Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Yotei is already an ambitious open-world adventure that builds on its predecessor in several ways, but the team had a number of other ideas that never made the final game. At GDC, the studio’s two creative directors discussed both the features that made it into the game and some ambitious concepts that didn’t.
From mechanics that would have let players climb anywhere to dual-timelines and a fully diegetic map system, Ghost of Yotei began as a game full of possibilities. Some ideas proved too large to implement fully, but they still influenced the final experience, leaving traces of that ambition in the game’s narrative and design.
One of the most ambitious features was the ability to switch between young and old Atsu at any point in the game. This would have created two versions of the world simultaneously, meaning the entire map would need to have versions in spring and winter.
