Ghost of Tsushima isn't quite this generation's swan song

[MUSIC] I'll be honest going into playing ghost of Tsushima. I didn't really understand what the moment to moment beats were gonna feel like. And now that I've played a lot of this game, I'm here to tell you just what's up [MUSIC] [SOUND] At its core Ghosts of Tsushima is an open world action RPG that puts you in control of gin, a samurai that survives a Mongol invasion, Boma set aside his lifelong traditions and training to fight the occupation. And that's about all the story. I'm going to get into because. Ghosts of Tsushima just wasn't able to grab me in a way that I cared that much about the main character, let alone anyone in this game. In fact, a lot of the experience doesn't really feel like it brings that much to the table, or at least deviate substantially enough from what you've probably already played before in this kind of open world game. What does work is the game's mostly solid swordplay. That's definitely the highlight here. Jin learns new stances and can switch them on the fly, which adds a nice layer of complexity when you're fighting. different stances work better for different kinds of enemies. There's a tangible sense of variety and how you can approach a fight and chaining attacks together can be super satisfied. By, you can occasionally get handcuffed trying to take on multiple enemies at once, but the game is mostly generous in how it handles those engagements. Most melee sections can be started with a sort of standoff mode, which pits you against an enemy and a one on one super stylized encounter. Where you essentially need to hold and release a button to timeout correctly within opponents first strike. Yeah, those don't get old at all. And that's probably what ghosts of Tsushima does. Best of all the presentational stuff. There's been a lot of effort made in creating these really overly dramatic. Title stamps, wipes and other sorts of really cool I can be scattered throughout the game. I mean, this world is so overly picture as trees and grass and leaves are constantly filling the screen and deliberately so You can even swipe up on the touchpad and get a gust of wind to show up that points you to the next waypoint. Unfortunately though, for me, this game relies way too much on that all too familiar loop of setting a marker chasing it down. Rinse and repeat. You know the story There's RPG elements that can get pretty granular to with how you choose to unlock perks and charms with your technique points that you earn throughout the game. You'll also unlock new costumes, upgrade armor, and weapons and chase down objective after objective and for a lot of people, that's probably going to be fine ghosts of Tsushima is a perfectly capable title. And there's fun to be had Jin's additional abilities grow much more powerful and unlocking the array of new maneuvers is super rewarding. And like I said The combat is good, but for me the overall loop just wasn't exciting some mechanics felt kind of needless to in a way that didn't really add anything to the overall picture Like for example, you're on horseback a lot of this game, and just kind of out of nowhere the game points out that, hey, you can hunt animals if you want. You can do that. It just feels like a bit of a chore. Even in the way you collect items where you just sort of casually walk or ride over things and hit a button to absorb them through osmosis. It just feels empty. And that's a big problem for ghosts of Tsushima. It's going for a very specific thing. I mean, there's even a Kurosawa mode that turns everything grainy and black and white. But, it has a really tough time sticking the landing in that effort with just kind of how average it all. There are moments I did enjoy playing. Don't get me wrong, but there's a lot of stuff that was just okay, maybe even a little janky at times, but at least you can put together some pretty sweet haikus. That's the thing. [MUSIC] [FOREIGN] So, that's what's up with ghosts of Tsushima. I hope this helps you understand what that game is all about. Please tell me what you think. Are you still excited for this one? I'm genuinely curious. Stay safe everyone and as always, thank you so much for watching. I hope I did it too, buddy boy