Ghost of Tsushima’s Setting is Surprisingly Unique among Video Games

<p><em>Ghost of Tsushima <&sol;em>seems to be my childhood dream come true&period; In my life&comma; I have always gravitated to Japanese culture&period; My dad’s childhood best friend is a first generation Japanese-American&period; Growing up around him and his parents&comma; I ate up the history and culture of his people thoroughly&period; He even taught me to speak Japanese fairly fluently by the age of seven&period; He introduced me to Japanese cuisine from a young age and helped reinforce my love of gaming&period; I didn’t even discover Anime and Manga until middle school&comma; upon where those mediums simply became another way for me to step into the Japanese world&period; To this day&comma; I still don’t watch much anime that isn’t slice-of-life&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This exposure&comma; of course&comma; granted me a special appreciation for Japanese game developers&period; I ate up every JRPG I could get my hands on from the time I could hold my SNES controller&period; However&comma; as I got older I realized that I didn’t know many Japanese games that were actually set in Japan&period; And the ones I did know were too hard for me&period; Not only that but most of them liked to take on a gothic-medieval European aesthetic&comma; such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest&period; These are&comma; of course&comma; fantastic games with uniquely wonderful worlds and settings&period; But rarely do games touch on the beautiful setting that is pre-industrial Japan&period; So it is a little strange that American based Sucker Punch is finally bringing the setting to us&period; Not bad&comma; just strange&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>A Setting Like No Other<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>At this point&comma; I think I’ve watched the E3 reveal trailer for Sucker Punch’s upcoming Samurai epic <em>Ghost of Tsushima <&sol;em>about a dozen times&period; From the breathtaking cinematic landscape&comma; lush Japanese fields and woodlands&comma; beautiful Shinto gate&comma; and so much more <em>Ghost of Tsushima<&sol;em> is my personal game of the show&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We all know that the Japanese legacy on video games is undeniably fundamental&period; The early days of console games were filled with ninja platformers like <em>Ninja Gaiden<&sol;em> and <em>Shinobi<&sol;em>&period; Later eras of games brought us the monstrous feudal-fantasy of <em>Onimusha&comma; <&sol;em>and the <em>Yakuza <&sol;em>series has always had a uniquely Japanese flair&period; Despite the clout of these series&comma; there has often been a disconnect when it comes to video games telling truly Japanese stories in a <strong>grounded setting<&sol;strong>&period; After all&comma; the most iconic Japanese character is an Italian-American plumber&period; Even <em>Nioh&comma; <&sol;em>which I adore&comma; starred an English protagonist who fought demonic beasts and Shinto spirits&period; And <em>Persona&comma; <&sol;em>my favorite role-playing series that places the player in the shoes of a Japanese high school student&comma; is still filled with monsters&comma; magic&comma; and fantasy epic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Don&&num;8217&semi;t get me wrong&comma; I love all of these things&period; Shinto mythology is one of the most unique and diverse casts of gods and monsters ever invented&period; The way it flows so thoroughly through Japanese history itself holds beautiful and poetic genius&period; But what I&&num;8217&semi;ve always wanted was a space to explore and breath in the feudal Japanese countryside and villages in a way that was historical&period; Believe me&comma; if there were monsters in this game I&&num;8217&semi;d still be completely invested&comma; but I think it is very brave of Sucker Punch to forgo that temptation&comma; and instead will get to tell the tale of the time the Samurai defended Japan from Genghis Khan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h5>And now We Wait&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;h5>&NewLine;<p>I know that it’s early&comma; and this is just our first look at the game&comma; but I think <em>Ghost of Tsushima<&sol;em> may finally be that game I’ve dreamed of for so long&period;  Sucker Punch knows how to make an action game&period; They have also told some great stories in the past&period; With Naughty Dog and Santa Monica as sister companies&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s easy to become overshadowed&period; This is a fascinating piece of history and the aesthetic they&&num;8217&semi;ve created is incredible&period; I haven’t been this excited about a title in many years&comma; and I am eagerly awaiting any more news&comma; hopefully from PSX in December&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-youtube layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"500" height&equals;"281" data-videoid&equals;"kSAvzeopPC8" title&equals;"Ghost of Tsushima - E3 2018 Gameplay Debut &vert; PS4"><a placeholder href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;kSAvzeopPC8"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;ytimg&period;com&sol;vi&sol;kSAvzeopPC8&sol;hqdefault&period;jpg" layout&equals;"fill" object-fit&equals;"cover" alt&equals;"Ghost of Tsushima - E3 2018 Gameplay Debut &vert; PS4"><&sol;a><&sol;amp-youtube><&sol;p>&NewLine;