Ghost of Yōtei is the long-awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima (2020) developed by Sucker Punch Productions.

While not a direct sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yōtei expands on the samurai gameplay and open-world systems of its predecessor.

It excels most in its gameplay, story and how well it blends them together.

The storyline naturally progresses through player choice, allowing flexibility in the way you want to engage missions or side quests.

From the riveting arc to the challenging enemies, I can swiftly say this game made a lasting impression on me.

A double-edged story

Set in 1603, Ghost of Yōtei follows the story of Atsu seeking revenge against Lord Saito and his crew, known as the Yōtei Six, for the murder of her parents.

Atsu travels across to the island of Ezo, knowing nothing but anger and torment for her enemies.

Atsu’s story arc is compelling because you understand and feel her pain. I wanted her to succeed in avenging her parents and the terrible acts made against her innocent family.

You experience her childhood memories through fast and seamless gameplay transitions between adult and young Atsu. It’s a display of the PS5’s power, I might add.

As much as she seeks to satisfy her vengeance by eliminating the Yōtei Six, it is just as dangerous for her to be consumed by it.

The narrative builds very well into this conflict through the characters Atsu meets and the results of it.

I would have liked to see an optional ending, similar to Ghost of Tsushima’s.

However, I understand this game is striving for a complete conclusion to Atsu’s story. Based on the ending, I do not expect any future content for the video game.

I played the game in Japanese dub and English subtitles for the immersion. Overall, I enjoyed the voice acting, facial expressions and character performances.

Gameplay as sharp as the blade

Ghost of Yōtei takes an already great establishment and takes it to another level. For one, your melee weapon options are more than just one katana throughout your journey.

Atsu wields a variety of weapons:

• Katana, an elegant sword to counter other katana-wielding enemies
• Dual katanas, two swords effective for fighting yari users
• Yari, a spear used for ranged attacks against enemies who wield kusarigamas
• Kusarigama, a sickle attached to a chain with a mace at the end, used against targets using shields
• Odachi, a heavyweight katana effective for larger targets

Each weapon feels different from the other. You understand how to utilize them most appropriately when you have access to your entire roster of weapons.

I recommend unlocking all the available abilities first before taking on any quests so you can fight every enemy effectively.

The combat is no joke. When I was one against six targets, each wielding a different weapon, I was easily overwhelmed.

My personal favorite weapon is the dual katana because of the fast cut combos. I almost wish the game did not have this rock, paper, scissors type of gameplay so I could use the dual katanas the entire game.

There is actually an early story quest to earn this weapon.

Hanbei, an old friend of Atsu’s parents, trains Atsu to dual-wield katanas. She must train her left arm in order to master this weapon.

A clever story-to-gameplay explanation for her training was changing how you play the bamboo strike minigame.

Bamboo strikes minigames are used to increase your ability to heal and use special attacks. Each minigame challenges you by inputting a certain button input in quick succession.

Here, you are forced to use the directional pad, the arrow buttons on the left side of the controller and the left joystick in place of the common right buttons used for all other bamboo strikes.

I almost felt like I could get the button inputs down because the game will let you keep trying. However, it was all meant to throw everyone off because Atsu is not an expert at using her left arm.

Finally, the boss battles are a big improvement from the previous game. They hit harder, move faster and each display a unique fighting style to learn.

A couple of bosses gave me a hard time, and each took me over an hour to beat.

A slice of player agency

One of Ghost of Yōtei’s strengths resides in the amount of player choice that is given to you.

Choosing your difficulty in specific aspects of the game is one of those highlights.

Say you want enemies to hit hard, but you are terrible at parrying attacks; you can specifically choose the difficulty in enemy damage and timing windows.

I actually had to use the custom difficulty settings and adjust the timing windows because I was struggling to beat the final boss.

Within act one of the story, you are presented with multiple main missions to choose from. This is depicted by which initial members of the Yōtei Six you want to take on first.

Taking on these missions will open up a new playable area of the map and unlock new weapons to use. Choose which quest to do first or bounce between them; it is up to you.

A cutting-edge package worthy of your time

I recently played Ghost of Tsushima for the first time, and going into Ghost of Yōtei, I was not expecting too many changes. I figured it would play and look similar.

However, I was surprised by the amount of added features that made the game feel almost entirely new and separate. It was satisfying to see familiar things changed and added with new systems.

If you have not played Ghost of Tsushima, you can jump right into Ghost of Yōtei without any story connections to the first.

If you have, expect Ghost of Yōtei to satisfy every part of what made the game before it so amazing and take it above that.

Ghost of Yōtei is a sharp 9/10.

I played a total of 26 hours, with about 24 hours playing the main storyline.

I played the game at 60 frames per second on the base PS5 console. I faced no bugs or technical issues during my time playing the game.