Ghost of Tsushima: release date, trailers and news

First announced at 2017’s Paris Games Week, Ghost of Tsushima is a brand new IP from Sucker Punch which will be exclusive to PlayStation 4. 

Though Sucker Punch is largely known for the inFamous games, the developer is departing quite significantly from the inFamous formula with this new game. Saying so-long to high-rise cities and neon superpowers, Ghost of Tsushima will be a historical open world adventure that will take players back to Feudal Japan.

Sound like your kind of thing? This is everything we know about the game so far.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? A brand new PlayStation exclusive IP from Sucker Punch 
• When can I play it? No release window just yet 
• What can I play it on? PS4 

Ghost of Tsushima release date

Though we know development of Ghost of Tsushima is well underway and we’ve seen some in-engine (though not in-game) footage at Paris Games Week, there’s not been any inkling of a release date just yet. 

Sucker Punch hasn’t even put a release year on this game, never mind a window. The studio has said that more information on the game will be released in the coming months, but whether or not a release window will be a part of that is unclear.

At CES 2018, Sony showed a trailer which suggests that the game could launch in 2018. In the trailer, SegmentNext reports that the company featured games, movies and hardware which it's planning to release this coming year and Ghost of Tsushima was one of them. 

Though it hasn't been long since the game was announced at Paris Games Week, it has been in development for around three years so a 2018 release date would not be an unreasonable thing to expect.

Ghost of Tsushima trailers

PlayStation showed us more of Ghost of Tsushima than ever during its E3 2018 conference with a brand new lengthy gameplay debut. The trailer shows a huge open world that almost looks like a painting with a soaring atmospheric soundtrack. We see our samurai challenge Mongol invaders in a combat style that reminded us of Assassin's Creed. But as well as up front and outright combat, there will be an emphasis on stealth with players using the element of surprise to avoid being outnumbered.

Before this we saw the announcement trailer that was released at Paris Games Week.

Though it was captured in the game engine, it doesn’t feature much in terms of gameplay. What it does show, however, is the game world we’ll be playing in and it’s clear that Sucker Punch is aiming for a stunning aesthetic. You can watch it for yourself below:

Though it doesn't focus on in-game footage or gameplay, there was also an enlightening panel held at PSX with several members of the game's development team. Watch below for details on the above trailer and what kind of research has gone into it.

News and features

Most of the details we have of the game thus far have come from its announcement at Paris Games Week and the trailer that accompanied the news. 

A 2018 release date?

Sucker Punch is yet to reveal any kind of release date for Ghost of Tsushima, however, Sony's trailer from CES 2018 suggests that the game could launch in 2018. In the trailer, SegmentNext reports that the company featured games, movies and hardware which it's planning to release this coming year and Ghost of Tsushima was featured. 

Though it hasn't been long since the game was announced at Paris Games Week, it has been in development for around three years so a 2018 release date would not be an unreasonable thing to expect.

It’ll be set in Feudal Japan 

As revealed by the game’s announcement trailer, Ghost of Tsushima will be set in 13th century Japan - the time of the Mongol invasions. In the year 1274, the Mongols made their first stop on the island of Tsushima. You'll play Jin, one of the last of the samurai on the devastated island, determined to quash the invasion and push the Mongols out despite the odds being stacked against him.

The game's art director, Jason Connell, stated in a recent PSX panel for the game that the team are taking an "inspired by" approach to the game with the setting serving as a "jumping off point" for a completely original story. 

There will be an open world and you’ll play in the third-person

Though it’s very different from Sucker Punch’s previous games in many ways, Ghost of Tsushima will bear one similarity to inFamous with its third-person perspective; this time players will take up the role of a samurai called Jin.

The game will have a huge open world. Specifically, the setting will be the large island of Tsushima, located off the coast of Japan. Tsushima is a geographically diverse place and the game’s trailer shows that players will be able to travel from lush forests, to rugged mountains and towns filled with interesting characters.

Judging by trailer footage it looks likely that the player will do the majority of terrain traversal on horseback. 

Gameplay

We’ve seen very little of gameplay thus far, but given the setting and overarching storyline it has the potential to be interesting. Playing a samurai unsurprisingly means there will be both action and stealth elements but there seem to be some plans to mix up the formula. 

The samurai the player will take control of, for example, is the one of the last of his kind and as a result he’s forced to shed traditional samurai tactics and form a new method of fighting call the ‘Way of the Ghost’. 

While we don’t know what this Way of the Ghost actually involves, we're interested because it’s an entirely new method of fighting necessitated by there being only one samurai facing an entire army. All of this together makes us think there will be a heavy emphasis on tactical stealth and the use of enhanced (perhaps mildly supernatural) powers. 

According to the game's listing on the New Zealand PlayStation Store, players will be building the legend of 'the Ghost' in a tale "inspired by classic samurai stories."

There will be a range of weapons 

Naturally weapons will be key in this game and from the trailer we can see that there will be a wide range of them. Alongside the traditional samurai katana, we also glimpsed long bows, armored horses and plenty of fire.

The villain will be interesting

Alongside an intriguing protagonist, we’re also anticipating a villain of substance. The player will be facing the Mongol Empire, known for its advanced horseback and archery skills as well as its ferocity. 

The leader of this army will be the player’s main enemy and Sucker Punch has described this leader as being an “uncomfortably reasonable killer.” How this will manifest itself in the game is unclear but it suggests an engaging story line and hero/villain dynamic.

We're expecting to hear more about Ghost of Tsushima at this year's PlayStation Experience taking place in early December. Keep checking back here for more updates!

It could use Japanese dialogue

During a recent panel at PSX, the game's creative director Nate Fox asked the audience if they'd be interested in playing the game with Japanese dialogue. After applause that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than affirmation, he stated "Noted, thank you."

While this isn't a confirmation of anything, it does suggest that Ghost of Tsushima could very well go down the route of games such as Nier: Automata with dialogue entirely in Japanese alongside English subtitles. It would certainly compliment the efforts the development team has clearly gone to in going on research trips and asking for expert advice to achieve cultural authenticity. 

• Will Ghost of Tsushima make it onto our list of the best PS4 games?

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