Ghost of Yōtei review: I've played these games before

In part, that’s down to the fact that, despite the freshly made surroundings, you are still following the guiding wind around on your horse, galloping through beautiful scenery, stopping off at hot springs and bamboo-slicing challenges along the way. So far, so Tsushima.

Although this is a new game, the moment to moment exploration will easily evoke your experiences of Tsushima (and it doesn’t help that, Tsushima being a COVID-era core memory for many players, those experiences are baked very firmly into our minds).

You can see why the Assassin’s Creed games normally jump, not just to a different time period, but to a totally different vibe and location with every new entry (Odyssey and Valhalla feel completely separate, for example).

Speaking of Assassin’s Creed, that brings us to another major reason why Yōtei feels so familiar — the central narrative in Ghost of Yōtei is eerily similar to the central narrative of last year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

In the opening moments of the game, our main character, as a child, sees a beloved parent butchered before their very eyes. Years later, as an adult, she swears revenge on the mysterious mask-wearing villains who did it. One by one, you hunt them down. Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Of course, there was an overlap in the production schedules of these two games, so you can’t entirely blame the totally separate creators for having similar ideas. But, it’s a shame for the Yōtei team that Ubisoft got their version out first (especially given that there must be a crossover in the audiences of these games).

So, between the open world exploration that reminds me so much of Tsushima, and the lengthy story missions that remind me so much of AC Shadows, it’s hard to shake the feeling that there isn’t a huge amount of originality here. In fact, it makes me think of that much-memed scene from Squid Game season 2, where the frustrated returning hero shouts for all to hear: “I’ve played these games before!”

Sadly, it’s hard to shake that feeling, and it did impact my enjoyment for large stretches of playtime. When the game doesn’t seem to be doing much that I haven’t seen before in recent memory, the urge to explore and to see more does start to wane.

All of that being said, there are nuggets of greatness to be found in Ghost of Yōtei if you do take the time to look around and smell the roses.

The game makes very cool use of the PS5’s speedy loading SSD technology, allowing you to visit Atsu’s childhood home and effortlessly cut back and forth between time periods. At the press of a button, you can jump into a flashback instantaneously, which is very cool indeed.

Read more: Ghost of Yōtei is "a very different animal", as beloved mechanic gets a complete overhaul

Underneath the hood, there is also some brilliant game design going on to blend the open world with the main missions whilst maintaining a sense of player freedom. For instance, at one point, I finished a main mission and wandered aimlessly into the open world.

A little house in the middle distance looked interesting. On closer inspection, there was a story beat to find there which unlocked the throwable Kunai knives. It felt like I was freely exploring, but actually I was being guided to useful and interesting stuff. You love to see it.

The performances in the game are also very strong, with Erika Ishii doing fine work as Atsu to guide the player through her story, allowing them to feel involved while still bringing plenty of personality to the character. Although Atsu is on a revenge mission, she does also have a gentler side and genuinely cares about people. Conveying all of that is pretty impressive.

The storytelling is a bit more of a mixed bag. The game starts very abruptly and doesn’t give the characters much time to make an impact before chucking you into the open world. From there, you can tackle your targets in a number of different orders, which makes it difficult to deliver major story beats in a way that feels satisfying.

Each of the ‘Yōtei Six’ baddies you have to take down comes with their own story, which feel very separate to one another, although there are some great twists and turns to be found in those individual quests.

The graphics are a little inconsistent. For every beautifully rendered cut scene, there’s a mid-gameplay dialogue scene that looks a lot less polished. For every gorgeous vista, there’s a big dull field that feels like padding. That being said, the open world is littered with a decent amount of interesting situations to stumble your way into.

The combat is solid, ditching the stance system for more of a rock, paper, scissors situation where swapping weapons regularly will give you the upper hand against different enemies. Collecting all the weapons and throw-ables is a bit of a faff, though, and it would've have been nice to start the game with a fuller arsenal.

The game's fast travel system, on the other hand, is available from the very start and makes it nice and easy to get around and find merchants when you need to upgrade your gear. This is a nice touch which saves you from being bogged down by any long journeys you don't want to take.

All in all, there are lots of good ingredients in Ghost of Yōtei (the music is also great!), but with so much familiarity in the mix as well, it just doesn’t gel together for me into something that I’d strongly recommend to anyone but a superfan of this sub-genre. It has its moments, but I did get bored almost every time I picked it up, which is the last thing the developers will want to hear.

By all means, if you loved Tsushima and AC Shadows and you don’t mind playing a sort of weird remix that blends the two into something new, give this a go and you probably won’t regret it. If you’d rather spend your spare time on something you haven’t seen versions of before, you probably would regret pulling the trigger on this one.

Ghost of Yōtei launches 2nd October on PS5 and you can order your copy now.

Check out more of our Gaming coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.