Ghost of Tsushima best standoffs are cinematic, thrilling, and sometimes silly

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Cinematic duels and unfortunate bird incidents

(Image credit: Sucker Punch/Ryanicrude)

The Ghost of Tsushima best standoffs are tense and exciting, and the player community have started sharing some heart-pounding highlights (as well as some humorous mishaps).

If you haven't played yet, standoffs let you intentionally discard the element of surprise by challenging a group of enemies to single combat. From there the camera sets the stage with a dramatic letterbox effect, framing hero Jin Sakai as he faces off against a lone opponent: wait for just the right moment to strike and you can kill your foe with a single cut.

Standoffs are my favorite addition to the vocabulary of open-world action games since the air assassination, and players are working some true magic with standoffs. Note that some of these highlights show players who are quite far into the game, with upgraded skills and gear - if you'd rather encounter it all for yourself, beware of minor spoilers.

My greatest cinematic stand off so far. (that UI tho D: ) from r/ghostoftsushima

This battle on a beach from almight_ultra ends with Jin outlined in bloody sand. I love the relentless pacing.

Samurai of Tsushima, Standoff from r/ghostoftsushima

This standoff from _herbert-earp_ flows straight into some nearly flawless standard combat. The camera swinging efficiently from one target to the next makes Jin feel like a merciless predator.

My greatest combat performance so far. Sorry for the low quality, PS4Share is not the greatest from r/ghostoftsushima

And then, because Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world game, there is the occasional standoff mishap. Like this video of the world's most anticlimactic duel from natlrogers - it's like fighting the intro guy from Monty Python's Flying Circus…

World’s longest standoff from r/ghostoftsushima

Or sometimes your dramatic fight is interrupted by a bird landing on your rival's head, and then you feel so bad for accidentally killing it you miss the next guy, as submitted by AlterMyStateOfMind.

I killed a bird during a standoff lol from r/ghostoftsushima

Finally, YellowSnowTheGamer proves that proper duel etiquette must account for fire safety.

What a great standoff! from r/ghostoftsushima

Forge your own legend with our guide to Ghost of Tsushima duels. 

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.