Summary
- Sucker Punch has confirmed that Ghost of Yotei will offer a less repetitive open world design than its predecessor, Ghost of Tsushima.
- Ghost of Yotei aims to balance out repetitive activities with more "unique experiences," improving upon one of Ghost of Tsushima's weakest links.
- The confirmation of a leaner world design also bodes well for Ghost of Yotei's Hokkaido setting, an island far bigger than Tsushima in real life.
The creative director of Ghost of Yotei has confirmed that the upcoming game will have a less repetitive open world design than its predecessor, 2020's Ghost of Tsushima. While Ghost of Yotei is bringing an all-new map, time period, and protagonist, it seems developer Sucker Punch is also keen on offering more streamlined and varied open-world activities to players.
Although the visuals and environmental diversity of Ghost of Tsushima's open world were undoubtedly impressive, many players did complain about the game's somewhat tedious missions and activities. Some even contended that Ghost of Tsushima's world design possessed a lot of Ubisoft open world tropes, like clearing enemy strongholds, picking up various collectibles scattered around the map, side quests that more or less play out similarly, etc. Thankfully, Ghost of Yotei looks to be addressing these concerns head-on.

What Ghost of Yotei's Setting and Year Could Mean for the Tsushima Sequel
Ghost of Yotei takes place centuries after the events of Ghost of Tsushima, which could mean several noteworthy things for its story and gameplay.
Not much is known about Ghost of Yotei at the moment, apart from its brand-new protagonist named Atsu, the 1603 time period, and the gorgeous island of Hokkaido being used as the game's backdrop. Since Hokkaido is significantly larger than Tsushima in real life, fans have been wondering how Sucker Punch will handle Ghost of Yotei's open-world activities. Creative director Jason Connell brought this up in a recent interview with The New York Times, stating that open-world game design comes with the "challenge" of repetitive activities, but Sucker Punch is working to "balance against that and find unique experiences" for Ghost of Yotei.
Ghost of Yotei's World Design Could Be Its Biggest Upgrade Over Ghost of Tsushima
A bit more detail about how Sucker Punch is improving Ghost of Yotei's open world design would've been appreciated, but Connell's affirmation spells good news for the upcoming PS5 exclusive nonetheless. A lot of Ghost of Tsushima players enjoyed its storytelling, graphical fidelity, and freedom of traversal, but found the game's repetitive nature to be its weakest link. If Ghost of Yotei can improve upon those three aspects while offering a leaner, more diverse world for players to explore, it could accrue even more success than Ghost of Tsushima.
Ghost of Yotei is set to release in 2025, so it's too soon to speculate on how the game's open-world activities could play out. However, leaning harder into environmental storytelling seems a likely route for Sucker Punch. Ghost of Tsushima's stunning world was packed with detail and the investigative tracking missions showed potential for environmental storytelling, but their extensive hand-holding was lamented by many players. Ghost of Yotei confidently makes big changes from Ghost of Tsushima, so sacrificing a bit of simplicity to enhance player agency shouldn't be too much of a challenge for Sucker Punch.






The sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch's Ghost of Yōtei is a PS5 exclusive scheduled to drop at some point in 2025. Taking place in 1603, the story will feature a new protagonist and a new Japanese region that is far removed from Tsushima's setting.
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5
- Released
- 2025
- Developer(s)
- Sucker Punch
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment