If you’ve been having a blast in Ezo with Atsu and her tale of revenge in Ghost of Yotei, you might be wondering how Sucker Punch could top the excellent open world and combat loop it has created this time around. Although Yotei is admittedly an incremental upgrade over Jin Sakai’s adventure in Ghost of Tsushima, those changes are done so meaningfully that they elevate the experience and make the game feel familiar but fresh.
It’s easy to see how Sucker Punch retained the best of Tsushima and built around it to refine the experience it was offering in the franchise’s first current-gen title. But can that strategy work if it decides to bring a new addition to its ranks? What could a new Ghost title bring to the table to set itself apart from both Jin and Atsu?
That’s what we’re here to discuss as we dive into what the future could hold for the studio’s excellent brand of samurai action, and the potential time periods it could take on.
An Interesting New Direction
First of all, it’s important to remember that Sucker Punch is not keen on the idea of using a location other than Japan, a sentiment made known by the Brian Fleming, the studio’s head. According to him, the Ghost franchise relies on “somebody wielding a katana” and “Japan’s natural beauty”. While the possibility of seeing a Ghost title centered around other locations around the world would have been quite thrilling, Japan still has a lot to give to the franchise’s fans.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about Yotei’s Atsu. While her story does reach a sort of peaceful conclusion at the end of the game, we can’t help but wonder about the many years she spent away from Ezo as a wandering mercenary. It would be a great idea to explore that time frame, and look into how she was moulded from a frightened girl into the fearsome Onryo. However, like the Iki Island expansion that explored Jin Sakai’s memories of his father, that could very well be done in a DLC expansion.
So what then, could a new Ghost game bring to the table? Well, we’ve got a few ideas. For starters, we think that it could go back to its samurai roots but not in the way that you’d expect. Considering how the samurai have been perceived by the common folk in both Tsushima and Yotei, it could be a good idea to make them the focus of the next Ghost’s ire.
Take Yariwaka, for instance. Kasumasa Sakai and Shimura’s brutality in stamping out that region’s rebellion was a major talking point in Tsushima. So much so that Jin would have to earn the trust of its leaders who were happy to see the samurai being placed on the back foot by the Mongols. Its people saw the samurai as villains, an extension of an oppressive Shogun regime that did not care about them.
Things are the same in Ezo, where a large part of its population have travelled to the region to escape the Shogun’s oppression, and as such, look at the Matsumae clan with either suspicion, or disdain. While both Tsushima and Ezo have their fair share of people who do admire what the samurai stand for, a new Ghost title could be a very interesting take on what could happen if the samurai themselves are the enemy.
The sequel could then have its protagonist going against either his own clan or the Shogun himself, their goal being to fight against corruption and oppression. There are several time periods in Japanese history that would be excellent choices for such a tale, and would fit very well with the franchise’s penchant for exploring complex philosophies governing individual identity and the role of each person in the world that they live in.
Let’s take a look at a few.
A Plethora of Options
For starters, the Sengoku period is an obvious choice. There was a lot of anti-Shogun sentiment around the time, and the era is in fact a precursor to the story on display in Yotei. The Onin War and its eventual progression into the Sengoku period could see a new Ghost wage their crusade in a more urban setting. It would allow Sucker Punch to improve verticality in the franchise’s gameplay loop, potentially bringing changes to the grappling hook while adding several interesting twists to both exploration and combat.
With intense political struggles between rival clans, a Ghost title in this time period could allow its protagonist to pit clans against each other in order to achieve their own goals. It’s an opportunity to introduce a bit of psychological warfare into the mix while activities like night raids, duels with displaced ronin, and so much more bring a new yet familiar title to the franchise’s illustrious ranks.
There’s also the option of having the new Ghost take to piracy. The Wokou were Japanese pirates but did have people from other Asian ethnicities among their ranks. It would be the perfect opportunity to examine varying ideologies while introducing naval combat to the franchise.
A pirate Ghost could be a great option, coming with a ton of new weapons and tactics while also bringing the opportunity to examine how poverty and the apathy of leaders could lead people to take desperate measures. We could very well see the new Ghost using rope darts, navigating the seas through varying tides, boarding ships silently, and so much more.
Thanks to Yotei, we’ve been introduced to the Ainu, an indigenous group native to Ezo (or Hokkaido as it’s now known). Their resistance to Japanese colonization could be another great idea for a new Ghost title given their relatively peaceful culture. An Ainu Ghost might be torn between their roots and their mission to prevent the erasure of their people, resorting to drastic measures to achieve their ends that risk them being alienated from the ones they hold dear.
That would be quite a narrative goldmine that aligns with the stories that we’ve seen so far but could also be a valuable way to introduce some truly innovative gameplay mechanics into the mix. There could be stealth sections using boats in rivers, the opportunity to bring in social stealth, a weather system that changes how the game is played during winter, mythic tales based on Ainu folklore, hunting, and so much more. It’s an opportunity to tell a deeply personal story with a protagonist who might be the most charming Ghost we’ve met so far.
Another option, and probably our favorite one, is the Boshin War and the political strife that followed it. That’s an interesting point in Japanese history where the nation’s isolationism and the opening of its borders led to a lot of turmoil in its political hierarchies, leading to a lot of conflict that’s the perfect stage for the rise of a new Ghost.
It could be an excellent way to introduce new weapons into the character’s arsenal while also retaining the combat system that has made the franchise as popular as it currently is. It’s also perfect from a narrative standpoint, with the debate surrounding ideologies and the influence of other nations on Japan being great places to stage a story about where a samurai’s loyalty must truly lie. Gameplay wise, it could feature large scale battles and desperate last stands, the likes of which the franchise has not brought to the table thus far.
If Sucker Punch continues to craft its experiences in the manner that it is, this era in Japanese history could be a great option for the studio to tell us a tale that we’re not likely to forget.
The Path Ahead
No matter what lies ahead for the franchise, I would argue that Sucker Punch needs to do things a little differently this time around. Despite Yotei being among my favorite open world experience and my personal pick among PlayStation exclusives, the fact remains that it is only an iterative upgrade over Jin Sakai’s adventure in Tsushima.
The next title cannot afford to ride on the goodwill of the games that came before it, and must be a game that doesn’t just build on its predecessors, but outshines them entirely. It can be quite hard to achieve that balance but considering just how well the studio has managed to bring reverence and authenticity to its take on ancient Japan, the third time could very well be the charm in its case.
The next Ghost carries the weight of living up to their predecessors while ushering the franchise into its future. But with Sucker Punch’s penchant for creating hard-hitting stories and excellent gameplay mechanics, we’re sure that the Ghost, and the franchise, is going to come out swinging.
All that remains is to wait for the eventual announcement of the next instalment in a franchise that has now firmly cemented its place among the best that the open world action-adventure genre has to offer.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
