Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut (PS5)

The original release of Ghost of Tsushima came around when the PS5 was close to launch, providing an imperfect, yet fantastic swan song to PS4-exclusive first-party titles. Months after the launch of the PS5, a new edition of Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, was announced for both platforms that brought with it new improvements as well as bonus content based around the region of Iki Island. You could even transfer your PS4 save file to the PS5 version, albeit through a USB drive rather than the cloud.

Since I already owned the physical PS4 copy of the game, I opted for the digital upgrade option to save money rather than buy the physical copy again at full price, however it isn’t cheap; upgrading the PS4 version costs $20, then another $10 to upgrade that to the PS5 version, or you can pay $30 to skip straight to PS5. Though I knew I wanted to play the PS5 version to get a better experience, I still went for the two payments option so I could still have the PS4 option if I wanted, and transferred a save file I had based on the original game’s Good ending. After exploring Iki Island to the fullest, I found the PS5 experience to be worth my time, though I feel unsure if the digital upgrade was worth my money.

Another tribe of Mongols known as the Eagle Tribe, led by Ankhsar Khatun, aka the Eagle, have invaded the island of Iki, with the goal of invading Tsushima next. Jin’s father once led a charge on Iki to go after raiders, however it ended with Jin watching his father die there. Despite the risks involved in being a samurai, Jin travels to Iki to stop the Eagle and confront his past.

For those who haven’t already completed the base game, the Iki Island campaign is made available early on when you reach Chapter 2. While shorter than the main game’s storyline at nine missions, the main Iki Island campaign is the right length for the story it tells, delving deeper into Jin’s backstory and the relationship with his father. While the events of Iki Island are largely isolated from the events on Tsushima, they fit right in with the Ghost of Tsushima timeline and expand on there having been multiple real-life Mongol attacks on Japan.

The gameplay is largely similar to the base game, though with some changes of its own. For starters, the expansion introduces a new Mongol enemy type, the Shaman, whose presence increases the bloodlust of nearby Mongols. Defeating the Shaman first is key in these encounters, though finding him can be difficult depending on the immediate geography and his ability adds another challenge to combat, though fortunately he is fairly easy to take down. Playing through the Iki Island campaign also grants new abilities to your horse, including a Horse Charge that can be upgraded as a Ghost Technique and allows your horse to ram into enemies at the expense of Resolve. Your horse also gains a saddlebag in the late game, which automatically carries excess ammo you pick up that can then be retrieved from the horse later.

Iki Island itself has a much smaller map size than that of Tsushima, however this smaller size makes it arguably more manageable than the main game, to where I was able to explore nearly everything Iki had to offer in a fraction of the time it would take Tsushima. Fitting with the lore of the Iki Island storyline, starting it gives you a clean Legend Meter to upgrade, though it doesn’t take that long to max out. That said, there’s plenty of side content to explore on the island, including new collectibles such as Records of Iki, Sakai Banners and Memories of Your Father, plus new activities exclusive to Iki including Wind Shrines, A Helping Hand, Bokken Tournaments, Archery Challenges and Animal Sanctuaries. Some activities from the main game also have a presence on Iki, including Bamboo Strikes, a Hot Spring, Lighthouses, Mythic Tales, Haikus and a Shinto Shrine.

You can even find clever nods to the Sly Cooper series...

...and inFAMOUS: Second Son.

There are three types of Animal Sanctuaries (Cat, Deer, Monkey), however they all function similarly in that you have to tilt the controller to successfully match the pitch of Jin’s flute in order to bring the animals back. Once completed, you obtain and improve one of three Charms (Nekoma’s Hunt, Sugaru’s Sight and Mashira’s Protection respectively), plus you can pet the animals at each of the sanctuaries whenever you want. Similarly, completing Archery Challenges within a time limit gives and improves the Charm of Concentration, however I didn’t explore this feature that deeply due to my own lack of skill with the bow and arrow. Additionally, two new unlockable Exploration Techniques, the Wind of Harmony and Wind of Concentration, help you find Animal Sanctuaries and Archery Challenges (respectively) more easily on the map.

As far as the PS5 version is concerned, the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers of the DualSense controller do wonders to increase the immersion of the game. Jin drawing and sheathing his sword, every one of your horse’s steps, the Guiding Wind and the purring of cats, among other things, are felt in the controller’s haptic feedback, with screen transitions also having more of an impact thanks to this. The adaptive triggers come in when using Jin’s bow, allowing you to really feel the tension in the string whenever he draws it back, in addition to the tension felt from the grappling hook. The original PS4 version made use of the DualShock 4’s speakers to increase the immersion, and the tradition continues with the DualSense, increasing the impact of some scenes within the Iki island story.

The power of the PS5 is used to great effect here as well, with instantaneous loading when fast travelling and different screens loading even faster than ever. This also allows the game to run buttery smooth all the time and for the environments of feudal Japan to appear even more beautiful than on the PS4 version. That said, just from exploring Iki Island, the game is still not free from glitches, such as one particular spot on the map where the Guide Bird is able to perch on nothing. I also had it once while riding a horse, where another rider on horseback appeared then disappeared just as quickly, as did a collection prompt within the same area.

What is that bird perching on?

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut improves on an already great game in just the right way, especially when playing on PS5. That said, the combined cost of upgrading is at least $10 too high, especially if you purchased the game at launch and mainly on the PS4 version’s end at $20, when compared to other digital upgrade models. Despite this, the new content is still worth experiencing even if you don’t own a PS5, though if you don’t already own the original game, you might be better off just buying the Director’s Cut disc instead.