Ghost of Tsushima review round-up: Is Sucker Punch’s adventure a fitting PS4 swansong?

Ghost of Tsushima review round-up

• VGC (3/5) – “Ghost of Tsushima bravely steps into a genre that contains some of the generation’s most cutting-edge experiences. While it forges its own identity and doesn’t make any major mistakes, it’s not bold enough to escape their shadows.”
• Wccftech (9/10) – “When all is said and done, this could be regarded as Sucker Punch’s finest work yet, both in terms of critical reception and sales, in a similar way to what Horizon Zero Dawn did for Guerrilla Games and Marvel’s Spider-Man for Insomniac.”
• VentureBeat (85/100) – “Ghost of Tsushima isn’t going to do anything that you haven’t seen before, but it uses that modern Assassin’s Creed formula to host a big and emotional samurai saga. I’ll even say that I like it better than, say, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, largely due to the stronger story and combat.”
• Eurogamer (no score) – “Limited by a rote and rigid world, Sucker Punch’s samurai homage pairs okay action with enjoyably committed, if awkwardly fawning melodrama.”
• TheSixthAxis (8/10) – “Ghost of Tsushima is an artistic triumph, capturing a real cinematic feel through its visuals, immersive world and soundtrack. However, Jin is a serviceable main character and he and his journey to save Tsushima is often overshadowed by secondary characters and smaller, more personal stories found in the side quests. Throw in some formulaic missions and an awkward user interface, and Ghost of Tsushima is at times more style than substance.”
• Daily Star (5/5) – “The gameplay is fun, the narrative and its characters are great, and the art direction is absolutely beautiful. The pros here vastly outweigh the cons. Ghost of Tsushima is a breathtaking adventure.”
• GameSpot (7/10) – “Ghost of Tsushima has some dull edges, but strikes a lot of highs with its cinematic stylings.”
• VG247 (3/5) – “While playing it, I often found my mind wandering. By the third and final act, I just wanted it to be over. Like the samurai, Ghost of Tsushima feels like a relic of a bygone era.”
• GamingBible (6/10) – “The story it tells in its campaign seems to be actively at odds with what you do in the game, and not in a way that develops to a point. Indeed, it reads almost like a mistake. This is one of the last exclusive games for the PlayStation 4 and it’s disappointing that it has nothing new to say.”
• God is a Geek (9/10) – “Ghost of Tsushima is a landmark game that blends its narrative with its visuals perfectly, and has delicious, satisfying combat to boot. Climbing is clumsy, and the story takes a while to get going, but overall it’s a truly wonderful game.”
• GamesRadar (4.5/5) – “Ghost of Tsushima is the samurai Assassin’s Creed Ubisoft will wish it had made.”
• Stevivor (7/10) – “In (very) short: like the initial entry in Assassin’s Creed, the franchise it unashamedly copies, Ghost of Tsushima is good but not great. I finished it to complete it, not because I was invested in the mixed bag that was presented.”
• IGN (9/10) – “Ghost of Tsushima is an excellent action game and its open world is one of the most gorgeous yet.”
• Push Square (9/10) – “Sucker Punch has crafted one of the most memorable open world games of this generation, buoyed by an immensely satisfying combat system and an engaging, dramatic story. Unlike many of its open world peers, it’s a refined and focused experience — gripping and immaculately presented at its best. A fitting first-party swansong for the PS4.”
• ShackNews (9/10) – “While Ghost of Tsushima has a few of the standard pop-ins and visual glitches that are common to most open-world games this is still one of the most beautiful and fluid titles I’ve ever played… There’s just too much here to like and none of it feels tacked on or a time-filler.”
• Destructoid (9.5 /10) – “With Ghost of Tsushima under its belt, Sucker Punch deserves to be in the same conversation as Insomniac, Naughty Dog, and Sony Santa Monica. If this generation is to wrap up soon, it’s fitting that it’ll end with Tsushima: one of its most beautiful games thus far.”
• Guardian (6/10) – “Unlike Assassin’s Creed, which always uses its historical settings as stages for its own eccentric stories, Ghost of Tsushima sticks so closely to the tropes and storylines of classic samurai fiction that it sometimes forgets to have a personality of its own.”