"The beauty of open-world games is in the exploration," so Ghost of Yotei devs are aiming to solve Ghost of Tsushima's repetition problem

Sucker Punch Productions is aiming to make Ghost of Yotei feel less repetitive than Ghost of Tsushima because the team doesn't want to "make the players do the same things over and over again."

Speaking to Automaton, co-directors Nate Fox and Jason Connell emphasize that they remain fond of Ghost of Tsushima. That said, certain things could've been done better. It's a good thing, then, that the team has Ghost of Yotei to apply some learnings to.

Fox admits that Ghost of Tsushima suffers from pacing issues, particularly in exploration and mini-game segments. Some feedback they received even went so far as to describe certain gameplay elements as too repetitive and monotonous.

"Tsushima has various minigames, but sadly some of them – especially the one where you follow a fox to a hidden shrine – don’t have much variety and end up feeling like a chore. We felt this from the player feedback as well,” Fox says.

Fox then shares that Ghost of Yotei improves upon mini-game segments by ensuring players don't go through "the same thing all over again whenever their curiosity leads them to encountering new secrets during exploration."

"We’ve prepared different kinds of outcomes that could go beyond the player’s expectations," he explains. "We believe that the beauty of open-world games is in the exploration, so we were determined to offer players a diverse experience.”

It all sounds promising so far. Fox and Connell also stress that they aim to create an "open-world game that lets you drive your own experiences," although how Ghost of Yotei achieves that is a bit of a mystery for now. As per the State of Play showcase, there's a 'Clue Card' that'll seemingly help you keep track of branching adventures, and mini-game variety seems to have increased, too. Me? I'll be taking some deserved rest in a nearby hot spring.

Ghost of Yotei releases October 2 for PS5.

I asked Ghost of Yotei's creative directors all of my burning questions, and I don't want to get your hopes up, but Sucker Punch's sequel sounds like feudal Red Dead Redemption 2.