A Sucker Punch to Feudal Japan: Ghost of Tsushima
Developer Sucker Punch Productions first made a name for themselves with the Sly Cooper franchise thanks to its unique concept and quality, as there weren’t any other mascot platformers with light stealth elements during the PlayStation 2 era. But they weren’t established as a serious developer until the Infamous series came along, since there’s a bigger audience on Sony platforms for non-mascot titles. Both PS3 titles contained their issues, but were two of the best examples of superhero titles on the platform. Infamous: Second Son was also a good early example of one on PS4, though the rudimentary mission design showed how it was clearly rushed to make the system’s launch window. While Second Son DLC expansion First Light was also good, it was predictably short and easy.
Following this was… nothing. First Light released in August 2014, and for a while, Sucker Punch was quiet to the point of concern. There was news of layoffs at the studio shortly before the expansion’s release, but they started hiring again for a new project only months later, and Second Son did well enough that no one thought Sony would close the studio. The subsequent years of quiet suggested they were either deep at work on a big project, or that one of their games was having development troubles. It was apparent this wouldn’t be a new Infamous game, which we would have seen before now.
The project is the kind few saw coming: Ghost of Tsushima. As the name implies and trailer shows, this is an open-world samurai game that takes place in feudal Japan circa 1274. It’s the year when the Mongol army invaded Japan, where an opposing samurai army engaged them in combat. The protagonist is a battered member of the latter group, a hero who can be seen being intimidated by the leader of the Mongols in the trailer. It’s a story about how an army suffused with power and confidence faces determined and lethal samurai, which is a good setting for a video game.
In fact, given how good that setup is, it’s a surprise this particular period has seldom been tackled in the video game world. Tsushima director Nate Fox expressed the same level of surprise in the PlayStation Blog post that followed the reveal. This game started through Fox and other team members’ desire to create the title they’ve always wanted to play, where they acknowledged how beautiful the scenery commonly associated with feudal Japan is. Fox explains that he’s been a fan of samurai comics like Lone Wolf and Cub and the still-running Usagi Yojimbo, whose tales include characters involved in tragedies and betrayals, stories that will translate well to a video game. (I’m betting someone’s shaking their fist and saying “Lone Wolf and Cub is a manga, not a comic!” right now.) Hopefully they’re able to realize these concepts well.
While Fox and the other team members want to promote how good their idea is, they’re right about this being a concept many among the gaming audience have wanted for years. Hell, many of them have wanted more samurai games on current-gen (and, honestly, last-gen) consoles for a while, but Japanese developers moved away from doing them thanks to how they apparently didn’t have worldwide appeal. That includes Sony themselves, whose Genji series ended at the clearly-rushed-for-launch second game, and developer Game Republic shuttered in mid-2011. Also, there’s been a vocal audience that’s wanted Ubisoft to tackle an Assassin’s Creed game that takes place in a historical Japanese setting for years.
Quite a few outside Japan like samurai-themed settings, and the last example of one with a good budget behind it, Koei Tecmo’s Nioh, sold well. This could be the right game at the right time, especially with Sony’s first-party promotion behind it.
The biggest question about Tsushima is whether a western developer can handle the subject with the care it needs. It’s not often that western developers tackle historical Japanese settings outside the real-time strategy genre, because tales of Japanese history are often portrayed differently from those who actually received history lessons in Japan. Also, there were Japanese players, speakers, and those familiar with the country’s history who took issue with the pronunciation of the word “samurai” in the trailer. Others didn’t like how the characters are speaking English at all, though it won’t have mainstream appeal if it doesn’t have that. But it’s far from impossible for them to treat the concept well, and hopefully they’re considering all the potential criticism during its development.
Sucker Punch didn’t provide a release year for the title, implying that it’s unlikely to release in 2018 despite it being in development for years. This could either indicate that it had development issues, that the planning stages were intense for research purposes, or that (hopefully) the developers aren’t trying to kill themselves while working on it. Let’s hope this won’t be the kind of project that goes silent for a while.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
