Once upon a time when the end of the week rolled around I tried to do a wrap up of a few things that piqued my interest but didn’t really necessitate an entire post on their own. I scrolled around last night and today to see if any tasty carcasses had washed up on my news feed that I felt like commenting on but alas, not really. I don’t really feel the need to talk about the whole Tik-Tok controversy or Avowed supposedly being a new, denser Skyrim.

So we’ll take it slow this week and just talk about a game which has kept me coming back for a couple weeks now–

Ghost of Tsushima

It’s rare these days, at least for me, to run into a game title that there is little to no controversy about. It’s teased, it’s released and the general consensus is that it is excellent and we all move on. No real surprise in that games both terrific and terrible tend to fade from the topic of discussion much faster than ones which are inherently divisive. Ghost of Tsushima has to proved to be one of the former for me, it’s great.

What else can I say?

Not much unfortunately because I feel like it deserves to have something said about it, even repeated by those who have enjoyed it. To let the developers at Sucker Punch know that they succeeded in the best way possible, in my estimation, because people are too busy playing it to be picking it apart. I do not believe the title itself is revolutionary either in it’s mechanics or story although it does provide a few key improvements on certain RPG staples like it’s Divine Wind feature. We’ve all become painfully familiar with things like quest and objective markers in games as they are nearly ubiquitous as a design inclusion. They help you move smoothly from place to place in the game by never letting you get hung up or confused on what there is to do. Ghost of Tsushima dresses up these usually unimaginative HUD elements as the non-proverbial wind at your back as you run or gallop across the landscape. Admittedly it is a small thing and yet it adds so much to the overall seamless feel of the game world and how we interact with it.

The one thing I did want to touch on specifically was a particular mythic quest which are a small handful of long and somewhat difficult missions to unlock additional powerful equipment and abilities. Based on stories and bits of information you hear in certain locations around Tsushima by a musician named Yamato. One of these in particular I finished the other day was called The Six Blades of Kojiro which is a series of duels you fight all over the island. It’s hard for me to articulate exactly why but this series of battles was one of the most engaging things so far in my twenty plus hours with the game. Each one a beautiful set piece and challenge to overcome coupled with small bits of dialogue between Jin and his opponents. In the overall scope of the game the encounters themselves are brief but still manage to stand out even among some truly great story duels that are not optional.

I think for my money that is where Ghost of Tsushima truly hooked me by taking the time to give me these intensely personal moments amidst the ever mounting, almost comical, mountain of bodies left behind as Jin and I march north to confront the Khan. After all that I still find myself leaning forward and scooting to the edge of my seat when a duel comes up.

Like I said at the start there really isn’t much to say in general about the game, I could spend a long time nitpicking or trying to find the tiny nooks and crannies that haven’t been loved on by everyone else but there’s no point. If you have the time, money and, ability to play this game you should. Even if it doesn’t end up being your favorite of the year or even top five, although I can’t see why it wouldn’t be, for one reason or another I have no doubt you’ll at least enjoy what time you do spend with it.

When it comes to spending my own money that is all that I can really ask.

I don’t know what next week is going to bring but I figure I’ll leave you with some mini-painting progress pictures and what is up next for those.

First up is another set of stormtroopers although the bases are still unfinished, I haven’t decided exactly what I want for the flocking but it’s on the to-do list. Suggestions are always welcome, do we want some jungle terrain, desert, forest or god forbid… snow?

As far as what is coming next I figure we’re probably past due for some good old father-son bonding time.

Given the lightsabers and the uniqueness of the models I’d like to really focus on small details and lighting to make sure I do them justice, I have a few ideas that are just untested so we’ll see what happens.

I bit the bullet and bought my copy of DOOM so I can sit down and watch it, make notes and start cutting footage I need for the post. It’s still a bit down the road but the prep-work has started.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a good rest of your weekend!

Talk to you again soon.

• Anthony