Ghost of Yōtei

[Aragorn]

Platinum'ed in 50 hours and 11 minutes.

Overall, excellent stuff as expected from Sucker Punch. Naturally there'll be comparisons with Tsushima and which you prefer I think will depend on whether you prefer gameplay vs story. Yotei is unbelievably satisfying to play and improves on Tsushima's combat, but I'll admit that I felt myself more immersed with Tsushima's plot, Jin's story and how his world view changes over time, as well as his relationships with others characters and how those relationships progress/deteriorate as he becomes the ghost. Yotei is a bit more cookie cutter in that regard, and the final act plays out exactly how I expected it to.

It's a functional story but I really wish they committed to the premise. I still prefer it to Tsushima, even story wise - because Jin isn't really all that interesting and his inner conflict is more interesting conceptually than its execution. He has very few moments of introspection and the fact that the game is unironically easier to play as a combat first Samurai than a stealthy ninja made the dissonance pretty funny.

Spoiler:

I think an alternate version of the story where Atsu hard commits to her revenge and does not get a happy ending would have been interesting. The game starts off super strong and she has a very clearly outlined goal: kill the six, join your family in death. The Atsu we see when she first confronts the Spider and when she kills The Dragon - I wanted more of that. Sparing Oyuki made sense because she ultimately let her go at the night of the burning tree; but I wish they had done a little more with that as a means of Atsu to reflect on her inability to let her vendetta go.

Part of me wonders if the aversion was due, as weird as this may sound, The Last of Us II. That game had a very similar premise in retrospect and was dismissed as ''misery'' porn.