"Frankly, it's just so dang convenient": Ghost of Yotei's new camping trips are an answer to traditional RPG mechanics like fast travel

As you'd expect from a sequel to an already good game, Ghost of Yotei looks like a bigger Ghost of Tsushima with way more options - hence all the new weapons - but one major change this time around is that developer Sucker Punch wanted there to be even fewer barriers between the player and the screen, which manifested in camping trips, among other things.

In Ghost of Yotei, players can set up camp throughout Ezo. Creative co-director Jason Connell told GamesRadar+ that this began as a way to up the 'immersion' and kinda brag about the open-world sequel's "way bigger" vistas. Though camping soon became a lot more "experimental."

Sucker Punch eventually made it so merchants and quest-givers could visit Atsu while she's lighting a fire. Sure, it adds that immersion, but the goal became about flipping traditional RPG mechanics like fast travel upside down, Connell says. Rather than the player wrestling with the game world, the world instead gets more closely integrated into the players' adventure. Neat. Fast travel is still in the game, of course, but camping sites make it so you won't constantly need to be teleporting back-and-forth just to visit a merchant.

"Game elements that feel like fourth-wall breakers take you out of being transported into your TV," explains director Nate Fox. "We avoid them [besides] some aspects – like a health meter – because frankly, it's just so dang convenient to crisply understand what's going on. But we strive to just put people and their imaginations into the world itself."

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