Ghost of Yotei: Revenge served beautifully

The year 2025 has turned out to be great if one is a medieval assassin in Japan, with the excellent Assassins Creed Shadows earlier in the year, and now Sucker Punch’s much awaited Ghost of Yotei, slashing in with their signature Ghost mechanics.

Given how high the bar was set by the first game, Ghost of Tsushima, Yotei surprisingly brings not only more of what made the game stand out, but it also seems to have an identity of its own by breaking that mould of every sequel needs to be the same, but bigger and better. The focus is on its central character, Atsu, her background and how her journey reflects in the world and the era. One thing is for sure, this year’s Game of the Year list is getting crowded. 

When Atsu was a child, her family was executed in front of her eyes, and she vowed revenge. A full-fledged samurai, she returns to her homeland at the base of Mt. Yotei after exile and her targets are the Yotei Six, a group of murderous crime lords and Samurai clad in demonlike armor and masks. Atsu has to pick them off one by one, as her legend as an onryō, or ghost, grows. Given her fearless resolve, walking away from battle after battle bloodied to a point of death, she returns, to take on the next Yotei Six. 

Yotei is a revenge tale, but it is not one where you are propelled by a narrative as you take on the Yotei Six. Instead, it unfolds as a lone Samurai who has to follow every lead to piece together the whereabouts of these scoundrels. Yotei is in a chokehold with the spiderweb that spreads across every facet.

As a result, you need to unravel their plans. From asking questions at inns, setting up camps and entertaining strangers around a campfire playing your shamisen (a Japanese guitar-like instrument) and trading stories, to straight up interrogating bands of roaming thugs sent to kill you by the outlaw six. This is a different take on storytelling, almost letting you play a detective in a lawless land, where encounters seem to unfold organically, even if they are scripted to an extent.

Atsu’s story is different from that of Jin Sakai’s from Tsushima, where Jin is stuck between the honour of a Samurai and the quiet vengeance of a Ghost. Atsu embraces the Ghost, becoming something of a legend, a demon that walks. While Jin has to repel mongol invaders, Atsu has to deal with renegades from her own land. Here is where the narrative embraces that whole era of Samurai films such as Yojimbo and Seven Samurai that were cross-inspired by spaghetti Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Moving closer to the likes of music and Samurai movies with an almost Samurai Champaloo-esque tone, the built in Lo-fi music mode of Shinichiro Watanabe’s stylish anime shines through.

The combat largely remains the same on the surface. Instead of multiple stances to take on enemies, you can switch between weapons on the fly. From dual blades to the large odachi to the kusarigama, these are swapped and effective against multiple enemies. The systems have been streamlined and you have an element of surprise in the form of a wolf that jumps in from time to time. You have guns as well as your trusty bow as options, rounding off an excellent battle system that you can upgrade through engaging mini games strewn across the region. 

The world itself is beautifully set in Northern Japan — there are fields of flowers as far as the eye can see, beautiful, autumn-touched trees, and the wind effects are incredible. The sheer beauty of this land makes every moment special, infusing travel and exploration with the excitement of what you could uncover. There is so much organically hidden in this game, from a scenic duel and a bamboo cutting mini game to a rather zen-like shamisen playing spot. The more exciting ones are the time jumps, which are playable temporal shifts that lets Atsu relive memories of her childhood, giving you more power ups and helping you understand the backstory a bit more. 

Technically, Ghost’s engine has always wowed with its near zero loading times, and Yotei does not disappoint. It is absolute wizardry the way they packed so much detail into the scenes and all of this loads on a dime. From rippling winds to beautiful vistas, with unparalleled view distances and good frame rates. For the most part, the characters look great, though at times you will spot some wooden enemy animations. The biggest call out here is the sound and haptic design where great lengths have gone to replicate weapon feel on the dualsense controller’s haptics.

The biggest one is, the musical string vibrations when playing the shamisen are nothing short of magic. Yotei has the feels, in more ways than one. 

Stop comparing Yotei to Tsushima. Ghost of Yotei is a completely different game, a different story and a different way of narration as well. While many of the mechanics stretch across games, it is like what paper is to a book — the words themselves are different. Atsu is an excellent central character and the Yotei Six are as fearsome as villians themselves, embodying their demonic masks well. Ghost of Yotei will be on a lot of holiday shopping lists!

Published – September 30, 2025 08:48 pm IST