Upon his release in 2020, the American Sucker Punk’s Tsushima Puncher developer was well received for his fictional photography of the historical Japan. Game director Nate Fox recently talked about his commitment to bringing the same type of cultural sensitivity to the next Yotei ghost, focusing on the importance of research, respect and listening to cultural advisers.
While Ghost of Tsushima made us take over the role of Jin Sakai because he defends Tsuushima from the invasion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, Ghosti of Yotei goes forward to 1603, where we play as a female warfare in Ezo (modern era Hokkaido, North Island in Japan). She is outside to retreat on a group of outlaws who killed her family.
Ghost of Tsushima praised classic samurai films (with “Kurosawa Mode” in black and white that was named after the legendary Japanese film director Akira Korosawa), so it will be interesting to know if Ghost of Yotei takes any effect from many films in Japan that has difficult warriors on revenge, such as Lady Snowblood series.
In a conversation PlayStation Blog Post, The Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei Nate Fox talked about how search trips to Japan were not only “the best part” to work in games, but were also very inspiring and open.
“Every person from SUCKER PUNCH, who continued on reference assembly trips, has returned to the studio with a passion for driving to a sense of originality to our imaginative photography of these real life places,” and commented, focusing on the importance of feeling the place personally, then using this experience to formulate an original environment in the game that fits the spirit of the real site.
comments Written by Ghost of Ghost of Tsushima, Izuki’s “DICE” echo on Twitter / X in May 2024: “The ghost of the Tsushima development team told me that” we want to create a fun entertainment, not a lesson in history … taste). (As I mentioned Automaton).
In fact, he read Ghost of Tsushima as a carefully searched love message to historical Japan with a collection of the classic samurai film that was delivered. What is the inaccuracy that was often a technical license used to create a more entertainment experience in the operator’s atmosphere, and to make the game more able to the wider audience. To photograph it for Samurai, Ghost of Tsushima took advantage of later centuries and a picture of pop -pop culture as Katana’s lists, when they mostly used the bow and arrow in the thirteenth century (Sensei Ishikawa may be the closest character to the samurai of that period). For access, Jin can composition Haiku (the most famous type of Japanese poem), however the Haiku model has only evolved after centuries.
Although the cities of Ghost of Tsushima, shrines and environments feel like a high nature across Japan from the comfort of your sofa, the game took some freedoms to allow the player to try all the seasons of Japan. The real semi -tropical tsushima, located between South Korea and the Kyushu Island in the far south in Japan. The thick snow that Jin faces in Chapter 3 is a historical paradox, because the real Tsuchima is very south to try such a weather. However, this players gave an opportunity to try a type of virtual postcard to more famous and famous aspects every season in Japan. The fairy tsushima player roams the game, the player moves between the different seasons: the abundant pink cherry flowers that bring a spray from the spring on your screen one second, to be replaced by the orange structure when entering another area.
As Fox explained, it was not intended from the digital Tsushima to be an ideal recreation for the island, but it was supposed to pick up the spirit of the place sincerely. In the PlayStation Blog post, he commented: “We felt that by listening to our cultural advisers and doing our research, we can present a respectable representation of what made Tsushima very special … to the ghost of Yotei, we do the same.”
Fox revealed that Sony has chosen Hokkaido in order to prepare Ghost of Yotei because it is “incredibly beautiful.” When visiting the place, Fox narrated that the Dev team had a difference between the majestic views and the potential threat posed by the bears that live in the National Shiretoko National Park in Hokkaido. “A perfect marriage of beauty and danger, this was the exact feeling that we wanted in our game,” Fox was excited. Added to this, in 1603 when the Ghost of Yotei was assigned, Hokkaido was a cruel, cruel island, which the developers felt appropriate with the story of a female warrior in order to decrease revenge to the extent that the local population begins to believe that it is a demon.
However, the official information about the Ghost of Yotei did not mention how and whether it will address the complex history of Hokkaido for colonialism by Japan. How will Ghost of Yotei be photographed by the original Hokkaido people, Ainu, their language and culture? Will you imagine tensions between the Japanese and Eno population? This may be a difficult part of the game for a right.
After the release, Ghost of Tsushima met with a positive reception mostly from the Japanese media and people, and gained a perfect degree of Famitsu and winning two prizes at the GAMAN Game 2021 Awards. It was also hosted by the real island of Tsushima, while encouraging its popularity for more tourists to visit the island. Game director Nate Fox and creative director Jason Konil were called the island’s cultural ambassadors, for their role in drawing people’s attention to Tsuhima and its history. If Ghost of Yotei is like its predecessor, it may also bring more tourists abroad to Hokkaido. However, they should make sure they are better than The recently cut British couple on Mount Uti.
Verity Townsund is an independent Japan -based writer who previously worked as an editor, shareholder and translator for Game News Automaton West. I also wrote about Japanese culture and films of various publications.