Director Yotei's Ghost vows to deliver Japan's “respect representative” with Tsushima's Ghost
Blog Andrew Joseph 17 May , 2025 0
Back in 2020, the Tsushima ghost of U.S. developer Sucker Punch is often well received for its fictional description of historical Japan. The game's director Nate Fox recently spoke about his commitment to bringing the same cultural sensibility into the upcoming Yotei's Ghoststressing the importance of research, respect and listening to cultural consultants.
Although the ghost of Tsushima makes us play the role of Jin Sakai, as he defended Tsushima against the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, Yotei's Ghost jumps to 1603, and we play the female warrior Atsu in Ezo (Modern Hokkaido, Hokkaido, Mainnern Mainnern Island, the northernmost part of Japan). She wants to take revenge on a group of offenders who murdered her family.
Tsushima's ghost pays tribute to classic samurai movies (its black and white “Blacksawa” mode is named after legendary Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa), so it's interesting to see if Yotei's ghost will be affected by any influence from many Japanese movies, whether these movies have many films of tough female warriors like the Lady Snow Blood Snow Blood series.
In the nearest one PlayStation Blog Posts, Tsushima's Ghost and Yotei director Nate Fox's Ghost talk about the research journey to Japan being not only the “best part” of the competition, but they are also full of inspiration and eye-opening.
He commented: “Everyone who referenced the sucker punches of the party trip returned to the studio with a driven passion to give us a sense of realism about these fictional descriptions in real life.”
Comment The ghost of Daisuke iShidate on Twitter/X in May 2024 responded to these views: “The ghost of Tsushima Development Team tells me, 'We want to create pleasant entertainment, not historical lessons… I think this is perhaps the success rate of tsushima, not a certain long history, and an objective range. (As reported Automatic).
Indeed, Tsushima's ghost reads like a well-thought-out Japanese love letter and radiates a bunch of classic samurai movies. Its inaccuracy is primarily artistic licensed to create a more fun and atmospheric experience for players and make the game more accessible to attract more viewers. To portray the depiction of the samurai, the ghost of Tsushima digs out the centuries later, while the popular culture image of the samurai mad wielders, who were mainly using bows and arrows in the 13th century (archery expert Ishikawa, perhaps the closest samurai character to that period)). As for accessibility, gold can form haiku (the most widely recognized genre of Japanese poetry), but it was not until centuries later that haiku form developed.
Although the ghosts of Tsushima's towns, shrines and environment do feel like experiencing nature hikes in the comfort of sofas, the game allows players to experience all the Japanese seasons. The real Tsushima is a subtropical area, located between the main islands of Kyushu, the southernmost part of South Korea and Japan. The heavy snow that Kim encountered in Act 3 is out of place, because the real Tsushima is too far away to experience this kind of weather. However, this gives players the opportunity to experience virtual postcards in every season of Japan. Players wander around the game's fictional Tsushima, moving between seasons: the rich pink cherry blossoms brought to the screen in a second, and can only be replaced by orange-brown autumn leaves.
As Fox explains, the digital tsushima was never intended to be the perfect entertainment for the island, but its purpose is to faithfully capture the spirit of the place. In the PlayStation blog post, he commented: “We think that by listening to our cultural consultants and doing research, we can respect the ghosts that make Tsushima so special is Yotei, and we are doing the same.”
Fox revealed that Sony chose Hokkaido for Yotei's ghost because it was “incredibly beautiful”. After visiting the place, Fox said the development team was shocked by the contrast between the majestic viewpoint and the threat posed by the Shiretoko National Park in Hokkaido. Fox said enthusiastically: “The perfect marriage of beauty and danger is the exact feeling of the game we wanted.” Apart from that, in 1603, when Yotei's ghost set up, Hokkaido was a sparse, grim northern island, and developers felt so appropriate about the story of the female warrior that locals began to believe she was a demon.
However, official information about the Yotei ghost has not yet mentioned how and whether it will address the complex history of Japan's final colonization. How will the ghost of Yotei portray the indigenous peoples, Ainu and their language and culture in Hokkaido? Will it portray tensions between the Japanese and the Annie? This may be a hard part of the game.
After the release, the ghost of Tsushima was mostly actively received by Japanese gaming media and people, and received perfect results from Famitsu and won two awards at the 2021 Japanese gaming awards. It is also embraced by the real-life island of Tsushima, whose popularity has attracted more tourists to visit the island. The game's director Nate Fox and creative director Jason Connell were appointed as cultural ambassadors on the island for their role in attracting attention to Tsushima and its history. If the ghost of Yotei becomes as successful as its predecessor, it may also bring more overseas tourists to Hokkaido. However, they should probably make sure they compare This British couple who have been trapped in Yotei Mountain recently.
Verity Townsend is a Japanese freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for Game News website Automaton West. She also wrote articles about Japanese culture and film for various publications.