There’s no game I’m waiting for more than Ghost of Yotei – and what Sony has now shown makes me almost burst with impatience

At the latest State of Play, Sony finally showed real gameplay for the highly anticipated Tsushima sequel. It hides many details that will make Japan fans’ hearts beat faster.

After months of silence, Sony has finally revealed more details about the long-awaited sequel to Ghost of Tsushima at the latest State of Play presentation. Ghost of Yotei is set to be released exclusively for the PlayStation 5 in the fall and will take you to the northernmost of Japan’s main islands: Instead of Tsushima, this time it’s off to Hokkaido.

During the State of Play, the developers from American studio Sucker Punch showed off the first gameplay of the samurai action game and explained what has changed compared to its acclaimed predecessor – and that’s a lot.

Our Japan expert Jesko took a closer look at the gameplay reveal of Ghost of Yotei and also reveals five details that have him dancing on the table in front of his friends. We have embedded the English-language presentation below:

A classic revenge story

In contrast to its predecessor Tsushima, Ghost of Yotei does not present you with a story about the noble character of the samurai, but a dark revenge story in the style of Kill Bill. This is also reflected in the background story of main character Atsu: Instead of being born into the ruling warrior caste, she is the daughter of a swordsmith in remote Hokkaido.

When Atsu is still a child, her parents’ farm is attacked by six mysterious samurai, who kill her family and leave the wounded Atsu for dead. But the girl survives – the developers leave it open as to how. 16 years later, Atsu returns to her home island as a grown woman to kill the men who have her family on their conscience.

The setting promises one thing above all: lots of blood. As Atsu is not bound by the samurai code, she can murder without scruples, unlike Jin Sakei. However, Atsu is not a secretive shinobi like Naoe from Assassin’s Creed Shadows – nor does she have particularly honorable ambitions. Atsu is simply a mercenary out for revenge.

The new bounty system

As a mercenary operating outside the law, Atsu is naturally frowned upon by the authorities, which is why there is a price on her head that increases as the story progresses. With every target you kill, your reputation as a bloodthirsty butcher grows – and with it your bounty. Gradually, significantly more and deadlier enemies will hunt you down.

However, you can also try your hand at bounty hunting yourself. In the towns and villages of Hokkaido, you will always find notice boards on which wanted criminals are wanted. If you accept one of the bounty missions and take out the culprit in question, you can use the change you earn to replenish Atsu’s meagre war chest.

Different weapons instead of sword styles

Another innovation concerns the combat system of Ghost of Yotei: Instead of Jin Sakai’s sword styles from the first part, Atsu has to change weapons to defend himself against different enemy types. The comparatively light Kusarigama (a chain sickle) may be deadly in surprise attacks, but only the greatsword Ōdachi can help against powerful barbarian opponents.

Yotei will have a total of five weapon types that you can switch between: Katana, spear, kusarigama, odachi and the Daishō sword pair. These replace the sword style wheel at the bottom right of the screen. At first glance, this is reminiscent of the recently released Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but Yotei will focus much more on crisp combat and precise controls. The fact that both Atsu and her opponents can be disarmed in the event of critical hits also contributes to this. Timing and the right tactics are required here.

In addition, there is a new weapon for the long distance: Alongside the tried-and-tested short and long bows, the matchlock rifle is the first real western-style firearm. In 1603, rifles were already widespread in Japan thanks to European traders.

Sing the campfire song

The side quests and companion stories sometimes caused frustration in Tsushima, as you often had to travel across the map for just one dialog. Ghost of Yotei wants to change this and introduces a camp mechanic. At the campfire, Atsu can cook, play shamisen, upgrade weapons and armor or talk to merchants and companions.

If your allies have news for you, they will come to the campfire from time to time and talk to you about it. This should make it easier for you to keep track of possible upgrades and side quests.

Instead of the text-heavy journal menus from Ghost of Tsushima Yotei also offers an illustrated overview of all friends and companions who assist Atsu during her journey. The developers call this group the wolf pack.

New Lofi mode

Most players of Ghost of Tsushima will be familiar with the Kurosawa mode. The graphics mode is based on the style of the samurai films by legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) and presents the entire game in atmospheric black and white with film grain.

For Ghost of Yotei, the team at Sucker Punch has come up with two more creative visual modes. The first of these is based on the style of director Takashi Miike and is intended to offer a dirtier, more direct gaming experience. To achieve this, the camera is brought closer to Atsu and more blood flows.

The second mode, which I personally find much more appealing, is the Samurai Champloo mode. This is based on the legendary anime of the same name by director Shinichirō Watanabe and turns Ghost of Yotei into a special audiovisual experience. Battles and exploration are accompanied by lo-fi music selected by Watanabe himself. Together with the colorful landscapes of Hokkaido, the game thus develops a unique atmosphere.

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What else is new?

Binoculars: With this new gadget, you can scout interesting locations from a distance or mark enemies in a camp as targets.

Memories: When Atsu visits certain places from her childhood, you can look into her past.

More dialog options: If you interrogate an NPC, you can receive different information depending on the conversation option you choose. This will then lead you to different side quests and interesting locations.

New exploration mechanics: In addition to the tried and tested paths via guiding wind or animals, finding side activities will work via a new random-based map mechanic. The developers have not yet revealed what this will look like in detail.

Ghost of Yotei is scheduled for release on October 2, 2025 – and thus only shortly after the first story DLC for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which is also set in ancient Japan. Until then, however, the team at Sucker Punch still has some work to do, as the stuttering frame rate was clearly noticeable several times in the gameplay shown.

Since GTA 6, the biggest competitor in the Christmas business, was recently postponed to 2026, a delay of several weeks would also be conceivable in the case of Ghost of Yotei to give the developers more time to optimize the open-world adventure. If this postponement were to benefit the quality of Yotei, I would even actively welcome it. Because only when the battles run really smoothly will the excursion into the samurai era really be fun.

Are you looking forward to Ghost of Yotei? Let us know in the comments!