By Adam Roffel
There is a point in Ghost of Yōtei where you stop thinking about the next objective and simply start riding. You leave the road. You pass through a field of tall grass. Snow begins to fall. Somewhere in the distance, Mount Yōtei dominates the horizon. You were supposed to be heading somewhere else, but suddenly that doesn't seem particularly important. That feeling is probably the best way to describe Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition.
It is a big, expensive, extremely polished open-world game. But its greatest strength isn't its size or the amount of content packed into it. It's the way Sucker Punch understands when to get out of the player's way and let them experience the world at their own pace.
Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition Details
Platform: PlayStation 5
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Action-adventure
Game Modes: Single-player, online co-op (Legends, 2–4 players)
A Complete Package
The Complete Edition brings together the full Ghost of Yōtei experience, including the Echoes of Sekigahara expansion, Most Wanted combat survival mode, additional cosmetics and equipment, and Ghost of Yōtei Legends. Legends is also available as a free addition for existing owners, so it isn't exclusive to the Complete Edition. It's the obvious package for anyone looking to play the game for the first time. It's also for returning players who want the fullest version of Sucker Punch's latest samurai adventure.
More importantly, it confirms something I suspected while playing the original. Sucker Punch didn't need to reinvent the formula. It just needed to get better at it.
Atsu Isn't Jin
The easiest mistake would have been making another Jin Sakai game, but with a different face. Thankfully, that's not what this is. Ghost of Yōtei follows Atsu, a warrior driven by revenge after the Yōtei Six destroy her family. That setup isn't exactly unfamiliar territory for a samurai story, but Atsu gives the game a different emotional centre. While Jin seemed to follow the honourable samurai mould, Atsu brings something completely different to the table. Perhaps it is recklessness. Some might call it passion. Whatever it is, it definitely hits differently.
She's angrier than Jin and more interested in revenge, so she's less interested in honour. She's more damaged by what happened to her and, at times, less certain about what she'll actually have left once her revenge is finished. In fact, she often quips during the game that she will meet her family in death when her goal is achieved.
That's what makes her work. Erika Ishii's performance helps enormously. Atsu isn't constantly delivering dramatic speeches about her destiny. Some of her best moments are the quieter ones, when the game lets her sit with what she's done rather than immediately pushing her toward the next fight. This is highlighted best when resting at hot springs.
A Story Worth Exploring
The story does occasionally fall back on familiar revenge-story beats. After enough years playing games, you can usually see certain twists coming from several hours away. But I never found Atsu herself predictable.
As good as Atsu is, though, I firmly believe that Ezo is the real star of the show. If there's one thing Sucker Punch has always understood, it's how to make an open world you actually want to look at. Ezo is gorgeous, and it is not just in the usual “this game looks incredible” sense, either. The world has a strong visual identity. Forests feel different from the open plains. Snow changes the atmosphere completely. Weather rolls through the landscape, and the lighting can transform a familiar location within minutes.
I'll admit there were plenty of occasions when I stopped playing simply to look around. Sometimes the game puts something spectacular directly in front of you. Other times, you notice something interesting in the distance and decide to investigate. The best open worlds make you curious, while the worst ones simply put icons on a map and ask you to clear them.
I’m not opposed to objective-filled maps, but if we are looking at Japanese-inspired games, this one is about freedom. Something like Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about checklists.
Yōtei still has plenty of traditional open-world activities, but it doesn't feel quite as obsessed with making sure you've completed everything. You can follow the story, wander around, chase side quests, or simply disappear into the wilderness for an hour.
Strong Combat Delivers Once Again
The combat is the reason I kept coming back. There is something satisfying about the way Yōtei handles a sword fight. Attacks have weight, and parries feel deliberate. Dodging at the last possible moment is genuinely satisfying, especially when you turn that into a powerful counterattack thanks to skill upgrades.
I've played plenty of action games where the combat looks incredible in trailers and becomes repetitive after a few hours. That isn't really a problem here. The different weapons, abilities, and enemy types give you enough to think about, particularly when you're playing on higher difficulty levels.
Sucker Punch knows how to stage encounters as well, specifically duels. The camera pulls in, the music changes, the environment suddenly becomes part of the scene, and you're reminded that this is a studio that clearly loves samurai cinema.
There are still moments when the camera gets in the way, particularly when several enemies surround you. And some encounters begin to feel familiar after you've spent a very long time in the world. That said, I'd rather have a combat system with a few rough edges than one that constantly gets in the way of itself.
Echoes of Sekigahara Is Worth Playing
The biggest addition to the Complete Edition is Echoes of Sekigahara, and I was initially more interested in it as an excuse to spend more time in the world than anything else. This DLC release unlocks after a certain story point, roughly eight to 10 hours into your experience.
The expansion adds a new area, new story material, and a new weapon type while filling in more of Atsu's history. For me, this was the real reason to keep playing, as I wanted to know more about what made Atsu, Atsu. It gives some additional context to the person she has become and adds a little more weight to parts of the main story. I just wish it lasted a bit longer.
That isn't necessarily a criticism of the expansion itself. The content that's here is good. It simply feels like there's more potential in this world and these characters than Sucker Punch has had the opportunity to explore.
Most Wanted Is a Nice Addition
Most Wanted takes a completely different approach. This is where Yōtei stops caring about where you go and what you do. Instead, it asks a different question. Are you good at fighting? The survival mode throws increasingly difficult encounters at you, including boss fights, and gives you a good excuse to experiment with the combat system if you feel you haven’t mastered it yet.
I called this a nice addition because I’m not sure it will be for everyone. Some players will spend hours here. Others will play it a few times and move on, which is exactly what I did. I’m glad it exists, but it is not really for me.
An Easy Recommendation for New Players
For someone who already owns Ghost of Yōtei, I’d likely get the Complete Edition Upgrade and move along. But for new players, there is so much content here to make the price of entry worth it. There is something really special about Ghost of Yōtei that words cannot possibly explain adequately.
There are moments of genuine awe, but there are also long stretches where you are simply riding through the countryside with the wind moving through the grass. Not every moment in this experience is dialogue-filled, and not every heavy moment is because of character interactions. Soft reflections and gorgeous environments tell as much of the story as dialogue and combat, and it’s something I feel I’ve rarely experienced when playing video games.
Atsu isn't Jin, and Yōtei isn't Tsushima. That's ultimately the point. Sucker Punch has taken the foundation of one of the best samurai games of the last decade and built something that feels familiar without becoming a copy.
Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition Review Summary
Liked
- Gorgeous open world that rewards exploration, with incredible scenery, weather, and atmosphere.
- Satisfying sword combat, rewarding parries, and cinematic duels.
- Atsu is a compelling protagonist, brought to life by Erika Ishii's performance.
- Echoes of Sekigahara adds meaningful backstory and more reasons to explore Ezo.
Didn't Like
- Some revenge-story twists are predictable.
- The camera occasionally gets in the way, and combat encounters can become familiar after extended play.
- Echoes of Sekigahara is shorter than Adam would have liked.
- Most Wanted won't appeal to everyone, and Adam didn't find himself returning to it.
Overall Assessment of Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition
Gameplay: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ (4.8 / 5)
Presentation: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5.0 / 5)
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ (4.7 / 5)
Story / Narrative: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ (4.7 / 5)
Fun Factor: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ (4.8 / 5)
Overall Value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ (4.6 / 5)
Adam Roffel
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