inherently good or bad. The implementation of and context around any single aspect of a game is what matters most. 

What’s happened over the years, though, is that the checklist game became the bog standard of AAA development for single-player experiences, and not just for Sony and Ubisoft. Halo Infinite’s campaign follows a lot of the same principles, and even a masterpiece RPG like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt normalized including a similar array of optional side-content, albeit in a way that raised standards for such an experience.

As a result, we’ve had a glut of this kind of open world game for such a long time, to the point where genre fatigue has set in. How can I be excited for a sequel to Horizon Forbidden West when I already pretty much know what to expect from it? Can I really justify buying another Assassin’s Creed game at this point when the only things that really change are setting and scale?

I’m not saying checklist games have to go away forever. But the joy of exploring the Depths for the first time in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, discovering a new kind of sick boss is at the end of a catacomb in Elden Ring, or happening upon a KKK meeting at night in Red Dead Redemption 2? Those moments — the ones that have always been crucial to video games as an art form — aren’t especially common in checklist games. They can only really occur if the player isn’t fully aware of what’s possible at all times. 

And that’s fine! There’s a different kind of joy found in familiarity and clarity. Ultimately, though, this is where that genre fatigue comes from: These checklist worlds lack intrigue. They offer loops of compelling story moments, bloody sword fights, and moments of contrived serenity, but limited opportunity for shock and awe. You also can’t “break” or “figure out” games like these, because everything is laid out for you. 

Familiarity Can Be Good

Luckily for me, even if Ghost of Yōtei is largely another one of these games, it’s at the very least a good one. Much like its predecessor, Yōtei doesn’t just aim to present a photorealistic version of Japan; it expertly organizes colors and architects stunning natural environments to create something that feels like a beautiful fantasy world, even though you know it’s meant to feel real. The game’s approach to combat variety isn’t exactly new, but the pace of each encounter forces you to be mindful of your tactics and surroundings, making even simple fights fairly engaging. Moreover, even the somewhat cookie-cutter plot has its fair share of tense, fascinating moments, with voice actor Erika Ishii giving Atsu a nuanced pathos. Simply being in this world is a treat on its own, even if it’s mostly an experience I’ve had before.

Also, it would be unfair to Yōtei if I didn’t mention some of the more creative things it does. I love that it carries over the mechanic from Ghost of Tsushima that lets the wind guide you towards marked places on your map. I appreciate how the game utilizes unique DualSense controls for building a fire, roasting food, or painting vistas. And even if I’m probably never going to view the game in Watanabe Mode, Kurosawa Mode, or Miike Mode, I think it’s super interesting that the folks over at Sucker Punch want players to have different audio-visual presentation offerings. As a whole, Ghost of Yōtei isn’t anything new, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing interesting or special about it.

I’m not bringing any of this up because I find Ghost of Yōtei disappointing in any way. On the contrary, it’s exactly the kind of gaming comfort food I’ve craved for a while. I love fighting other swordsmen to the death, sneaking around Saito camps, gazing at the beautiful night skies, roasting mushrooms, following golden birds, and learning new sword abilities. It’s just that there’s also a part of me that wants more from massive AAA games, and wishes studios like Sucker Punch would take more creative risks.

These checklist worlds lack intrigue… Even if Ghost of Yōtei is largely another one of these games, it’s at the very least a good one.

Final Thoughts

Ghost of Yōtei doesn’t need to be more than what it is right now. In a vacuum, it’s a very well-made game that I’m having a good time playing. At the same time, I wonder how much more interesting an adventure of its ilk could be if Sucker Punch hadn’t skewed so closely to firmly established ideas. What if there were more creative ways to approach combat using the DualSense, instead of just hitting the square and triangle buttons? What if there wasn’t a map at all, and you had to only use word of mouth or visual cues to find points of interest? What if some of those points of interest didn’t have immediate, predictable rewards, but something else entirely?

Despite my sincere enjoyment of Ghost of Yōtei, I genuinely hope it’s the last of its kind, at least for a while. Even as I gaze across the stunning landscapes, battle fierce foes, and learn more about the fascinating denizens of Ezo, I’m readier than ever to leave these kinds of games behind. Open worlds are here to stay, but maybe it’s okay if these ones are not.

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