Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut in Test: A really strong package

Ghost of Tsushima is a 2020 action-adventure game established by Sucker Punch Productions as well as released by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Featuring an open world, the player controls Jin Sakai, a samurai on a pursuit to shield Tsushima Island during the first Mongol invasion of Japan. The game was launched for PlayStation 4 on July 17, 2020, and a Director's Cut for PlayStation 4 as well as PlayStation 5 was released on August 20, 2021. It received appreciation for its visuals and battle, yet was criticized for its open globe tasks. Ghost of Tsushima additionally gained several award nominations as well as wins, and sold 6.5 million duplicates by March 2021.

In the director's cut inspires us Ghost of Tsushima, even if there are a few annoying aspects.

Ghost of Tsushima was one of the highlights of the year 2020th Although it was not enough in our tests for the highest scoring regions, but you let it be said: Despite its shortcomings, it has become one of our favorite games from the recent past. Not much more than a year later, we now write another review of Ghost of Tsushima, because the director's cut together PS5 upgrade is there. There is new content and technical improvements, but both has its price. Sony has decided that owners have to pay more of the PS4 version for PS5 version separately. Why this is anything but justified, we you but does lead to the director's cut warmly recommend, learn it in the following lines.

Sony questionable pricing policy

In order ahead to hold the same: The Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is not the PS5 version of the game. It is available for both the PlayStation 4 and its successor. If you already own Ghost of Tsushima, you can upgrade to the director's cut. This will cost you about 20 euros. But then you've still only the PS4 version. Do you want the upgrade PS5 have, you have to pay 30 euros. Increases its only now in Ghost of Tsushima and want the complete package have, you pay either 70 euros for the PS4 or 80 euros for the PS5 variant.

Where the PS5 upgrades are free for several other games, Sony requires so ten euros in this case. That in itself is questionable, but then you can at the very least expect Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation 5 again significantly better figure does than on the PS4, right ?. Well, this is not like that. Sure, the game looks even on the standard PlayStation 4 fantastic. It has not only content but also technically put a great finale for the fourth generation of consoles from Sony. But that does not mean that there had not been still room for improvement. The developer Sucker Punch, however, has hardly used.

The PS5 can more

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut offers on the PS5 just like on the PS4 Pro two graphics modes. You choose what you prefer: a higher resolution or a higher frame rate. In both modes, the game runs at 60 FPS, only in the one you have a 4K resolution and not in the other. However, we are not talking of native 4K. As on the PS4 Pro is Sucker Punch checkerboard rendering technology served here. The image is therefore calculated at a lower resolution and then upscaled to 4K. In addition, the whole thing is dynamic. So if the screen is even more going on, the resolution is reduced, so that everything continues to run smoothly. The 60 FPS are targeted here, in contrast to the power mode, but not guaranteed. However, we have always gambled the game resolution while noticed no frame rate dips. Perhaps the FPS go here and there in the 50-range down, but felt running Ghost of Tsushima and so always with the 60 frames a second. Therefore, in our view no reason to activate the Performance mode.

That sounds fantastic time, right? but there's a catch: In addition to the higher resolution, we found no optical improvements. There are no new effects and still popping some details a few meters in front of you into the picture. Sure, you have to pay close attention to mitzubekommen it at all, but the PS5 should be with her brisk SSD actually in a position, so what to avoid. Moreover, even the PS4 version runs on the newer console mode with higher resolution with buttery 60 FPS. Purely based on the graphic, the ten euros extra so not worth it.

Bye, load times, hello, haptic feedback

Now there are a few other improvements over the PS4 version. As would be the one load times. Which are almost non-existent. You start Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut of the PS5 dashboard and since immediately on the main menu of the game, if not once again the logos of PlayStation studios and Sucker Punch are fired (that's with us namely not at every game start happening). Invite her then your game, followed by a brief black screen and within a second you see Jin on the screen. Now, the load times are earlier as an open world was surprisingly short for, yet the PS5-making in the regard is again a significant improvement.

Furthermore, Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut supports the dualSense controller entirely. Thanks to haptic feedback, much feels, which makes her in the world, more and more. At the gallop with the horse for example, her feels, as it were, as the hooves pitch on the floor. If you ask the wind around a clearer direction indicator, it comes to vibrations starting on one side of the controller and then walk across the other, just analogous to the wind in the game. Of course you also feel in the fight more in your hands. In addition, there are more sounds that come from the speaker of the gamepad, which reinforces the effect of certain things in the game again.

Another improvement, which is PS5-exclusive, but the players have already wanted for the PS4 version: Japanese voice output is now lippensynchronous. This is possible that the intermediate sequences are now calculated in real time. On the old console you are advanced videos. So if you want to have a particularly authentic gaming experience, you will not be torn out of immersion from inappropriate lip movements. This, the non-existent loading times and dualSense support are all beautiful improvements, but the PS5 upgrades of other games have already offered more and did not cost anything extra. Therefore, it is difficult to pronounce a recommendation for this additional investment if the PS4 version on the PS5 makes a wonderful figure.

Finally you can see opponents

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut offers a few more improvements that are not only available on the PS4, but even part of a free update. So you get you even if you do not buy the extension. The largest feature in this regard is the lock-on function, the lack of which we have criticized in the origin version. You must activate you in the gameplay options when you want to use it. There are two variants: In one, the next opponent is automatically targeted if you have defeated the previous one, not in the other.

The whole thing is a meaningful supplement, thanks to which you have more control in the fighting than before. Although you are often attacked from enemies outside the viewing angle, because the camera is approaching in the mode closer to Jin, but since you also parry these attacks, if you press the corresponding key at the right moment, this is not a big problem. The further improvements Free updates are rather little things. So now the quiver of Jin is hiding and there are a few new accessibility options.

Psycho players

The heart of Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is the Iki Island extension. While nothing changed in terms of content on the actual main game (which is why the name is called Director's Cut Total Nonsense), there is another area with the new island of Iki for exploring with its own main history, several side quests and a few gameplay supplements.

The story is kept quite compact with a playing time of around the five hours. Jin wears it on the neighboring island of Tsushima, when he finds a village where several people have lost their minds and just talking to a wrinkle. The spirit receives the note that what has to do with the Mongol eagle stem, which has torn the power on IKI. His leader Ankhsar Khatun is a mighty shaman that poison the Japanese with a strange mixture. Jin complies with free Iki from the enemy invaders, so that they do not arrive in his homeland even sometime. The problem here: Samurai are not seen on Iki and that has a lot to do with Jin's father.

For this, the protagonist suffers on the crossing shipwreck, is washed without his horse on the beach of Iki and shortly afterwards in the catches of Ankhsar Khatun, which immediately flows to him. This leads to Jin and again memories from his past in mind and he is constantly hearing Ankhsar's voice in mind. The latter is a nice element that is regularly scattered during the gameplay. For example, you hides you in the tall grass and suddenly the sky turns and heard the shurkin who wants to persuade you, that you are a coward.

Not only play the main quests!

The history of Iki Island extension of Ghost of Tsushima gives more from the past of Jin and specifically the relationship with his father price. However, if you follow only the main missions, you will not get the entire picture. Even more than in the main game Sucker Punch extends the storytelling to the side activities. So there are several places where Jin was once with his father. If you look at her, await you short playable memories that deepen the story.

Another example is the new pet healing. Not only do they wait with a nice flute station game in which they have to move the controller to the up and down the heights and depths of tune, so that a deer, monkey or a cat approaches you and caresses. If you mastered the MiniGame, Jin also senses every time that his mother has taught the flute games. These are nice little vignettes around Jin's family history, which we have missed a little in the main game and make his figure something tangible.

Sucker Punch has already done it again

Generally, the story that experiences her on IKI is very entertaining. An Ankhsar Khatun is also not more interesting as an antagonist as Khotun Khan, but the game manages to convey well, why the inhabitants of Iki all have such a fear of them - and why they are not very well-tuned the Samurai. It is a pity that the story is so short. A few more hours could still be allowed to be quiet, but the missions are quite varied. Somewhat, she storms an enemy ship, sometimes frees her a large amount of allies and conquers a piece for a piece of a multiple levels extending fortress, in which they expect a really good boss fight in the end.

The star of the extension is Iki itself. The island corresponds in about two thirds to the size of TSUSHIMA, which is open to you in the first act, and again offers a proper bandwidth of beautiful biodegrades. There are completely overgrown ruins, a cherry blossom forest, colorful flower meadows, a beach full of whale bones and a lot more. Sucker Punch is once again able to create fantastic panoramas that you want to print and hang on the wall. And not only is that explore of Iki fun. The side activities, to which in addition to the above mentioned also Haiku, a Shinto shrine and the new bowing challenges count, relax the game pleasantly. And even if there is not insane to find many side quests, the few available through the bank are very well suited. Especially the two new mythical stories have truly inspired us, but here we do not want to reveal too much.

A (steel) dress for your horse

Not only to follow the main quest, is also worthwhile due to the really good rewards that you get to Iki. These include new talismans with very powerful effects, such as one who extends the time window for perfect parades and perfect dodging for several seconds after healing. Even with this is an armor for your horse, which does not just look fister, but also ensures that you are not so easily thrown by the Ross when attacking enemies. In addition, it reinforces the (unfortunately) only new technology: the storm ride. You can already think of you: with your horse opponents, which feels satisfactory with haptic feedback. But a real new melee technique for Jin would preferred us.

After all, there are one and a half new opponent types. Sounds funny, so let's explain closer. Completely new are the shamans that are more likely to stay in the back row and strengthen from there with singing the moral of their buds. This gives a mighty defensive boost and are thus more difficult to defeat. You know what that means: The shamans should always be the first to bless the temporal. And what is half the new opponent type? Well, these are enemies that switch between multiple weapons. So you reach someone first with a lance, then switches to sword and shield and last last to two blades. This means that you should switch in the confrontation with a single adversary several times the combat department - a meaningful addition to the well-known system, which cares exactly how the shamans ensures even more exciting battles.

The crux with the chronology

One or the other may now be wondering how it looks like the degree of difficulty of Iki Island extension. After all, you can already play that, right after you finished the first of the three acts of Ghost of Tsushima. We have started the game completely new, the act 1 finished and made a few of the optional tasks, but not everything has been done. Directly at the beginning of Act 2 we broke up to Iki. Although the degree of difficulty has already risen noticeably, but because Ghost of Tsushima is not a role-playing game and there is neither for Jin nor the opponents a level system, we did not have too big problems. In this regard, you do not need to worry.

Whether it makes sense to play the DLC directly after Act 1, another question is. With regard to the story we can only neglect. It is pretty clear that the story is designed to play after the end of the main game. This becomes clear at the first meeting with Ankshar Khatun, in which Jin says he defeated the Mongols on Tsushima and khotun Khan killed. There is thus no sense to travel according to IKI before you do not freed JINS home from the invaders.

On the other hand, it is playfully meaningful to play the extension before you have completed the main story. We can look forward to that the good rewards that we have gained ourselves on the new island will be available in more than half of Ghost of Tsushima. Otherwise, only the comparatively few hours on IKI and the New Game + would remain. This does not quite know what we should recommend that you should recommend.

Is a chronological sequence of the story events important to you? Well, then you should be hats to travel to Iki prematurely. If you can arise the few inconsistencies that arise if you are concerned with the DLC right early, because the gameplay is more important to you anyway, you may be glad that the add-on will not be unlocked after the credits. Nonetheless: Here Sucker Punch would have to pay attention to the Iki Island story so that it would be independent of the main plane on a time level.

Conclusion

The Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is such a case where we could give several evaluations. On the one hand, the extension itself would have a beautiful, explored scene and a decent, albeit short story with IKI. Although there was still a lot of air up here, just as for new fighting techniques, but all in all, the new island for fans who want more Ghost of Tsushima, always worth a look. For this we would the same note as for the main game of games, ie a 4/5.

Then there is the PS5 upgrade, which costs extra and in the face of which quite disappointingly fails. Yes, the dualSense features are nice, the non-existent loading times a blessing and lipsynchronous Japanese dialogues we also like to take. But in terms of graphics we would have expected more, even if Ghost of Tsushima looks so fantastic. If you like to save money, you should do that in this case, because the upgrade is really limited towards what the PS4 version offers on the PS5. For this there was just a 3/5.

Ultimately, we evaluate the Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut as a complete package and there we must not forget that the game now also offers excellent multiplayer mode, which was implemented for free in the fall of 2020. The legend mode, which incidentally appears this week as a solely executable version, will even be added to new content in the future and leaves the time you can spend with Ghost of Tsushima, again significantly. And because the such a great additional component is and also the single player with IKI has been extended by a strong fourth chapter, there is a higher note for the complete package than 2020 for the basic version. If you have not played Ghost of Tsushima, now has more reasons that finally follow.

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut

Per

Beautiful new island

Ordinary new story

A lot to discover on Iki

Cool new items

DUALSESE SUPPORT

No loading times

New opponent types

Strong legend mode

Lock-on function

Japanese dialogues finally lippensynchronous

Contra

Hardly graphic enhancements on PS5

DLC-Story quite short

No new melee techniques

PS5 upgrade costs extra

Early Iki tour narrowly illogical

4.5 / 5 stars

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