I would consider this to be the most well crafted and immersive world I have ever played. The pinnacle of its genre.
The Good:
The Environment:
Tsushima island is beautiful. Every where you look, STRIKING. This game perfectly landed its art direction and there is no detail left to spare. Passionatly crafted this world is.
Combat: DOSHO!
I had just come from Stellar Blade I thought combat there was fantastic but this? This was has to be the best melee combat I've ever played. Every swing from Jin perfectly controlled. He has so many different ways to fight with his different stances and even his more covert approach. No fight ever feels the same. Its so cinematic whenever I fight and I love it. You can perfect parry in this game and when you do it? *Chefs Kiss* its like shots of dopamine. I played on hard for the first three quarters of the game then switched to lethal for the final act and it was a perfect way to end the game. The last couple fights just made them even sweeter. Defo recommend going that approach if you plan on playing.
DOSHO! DOSHO!!!
The Music:
I'm no conductor but it sounded pretty damn well conducted to me. Had that ♥♥♥♥ max volume the whole time. That one song with the Mongol war cries went so hard.
Character/Story:
The story was actually pretty good. but the supporting cast my god they were amazing. Lady Masako, Kenji, Sensei Ishikawa to name a few were characters that I was invested throughout. Experiencing their plights, their differing perspective on the samurai code was so immersive. That reminder constantly that the world does not exist around you. You are of few who remain on Tsushima to fight back the Mongols. So peak man. There are even these special Questline that give you legendary armour. Even the random side quests I thought I'd get tired of them but no, I was immersed all the way.
Photo Mode:
This game KNOWS it looks good and it KNOWS we want to take screenshots being badass and this was the way to do it. You can enter camera mode on the fly. I'm talking mid fight, mid kill, mid leaping from a roof to assassinate someone. This ease of access in a beautiful world that wants to you to appreciate it makes the world feel even more alive.
The Bad:
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The Ghost took care of them
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Conclusion:
Unless I'm crazy but everything was playing into each other so well here, that it'd be hard to find flaws in this game. Or maybe I was distracted by the immersive world to notice problems? But I can't think of one
10/10
