By the time the end credits had rolled on Ghost of Tsushima, protagonist Jin Sakai was a walking arsenal of samurai skills and ninja tricks. For Ghost of Tsushima’s upcoming expansion, Sakai will be picking up a few new abilities in the game to deal with the remnant Mongol forces that have gathered under the banner of the shaman Ankhsar Khatun.
“Without giving it all away, what I will say is that there are some new skills and some new abilities,” Sucker Punch’s creative and art director Jason Connell explained to Press Start. “There’s some things that we lean into a little bit more that we’re pretty excited about. We quite like our Mythic Tales that we had in Tsushima, so leaning into something like that, this game is going to be very rewarding and fun. Also we lean into nature as sort of a theme.”
Other interesting information from the interview included details on how the PS5 version of the game will use the DualSense controller and PS5 to create a more immersive experience. According to Connell, the controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers have been used to drive home the impact of the weapon combat, while the console’s 3D audio is being used to create a greater “spatial feeling” in the environments around a player.
“We spent a lot of time on our audio mix and our weather effects to make you feel like you’re in this beautiful landscape,” Connell said. “So when it’s raining, with that 3D audio you don’t just hear kind of a general pitter-patter. You actually feel like it’s hitting the ground somewhere beneath your feet, there’s actually some spatial feeling.”
As for how long and big this expansion is, senior staff writer Patrick Downs compared it to roughly the first act and the Izuhara region of the main game. Most importantly, Sakai’s horse will be getting an upgrade and some trendy horse armor in the expansion. A horse charge ability can be used to scatter enemies out of the way, turning the steed into yet another weapon for the wandering samurai.
Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut is out on August 20 for PS4 and PS5, bringing with it a number of visual enhancements on the newer PlayStation console, a new story set on Iki Island, and some very playful cats to pet.
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