Sony’s latest State of Play broadcast has come to a close and I got to say it might have been their best outing yet! Ok, that is a bit bias of me to say since I have been eagerly waiting to see more of Ghost of Tsushima for a long time. Ever since the E3 reveal showing off the setting and the brief snippets we saw, I have happily taken any piece of info I could get from brief comments to the occasional screenshot. Today though, we have gotten our most comprehensive view at the game yet!

Ghost of Tsushima has players assume the role of Jin on the Island of Tsushima. The landscape looks absolutely gorgeous with different locations to explore. The grassy hills and forested areas are particularly impressive as numerous blades of grass occupy the screen and move with the guiding wind. leaves also rain down from the trees in the strong breeze really adding life to this world!

I previously mentioned the guiding wind, if you are at a loss for where to go on your adventure the wind will blow you towards new things! Other cues in the environment will also direct you towards points of interest, like smoke in the distance. Animals can also be key to finding new things which I am enjoying seeing. It is just so whimsical!

While I am happy to see the world of Ghost of Tsushima looking so great the combat system looks even better! There are 2 styles of play that can be used when it comes to encounters. The first option is the honorable way of the Samurai. With this approach, Jin will call out his enemies to engage him. As a Samurai, there are a number of different combat stances that can be employed with each being effective against different types of enemies. It was also a blast to see arrows being deflected!

The second style of play is to take on encounters as the ghost. With this style, the game almost becomes a stealth game with Jin sneaking around and assassinating his Mongol adversaries. For encounters with multiple enemies, distractions can be employed to set up a nice double kill! If discovered smoke bombs and kunai can be used to escape and dispatch foes. Since the ghost has made a name for his deadly force enemies will actually get scared of your approach!

Both styles look really fun and I can’t wait to see which one I will personally be better at when the game finally releases. One thing I found to be particularly cool was that Jin can have different outfits to suit both styles. For everyone out there who loves customizing your character, you can even dye them to suit your tastes!

Today’s showcase also took the time to highlight a number of bonus features the game will have including a Photo Mode that is seriously in-depth. Photo modes are not my thing personally but the way you will be able to customize it has me excited to see what users can come up with! What does have me excited is that Ghost of Tsushima will include a full Japanese voice track with English subtitles to elevate the immersion to an 11! One other extra I found particularly fun is the Samurai Cinema mode which turns the game into an old Samurai movie aesthetic!

Today’s showcase has made me even more excited for Ghost of Tsushima’s July 17 release! What did you all think of the showcase?