The world of Ghost of Yōtei is like no other. Five years after Ghost of Tsushima redefined how lyrical, mournful or tactile videogames could look and sound, Sucker Punch Productions returned to Japan’s northern frontier. The new game shifts from Tsushima’s windswept coasts to the shadowed slopes of Mount Yōtei. Like its predecessor, the music in the game carries memory. Its soundscapes feel weathered, reverent and woven into the rich, textured geography of its world. And that beautiful atmosphere bears the touch of Japanese-American composer Toma Otowa, whose work on this sequel sought to bridge East and the West.
An in-game still from ‘Ghost of Yōtei’
| Photo Credit:
Sony Interactive Entertainment
The East, the West, and the sound between
“I got contacted by Peter Scaturro at SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment),” Otowa recalls. His path to Yōtei began, oddly enough, in the cartoonish chaos of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, where he co-wrote alongside his mentor, Mark Mothersbaugh. “I owe him an eternal thanks,” he says earnestly. But what made Otowa’s collaboration with Sucker Punch feel almost predestined was his own life story — a childhood in rural Japan followed by a teenage exchange to Oklahoma. “Feudal Japan meets the Wild West,” he says. “That’s basically my biography.” He laughs at the serendipity of it. “I didn’t know that 35 years later, those experiences would come to some kind of fruition. Life’s strange that way.”
When the studio first reached out, Otowa assumed they wanted something rooted in traditional Japanese instrumentation. Instead, the brief surprised him. “They wanted the feel of both worlds,” he says. “So I had to start from scratch. What does that [East-meets-West] even mean, musically?”
Every week, he would meet with the Seattle-based sound team to share drafts and new ideas. “They’d give me constant feedback, and it became this really fun exchange between Seattle and Tokyo.” The process yielded a score that sounds neither strictly Japanese nor Western, but something hovering between that liminal terrain.
For all its influences, the Yōtei score never sounds like imitation. When asked whether he revisited any of the iconic samurai-spaghetti western hybrids like Akira Kurosawa or Sergio Leone, he shakes his head. “I didn’t want to get too heavily influenced. I have segments of memories from what they felt like, but I wanted to recontextualise the sound.”
He says the same of Tsushima’s music, which was composed by Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi. “None of the motifs were from Tsushima, although I have mad respect for Tsushima — that’s what made the legend,” he says. “There was so much expectation on the soundtrack for Yōtei because the first game and its music were so loved and well-received. I had a lot of pressure,” he admits. “But I didn’t want to get too intimidated. Sucker Punch and SIE told me they were looking to build something completely different, so I felt comfortable and confident enough to reinvent the style of the score.’”
The Way of the Shamisen
The protagonist of Yōtei is Atsu, a wandering onna-musha (female warrior) and her instrument of choice is the spirit of the score. “The shamisen was extremely important,” Otowa says. “The score features nearly two and a half hours of shamisen, performed by Yutaka Oyama. “He did a wonderful job,” Otowa says. “A lot of what you hear is improvisation. I’d write a basic melody and he’d improvise around it — sometimes in a battle style, and sometimes completely freeform.” Each take was different. Even within a single track like the gorgeous The Way of the Shamisen, a section begins as written, then dissolves into Oyama’s improvised gestures.
An in-game still from ‘Ghost of Yōtei’
| Photo Credit:
Sony Interactive Entertainment
The score also incorporates the biwa, which Demon Slayer fans would instantly recognise for its plucky twangs from the Infinity Castle. The harsher timbre of the biwa represented the game’s titular antagonists, the Yōtei Six. “It has so many overtones,” Otowa says. “It could sound very subtle or chug away like a villain.” To balance that darkness, he turned to a distinctly Western voice: the lap steel guitar, performed by Nashville musician Justin Johnson. “When I heard his sound, I was like, oh my god,” Otowa says, laughing. “He is the Yōtei Six.” The two instruments separated by centuries and continents, converse across the score like mirrored shadows, and their interplay gives Yōtei its stunning duality.
A geography of feeling
The landscapes of Yōtei are shaped by wind, snow, and silence. Much of its world draws on the northern regions of Japan and the cultural presence of the indigeneous Ainu people. “Some of the team actually went to Hokkaido and recorded a tonkori player,” Otowa says. While the instrument represented the authentic regional sound, Otowa’s own writing stayed more interpretive. “We didn’t want to specify regions,” he explains. “It was about what felt right for the story.” That instinct also guided the spatial mapping of the sound . “We were very conscious that the music had to be breathable,” he says. “It needed to feel vast and spacious. Like it was accompanying you quietly like little spirits in nature. I wanted it to sound like the secrecy of nature; something sacred.”
An in-game still captured in ‘Ghost of Yōtei’
| Photo Credit:
Parth Singh
A ghost from the past
The game’s emotional pulse rests in Atsu’s songs, performed by singer Claire Uchima, who also sang in Ghost of Tsushima. “From our first Zoom meeting, we got along instantly,” Otowa recalls. Uchima co-wrote the lyrics with her father, a scholar of traditional Japanese language. “It’s modern but also old,” he says. “You can feel the time period in her words.” Atsu’s music carries grief without surrender, which Uchima seemed to be well-versed with. “She just knew the character. Atsu is closed up, and full of the deepest grief. Even if you don’t understand Japanese, you could feel what Claire’s singing,” Otowa says.
Between worlds
Despite his central role in one of PlayStation’s most anticipated games, Otowa remains self-effacing. “I’d like to say I’m a gamer,” he laughs, “but I’m terrible. Too many buttons.” Still, he does plan to play Yōtei eventually (preferably on the lowest difficulty).
When he speaks of influences, he cites a living legend. “John Williams’ score for E.T. made me want to become a composer,” he says. “It was so beautiful, so sweeping.” That early inspiration led him through conservatory halls and film studios across the U.S., before Yōtei brought him home to the ghosts of his own origins. “It made me tap into my DNA,” he says. “To mix what I learned in the West with what I grew up around.”
Toma Otowa
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
During the long composing months of Yōtei, Otowa also professionally changed his name from his original Wataru Hokoyama. “I wanted something easier to pronounce,” he chuckles. “People outside Japan would say it all wrong. So I thought, let’s be kind to everyone.”
In Atsu’s story there seems to be a reflection of Otowa himself. Much like the onna-musha successor to Jin Sakai, who inherits the titular mantle and must find her own rhythm in a legend already written, Otowa carries the weight of a world still echoing worshippingTsushima’s music.
“When I write as Toma, I feel freer,” he says. “I can lift off some of that ancestral pressure.” The new name, chosen after consultation with a specialist in Japanese naming meanings, marks a fresh creative chapter. “It feels friendly,” he smiles.
Published – October 29, 2025 01:06 pm IST
