Spoilers ahead!
Over the summer, I tried a lot of new video games to occupy myself. I played anything from “Animal Crossing” to “Red Dead Redemption 2,” but then I came across a game called “Ghost of Tsushima,” and it is probably my favorite game of the year. I have not played that many video games since I was in middle school, so this got me back into video games. This created a new hobby for me, which we all know in quarantine, is a tremendous achievement. The entire game was amazing, from the gameplay to the artwork. As someone who is newer to video games, it was kind of easy with the new update. However, I will not lie; it was more difficult without the update as you would encounter enemies everywhere. Also, it made me more comfortable expressing how I play video games as it really improved my experience with a PS4 controller. When I was younger, I was too scared for people to make fun of me for the games I play or my lack of experience with them.
The game starts off with the Mongols invading Japan for the first time, in which almost all of the samurai are wiped out. The Khan, leader of the Mongols, studied all of the samurai techniques in order to conquer Japan. However, a few survive, such as Jin Sakai, the character you will be playing as. Jin’s uncle gets abducted in the invasion, and his first big mission is to save him. So in order to do this, Jin finds allies and also dishonors the samurai code or “bushido.” Three big ones being Yuna, Taka and Ryuzo. Yuna and Taka are siblings. Yuna helps save Jin’s life after the battle at the beach and teaches him how to be stealthy. Ryuzo is Jin’s childhood friend that betrays him when he attempts to kill Jin for the Khan’s favor. One of the big things with bushido code is to face your opponent when you are fighting them so you cannot go behind someone’s back or stealthily kill someone. However, Jin goes against this and states that honor died on the beach, where the Mongols chose to fight without honor. By doing this, Jin gets his uncle back, but his uncle is very disapproving of his new fighting techniques.
The next big mission is to re-capture castle Shimura, which is his uncle’s castle. During this, you continue to expand upon allies and free other parts of Tsushima. But towards the end, before taking the castle back, Taka helps you confront Ryuzo. But sadly, in a gut-wrenching scene, he gets murdered by the Khan. However, Jin finally gets his revenge on Ryuzo. But the way Jin did this was against the bushido code, so his uncle arrested him. Yuna helps free Jin, and the two of them together finally defeat the Khan with their allies. However, the game is not over. At the end of the major storyline, Jin’s uncle asks him to meet at the family cemetery in which the shogun has ordered him to kill Jin as punishment for his dishonorable actions. During this time, you have a choice to kill Jin’s uncle or spare him. This scene totally broke my heart, and I had to stop playing the game for days. In addition to the amazing main storyline, there are plenty of fun side quests, and it’s open world. I highly recommend this game.