Visually stunning, immersive open world | The game features stunning graphics, a vibrant color palette, and meticulously detailed environments, making exploration visually rewarding and creating numerous opportunities for impressive screenshots. The world is further enhanced by dynamic weather, day-night cycles, and a beautiful soundtrack, creating an immersive and cinematic experience. | 95% |
Fluid, deep, and rewarding combat | The combat system is praised for its fluidity, responsiveness, and depth, offering a balanced mix of challenge and satisfaction. Players can experiment with different stances, techniques, and ghost abilities to create a personalized combat style. The game also features a compelling narrative centered on Jin's internal struggle between honor and necessity. | 61% |
Authentic samurai experience | The game authentically captures the samurai spirit and Japanese culture through its art style, music, and combat. The Kurosawa mode and attention to detail in armor, weaponry, and landscapes pay homage to classic samurai films. The combat system is both brutal and elegant, requiring precision and strategy. | 53% |
Balanced, customizable difficulty, rewarding progression | The game offers a balanced and customizable difficulty, with a high skill ceiling and a low skill floor, making it accessible to both casual and hardcore players. The combat system is fluid and satisfying, with realistic kill times and challenging AI. The game also avoids excessive grinding and features well-designed skill trees. | 45% |
Engaging story, well-developed characters | The game features a well-paced and engaging story with memorable characters and a satisfying conclusion. The narrative explores complex themes of honor, sacrifice, and identity, prompting reflection on in-game choices. The writing is poignant, and the supporting characters are compelling, adding emotional depth to the journey. | 35% |
Meaningful, varied side quests | The game offers a variety of engaging side quests that expand the lore of the game and provide background on important characters. The stealth mechanics are well-integrated, offering players the choice to fight with honor or embrace the shadows as the Ghost. The game also features a wide variety of playstyles through different armor sets and combat options. | 34% |
Historically accurate, beautiful Tsushima setting | The game's setting on Tsushima Island is historically accurate and visually stunning, with meticulously crafted environments that bring feudal Japan to life. The island is filled with secrets and collectibles, offering lore and side quests that encourage exploration. The game's landscapes are a constant source of awe, with vibrant colors, dynamic weather, and lush vegetation. | 33% |
Excellent, immersive music and sound | The game features an excellent soundtrack that pays homage to Japanese culture and enhances the atmosphere. The sound design is top-notch, from the clash of swords to the rustling leaves. The music is not intrusive, representative of the world, and enhances immersion, creating a captivating atmosphere. | 19% |
High-quality, authentic voice acting | The game features high-quality voice acting in both English and Japanese, with the Japanese track offering a more authentic experience. The voice acting conveys emotion and authority, with characters' eyes darting around mid-conversation. The game also has native PT/BR translation with excellent dubbing, subtitles, and menus. | 14% |
Highly customizable gameplay, intuitive controls | The game offers highly customizable gameplay with various mechanics to adjust difficulty, assists, and graphics. Armor customization is extensive, offering a variety of colors and the option to retain previous styles with updated stats. The game is easy to pick up, but hard to master. | 13% |
Exhilarating duels, strategic combat | The game features exhilarating duel mechanics with precise parrying and striking. Players can engage in duels, fight hordes of enemies, and master different stances for specific combat scenarios. The duels are visually appealing and set in impressive locations, with excellent combat choreography. | 12% |
Iki Island DLC adds depth, challenges | The Iki Island expansion delves deeper into Jin Sakai’s backstory, offering emotional depth and challenging new enemies. The expansion adds new gameplay mechanics, unique enemies, and stunning landscapes that complement the main game. The Iki Island DLC is one of the best story DLCs. | 11% |
Unique, immersive wind-based navigation | The game uses a unique wind-based navigation system that guides players without a traditional GPS, creating an immersive experience that encourages curiosity. The game replaces traditional player guidance with natural cues, enhancing immersion. The wind mechanic effectively guides players to objectives, adding to the immersion. | 11% |
Good single-player, fun multiplayer | The single-player experience is considered good, and the multiplayer mode offers a fun diversion for those looking for extra content. The game is easy to pick up and play for short sessions and runs well without requiring a high-end graphics card. The game is worth buying, especially when it's on sale. | 10% |
Jin Sakai's compelling character arc | The story of Jin Sakai explores themes of loyalty, morality, and what it truly means to protect one’s people. Jin grapples with his identity and the morality of his choices as he transforms. The narrative delves into Jin Sakai's personal growth, inner conflict, and the toll of war. | 10% |
Artistic elements enhance gameplay | The game's artistic elements, such as the black and white filter during the Ghost Stance and the minimalist HUD, enhance the experience. The game offers a variety of playstyles, allowing players to be honorable warriors or stealthy ghosts. The combat system is a highlight, offering simple and heavy attacks, along with four stances specialized for different enemy types. | 9% |
Cinematic, thrilling boss fights | Boss fights are cinematic and some setpieces and fights are genuinely thrilling. Cinematic scenes, accompanied by an evocative soundtrack, amplify emotions, making every victory bittersweet and every defeat personal. The game has a cinematic quality, resembling an interactive movie. | 8% |