Ghost Of Tsushima Is Sucker Punch's Largest Game To Date

With Ghost of Tsushima, developer Sucker Punch is touting the largest game world it's ever created. (You can read all about it in our Ghost of Tsushima review.) And by taking liberties with the real-life landmass, it's aiming to create an open-world with a lot of variety.

Speaking to IGN, creative and art director, Jason Connell, explained that the different areas seen in the recent State of Play showing are only a small sample of the numerous biomes the islands of Tsushima has to offer.

"We try really hard from an art direction perspective to make [each area] feel distinctly different and try not to muddy things up," Connell explained. "And while that may feel a little bit loud, when you approach it, it feels very memorable. I can remember where it is, I can see it from everywhere on the island. And that's important to us because the island's big, and we're not putting markers all over the place, so you have to come up with other visual anchors to keep your directionality intact."

This massive open space could be daunting for new players though, which is why Connell suggests that initially you'll be confined to a smaller area of the island as Ghost of Tsushima introduces you to its mechanics. It's not unlike another PS4 open-world game, Horizon Zero Dawn, where protagonist Aloy was kept in a small village for the game's opening hours.

"As a story as big as ours and a game as big as ours, it is incredibly important to us that people understand Jin's journey first," Connell continued. "It's a lot to take in. So the first part, we want to make sure that you understand who he is, what's happened to this island. So there's a little bit of setup. It's really important to do that before we just open the flood gates. But then once you get to that point, then it's pretty open."

Ghost of Tsushima will also have challenging combat and the ability to switch between its Samurai and Ghost play styles at will, without having to worry about a morality system. It's scheduled to launch on July 17 for PS4.