Ghost of Yotei review: "One of the first PS5 games to feel truly boundary-pushing, this hyper violent samurai revenge quest truly hooked me"

Ghost of Yotei is all about the little things that make an RPG shine. Pausing to appreciate a good view – like a herd of horses running in the shadow of Mount Yotei, kicking up wildflower petals as they gallop. Shakily recomposing yourself after a tough fight, your brain still processing the fact it's over. Starting out on a specific quest, only to find yourself in a forest several miles away because a storyteller you met on the road mentioned rumors of nearby samurai armor.

These moments are our reasons for playing – the stories you tell your friends, hoping they'll get the game and come back with tales of their own. Ghost of Yotei is almost obsessive in the way it sets up these anecdotal adventures, with an open-ended world that's been designed for spontaneity. Sometimes, it can feel a bit too good to be true – like you're being carried on a conveyor belt, rather than walking for yourself – but when you're lost in the moment, it feels sublime.

Taking names

Set a little over 300 years after Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yotei follows Atsu – a wandering ronin returning to her home province of Ezo. Her goal is to hunt down and kill the Yotei Six: a group of masked warriors who slaughtered Atsu's family when she was a small child. Yes, elephant in the room, this treads remarkably familiar territory to February's Assassin's Creed Shadows, which also told a story about seeking revenge against a shadowy masked cabal earlier this year. But it's a fleeting resemblance, with Ghost of Yotei keener to dig into the humans behind the mask rather than what they represent.

Though each of the Yotei Six are explored and given enough screentime to shine as villains, Atsu is the star of the show. A 17th century Clint Eastwood, Atsu is charismatic yet quick to violence, and there's a Spaghetti Western viciousness to the ronin – with killing and her sense of justice being inexorably tied. Sucker Punch doesn't soften or pull away from the ugly side of that nature – in one scene, she takes grim satisfaction in shooting and then beheading a soldier who killed a family of farmers – and by doing so it sells the hard-edged ronin revenge fantasy, making Atsu more magnetic than even Ghost of Tsushima's Jin Sakai.

That extends to the open world, where Atsu is a dangerous wanderer with a long checklist. Ghost of Yotei is a busy RPG, but it builds upon Ghost of Tsushima's philosophy that game progression should tie hand-in-hand with exploration. A passing settler may point you to a local hot spring (which boosts your max health), for example, while a cartographer's maps – often leading to valuable charms or altars for skill points – need to be slotted over their corresponding location on your own map to be used. The promise of a new kimono or upgrade is often all it takes to get distracted, as Sucker Punch does an excellent job at scattering valuable rewards off the beaten path.

There are times when this approach works well, and it truly feels like you're wandering Ezo on your own terms. I frequently caught myself stepping away from the main quest to spend time bounty-hunting, enjoying the leisurely hunt for my target just as much as I enjoyed taking them down in combat. I'd often let myself be distracted – whether that be stumbling upon a side quest, following up on hints for nearby bamboo strikes, or fighting fellow bounty hunters who are after the money on Atsu's own head – and on a few occasions, I even forgot about whoever I was meant to be looking for.

Here, Ghost of Yotei lives up to its sprawl. But it doesn't always manage to bring you into the world as thoroughly as it would like. While the RPG makes all the right decisions on paper, there's an overbearing sense of being too meticulously curated – of an illusion that you're off the tracks, when in reality the rails are just painted into the scenery. There's too much purpose in, say, the way passers-by stop at Atsu's camp to mention a nearby wolf den – especially when the same lines begin to repeat – or a golden bird leads you precisely to a skill point. It's theme parky, and you can tell when you're being moved between rides.

By pointing its finger too much, Ghost of Yotei ironically takes away from that feeling of discovery – aiming for but not quite hitting the effortless discovery of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption 2. But those are lofty comparisons – and although Sucker Punch may have overcooked the formula, Ezo is still incredible to explore. It's one of the first PS5 games to feel truly boundary-pushing, and I've taken tens (if not hundreds) of screenshots marveling at the scenery.

Learning the blade

In combat, Ghost of Yotei sheaths its freedom for unforgiving precision. Atsu trains with five melee weapons over the course of the game – katana, dual katanas, kusarigama, odachi, and yari – and you're expected to switch between them fluidly in battle. Her ball-and-scythe kusarigama quickly overwhelms shield-wielding enemies, for example, while the yari (a spear) in turn breaks through the kusarigama. Each blade counters another, turning Atsu into a weapon-wheeling whirlwind.

It's a thrill to feel like you're fighting well: using the odachi to cut down a larger foe, rounding on their spearman ally with a flurry of dual katana blows, aiming a quick pistol shot at an archer even as your hands reach for the yari. Certain moves can disarm Atsu – forcing you to either draw something else or panic-dodge to wherever your sword's landed – but Atsu has her own disarming strike, and can throw discarded weapons for massive damage. This emphasis on reactivity means even straightforward fights seem like tightly choreographed action sequences.

With so much to stay on top of, slipping up can be very punishing. Glancing at your health or matching your opponent's weapon change can mean missing a vital parry warning, especially in boss fights or battles where Atsu is massively outnumbered. The difficulty gets intense – expect to die often, even on regular difficulty – but those stakes mean the moment-to-moment satisfaction of doing everything right never goes away, particularly during breathless boss fights against the Yotei Six.

My only issues with combat are more to do with broader pacing issues, particularly in the main quest. At times, you'll be thrown from one room full of fodder to the next, with too many fights feeling like unnecessary padding. That pales in comparison to the frankly ludicrous amount of drawn-out climbing sequences you'll endure, mindlessly hopping from one white-marked rock to another. Likewise, there are a few too many instances of having to awkwardly keep pace with a walking NPC, or pausing to boost someone up a ledge, and it's all glaringly game-y. These are strange, dated quirks and often makes Ghost of Yotei seem like it's running on fumes, unsure of how to move itself forward.

Other areas of the game work so hard to bring you in. The DualSense controller gets a real workout here: you'll trace calligraphy on the touchpad, ease down the triggers like bellows to kindle campfires, and tilt the controller to lower the fish you're cooking over the flames. The world itself is varied and lively: I love the way Atsu's bounty grows over the course of the story, and the way bounty hunters adapt their efforts to catch her. I love how shinobi ambush you from bushes and beneath snowdrifts in the wintry northern region, and how varied those tactics are from the Yotei Six's fire-loving raiders to the west.

Ghost of Yotei is two overlaid experiences. On the surface is a sprawling RPG set in 1600s Japan, and it's certainly an ambitious one – making no secret of its Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring inspirations as it aims to tap into the same magic of discovery. Nestled beneath that, within lengthy linear missions and carefully-crafted setpiece, is a prestige Sony action game – think The Last of Us or God of War, faults and all.

It's a strange blend, and the result is louder than its predecessor. Yes, Ghost of Yotei could be subtler in the way it encourages discovery, and yes, you can almost feel its hand on your chin as it turns you to look at something. Though the magic of discovery here feels manufactured, Ghost of Yotei is a magnificent RPG, capable of making entire weekends disappear in its spell. It wants you to wander free, to pick a point on the horizon and ride with the sun to your back. You should.

Load up that white obelisk with more to play with our best PS5 games list!