I've been playing this quite a bit, and my early impression is this may be my Game of the Year for 2020. I'm really befuddled how Sucker Punch is running something like this with a Jaguar CPU. It's rendered at 1800p checkerboard/ 30 fps on Pro and has kept to 30 pretty consistently so far, although I heard it drops some on the base PS4. I can't wait to see this on PS5, which should easily double the frame rate to 60 fps with a resolution boost. The draw distances are incredible, and there is so much movement with the wind and foliage covering the screen. It's been quite enjoyable so far with a few nitpicks, namely they need an additional, higher difficulty setting ("Hard" is more like a firm Normal at best) and enemies that kill you often despawn, making the lenient difficulty even more of an issue. Other Sony 1st party games like Horizon got an extra difficulty added (Ultra Hard in HZD), so that needs to happen here. Sound is spectacular and already 3D Audio compliant. I'm not sure if it's the most technically impressive compared to something like Death Stranding or Horizon: ZD, but I think it just might be the most beautiful Playstation game ever made. Hopefully the rest of the game is as good as these images look: These are all my captures just using the Share button with the exception of the second picture, which I had to use photo mode to widen the perspective and move the camera so you could see more but no other manipulation. The HUD vanishes on its own and is not on screen most of the time. Keep in mind these are toned mapped down to SDR; it would look even better playing it on an HDR display.
This game is apparently selling like crazy to a degree that Sony has seriously underestimated how many copies to make. Many retailers in Japan are completely out of stock. Also curious is Amazon US and Amazon Canada have been running out of stock. How many copies would you have to sell for Amazon to sell out in much of the North American continent? https://www.ccn.com/sony-ghost-of-tsushima-ps4-popularity-misjudge/ I'm guessing digital sales will be higher than usual due to demand. This should be fantastic on PS5. It should be no problem for the PS5 to double the frame rate to 60 fps with some graphical upgrades. I'm hoping for a Very Hard mode to be added and 60 fps for a PS5 run.
And there we go, my first every Platinum, this is one of the best games of the generation. I hope everyone gets to enjoy it
A more difficult mode I indicated was needed in my origial post is being added in patch 1.05. https://www.pushsquare.com/news/202...iculty_easier_combat_setting_and_text_options It also includes mode for easier combat and accessibility options. I played the rest of the game in Lethal difficulty and have the platinum trophy now. It was a fantastic game all the way through. One particular battle (I think it was Siege of Yarikawa) with Jin's friends fighting alongside him was one of the best missions I've played in recent memory. I really felt like I'd conquered something and ran off the scoundrels by the end of that mission.
Ghost of Tsushima is now the fastest selling first party new IP ever on PS4. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/373696/Ghost_of_Tsushima_has_topped_5_million_sales_in_under_four_months.php#:~:text=Newsbrief: Ghost of Tsushima has,original PS4 game in history. The NPC games media has nailed it again claiming early that the game was somehow offensive to Asians and was too Westernized, which is clearly reflected in sales in Japan: https://gamerant.com/ghost-of-tsushima-japan-sales/