GAMERTIMES

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR GHOST OF TSUSHIMA DIRECTOR’S CUT. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

Ghost of Tsushima when released in July 2020, it made a huge impact on PS4. Everyone was just mostly playing Ghost of Tsushima and after seeing the success of the game on PS4, it got an upgrade which is known as “Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut” instead of calling it a remastered upgrade. But with that, we do get an expansion called “Iki Island” and it is a promising DLC I should say.

To be honest, this was the first time I played Ghost of Tsushima and I already had seen its visuals on PS4 when it launched in 2020. That time when I saw it was still impressive but this “Director’s Cut” gives it a visual upgrade and it is amazing. If you haven’t played the game when it was released in 2020, now is the time to dive in because of the enhancements it gets.

Obviously, the Iki Island is the big thing here because it gets its own story, cutscenes, and side quests. Before completely diving into the Iki Island, I need to talk about the enhancements and other things it improves. Sucker Punch first fixed the lip-sync for the Japanese language which was a problem on PS4 when selecting language as Japanese and the dialogues aren’t synced with the lips.

With Director’s Cut on PS5, you get haptic feedback, and short and faster load speeds which when you fast travel, you’re at that location in like 2 seconds. That’s fast. Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut on PS5 lets you play at 4K 60FPS performance which is just amazing. Although the game when played on PS4 looks the same as the 2020 version or played the PS4 version on the PS5 through backward compatibility.

Iki Island is a personal tale for Jin Sakai who has to deal with his past. On Iki Island, you don’t have any supporting allies here and the whole focus is on Jin Sakai. Like in Tsushima, where he would go on to break the Samurai code to avenge his revenge against Khotun Khan leaving a blood trail throughout Tsushima of Mongols. That would make him a pretty solid protagonist, isn’t it?

I would say this Iki Island expansion is great for Jin because we get to explore his personality because we learn that Iki Island is an island that the samurai’s failed to conquer and now only raiders live. The island is 1/3rd the size of the main campaign maps. The whole island is like a forest with muddy roads with some overgrown structures.

It’s a big expansion with excellent story missions and exciting side quests that makes the Iki Island expansion worth it. As I said earlier, this is a personal tale for Jin Sakai in all of this and is preyed on by the Eagles, a Mongol leader who makes poisons that play with your mind and possibly corrupt your mind. Just like in Tsushima, the main mission of Jin is to get Iki Island rid of Mongol invaders, but the Eagle’s methods give the expansion a different tone.

Once you taste the Eagle’s poison, you’ll start receiving visions that will play with your mind making it harder for you to get over it or escape it. Jin was also on the receiving end of this, which just helps set the Iki Island storyline different from the main campaign. There are new enemy types and also Jin has to fight the Eagle’s poison in his brain creating nightmares. He has to fight that.

You can start your adventure on Iki Island once you’ve reached Act 2 in the main campaign. Iki Island has its own legend-growing thing, added a skill called Horse Charge where the horse will just go through the Mongols but will also utilize your Resolves, so better stock on them. Gameplay-wise, there isn’t any change in the mechanics but adds an addition to it with new equipment which I think enhances the game.

I guess it’s safe to say, Ghost of Tsushima which was already brilliant, with the addition of Iki Island, makes Jin Sakai the best entertaining character. There are new additions to the game like there are new animal sanctuaries, Cat, Deer, and Monkey Sanctuaries, and also you can pet these animals and the animals on the main island. There are flashback memories where Jin relives his time with his father on Iki Island.

Lastly, talking about the PS5 features, the haptic feedback which is probably the best I think. I mean the clashing of weapons, the gusts of winds, and Jin breathing a little faster when his health is either low or senses the enemy is very near. You can feel all of them on the controller which just feels amazing and in case you don’t like it, you can always go to the settings and turn them off.

In the end, the Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is really incredible. An already excellent open-world game just got more incredible with the expansion of Iki Island which enhances the experience of the game, explores the past of Jin Sakai, a big landscape for Jin to explore, and makes me want to replay the whole game again.

“Ghost of Tsushima was already great, but with this Director’s Cut and expansion of Iki Island, it MAKES THIS A contender for the best open-world game!”