Honor and Blades: Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut Review

Few games honor their cinematic inspirations as lovingly as Sucker Punch Productions' Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut. Paying deep homage to Akira Kurosawa's historic cinema, the game chronicles the 1274 Mongol invasion of Tsushima Island and the painful transformation of Lord Jin Sakai from an honorable samurai into a fearsome, shadowy vigilante known as the Ghost.

The Dance of Steel and Stances

Sword combat in Ghost of Tsushima is crisp, lethal, and immensely rewarding:

• Stance System: Fluidly switch between Stone Stance (swordsmen), Water Stance (shieldmen), Wind Stance (spearmen), and Moon Stance (brutes) to shatter enemy defense meters.
• Standoff Duels: Facing your enemies eye-to-eye in tense, one-hit cinematic standoff duels that require split-second timing.
• The Tools of the Ghost: Smoke bombs, kunai throwing knives, blowguns, and sticky bombs allow you to dismantle entire Mongol outposts like an unseen wraith.

Figure: Jin Sakai amidst the drifting golden leaves of Tsushima Island.

Nature as Your Navigation

Instead of an obtrusive minimap or floating GPS arrows, Ghost of Tsushima guides you through nature: the gentle Guiding Wind rustles the pampas grass toward your objective, golden birds lead you to hidden hot springs, and curious foxes guide you to Inari shrines. The inclusion of the Iki Island expansion provides crucial backstory into Jin's father and introduces terrifying Shaman enemies that make the Director's Cut the definitive package.

Official PC Features Trailer