Ghost of Tsushima has been a complete pleasure to play these last few days.

It really goes to show you, that you can’t rely on reviews; people have different tastes, different ideas of what a game should be.

A 9 from IGN (every game seems to be a 9 from them) & a 7 from Gamespot had me worried. I thought I might being holding off for a price drop or sale for Ghost of Tsushima; plus, I’ve sort of taken a break from video games.

This whole quarantine/stay at home situation has me neck-deep in a bunch of hobbies that do not involve sitting around with a controller. Hell, I haven’t even finished Final Fantasy VII: Remake and going by my video game history, that’s a game I should have probably beaten 3 times, already.

Luckily, there is one reviewer out there that I can pretty much, completely trust — Karak of ACG. He told me “this game is worth buying” so I bought Ghost of Tsushima.

ACG – Best Reviewer on YouTube.

Ghost of Tsushima hooked me from the start.

I haven’t spent 5 straight hours playing a video game since Destiny 2’s initial launch back in 2017. I don’t see this letting up. I meant to only play for a half hour earlier tonight, and that session lasted 2 hours — and all I’ve been doing since turning off my PS4 is thinking about playing!

When I first heard about this game, I was very excited since I quite enjy samurai fiction.

Rurouni Kenshin would make my top 10 anime list and The Last Samurai might make my top 10 film list. I also bought a couple samurai swords off eBay when I was in my early 20’s (Ichigo Kurosaki’s Tensa Zangetsu may or may not be in my closet).

What about a list of favorite Samurai video games?

I can’t really think of one.

  • I played Onimusha a bit the first week I had my PS2 when I rented it from Blockbuster. I’ve been meaning to play Onimusha Warlords, but haven’t gotten around to it just yet.
  • I played Nioh for 21 minutes, according to steam (I need to play games on PC more).
  • I got Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as a birthday gift from my job and…well, let’s talk more about Sekiro.

I HATED Sekiro Shadows Die Twice

I’m a long time Soulsborne fan:

  • I spent hours playing Demon’s Souls on PS3.
  • I own Dark Souls on Xbox 360, PC and Switch and have put close to 200 hours into multiple characters (I never actually beat it).
  • Dark Souls 2 was a game.
  • Dark Souls 3, I beat and enjoyed quite a bit (need to play the DLC).
  • Bloodborne is a great game that I would like to go back and beat again one day.

Now, there’s Sekiro. I really should have been excited for this game. The Samurai setting is great, but there was something about the gameplay that turned me off. I thought it was just some Soulsborne fatigue (I’ve had this a few times), so I figured I’d just wait a bit. When I received it as a gift, I was finally ready to dive in.

Can’t pet a Foxxo in Sekiro.

Sekiro, is just so damn unforgiving. I died and died and died. I was in three different locations and couldn’t progress through any of them. I put the game down and came back a few days later for one final attempt and decided I never wanted to play this game again. It was just so hard, that it wasn’t fun. Yes, yes I could have attempted to “git gud” but why? You shouldn’t have to force yourself to like something.

Sekiro was the first PS4 game that I sold. I listed it on eBay and was glad it was gone.

Sekiro comes up with GoT but they really shouldn’t be compared; they’re such different games that only share the Samurai theme.

From my 15 or so hours of Ghost of Tsushima, there are 2 games that I actually am reminded of: Red Dead Redemption and Assassin’s Creed II.

Why Red Dead (and Red Dead 2)?

Red Dead’s world just seems alive and it was so easy to get side tracked doing anything and everything around the map. GoT has the exact same feeling. Every few minutes, you run into a random Mongol party to fight, a peasant to help or a new upgrade opportunity. I have spent so much of my time doing these side quests, that I am still in the 1st Act with 15 hours or so of play time.

Why Assassin’s Creed II?

Assassin’s Creed II was a game I could not stop playing. The world was built so well and I wanted to do everything and upgrade Ezio in the game because it was just so damn fun (it’s one of the few Xbox 360 games I have all the achievement’s for). So far, Ghost of Tsushima is the same. I don’t mind spending 20 minutes doing some side quest, I want to upgrade Jin Sakai; I want new moves and new armor!

Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best looking games I’ve ever played, and I’m on a regular PS4!

Time will tell if I enjoy Ghost of Tsushima as much for the next 15+ hours. I have a tendency to get bored with games and move on, especially these Open World games. The big issue is you usually wind up seeing the same few mission types recycled over and over to pad out the game. GoT may do this, but I’ve already made it to the 15 hour mark and that’s the longer end of when I usually stop playing (8-15 hours is when I usually start feeling it). I find once I make it to this point, the game has usually hooked me in and will complete it (see Death Stranding).

I’m just really enjoying the fighting, missions, upgrade system and even the story (albeit, lean) and emotion this game has. Plus, it is gorgeous!

I expect to finish Ghost of Tsushima, so expect a review!

Have you been playing Ghost of Tsushima? What do you think?