Ghost of Yōtei by Sucker Punch launched exclusively on PS5 on October 2, 2025, as a standalone sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. Its two directors are Nate Fox and Jason Connell; the team took research trips to many locations in northern Japan, especially the view of Mount Yōtei reflected in Lake Tōya.
Story
The game is set in Ezo in 1603 (now Hokkaido) and follows Atsu, a mercenary hunting the Yōtei Six, the renegade samurai who murdered her family sixteen years earlier.
Weapons and Gameplay
The game replaces the stance system with weapon-specific counters. Besides her dual katanas, Atsu uses the kusarigama, the yari (spear), the ōdachi (greatsword) and the Tanegashima matchlock (unlocked when you reach the Oshima coast, south of Mount Yōtei), along with the Tanzutsu matchlock pistol. Players can summon a wolf companion to help in combat or while sneaking.
Why swap stances for weapon-specific counters? Ghost of Tsushima was known for its stance system, switching between different postures to counter each type of enemy. Ghost of Yōtei changes that philosophy by giving each weapon (kusarigama, yari, ōdachi, matchlock) its own skill set and its own way of countering, which pushes players to switch weapons mid-fight instead of just changing stance with the same katana. It is a major shift in design philosophy, aimed at making each battle feel more varied rather than a variation on the same combo.
Sales, Reception and Awards
- 3.3 million copies sold by November 2025
- Metacritic 86 (OpenCritic about 89), higher than Ghost of Tsushima
- Won Adventure Game of the Year at the D.I.C.E. Awards and earned multiple nominations at The Game Awards 2025
Legends and the Complete Edition
- Legends: a free multiplayer mode released on March 10, 2026 (four-player co-op)
- Complete Edition: announced by Sony on August 12, 2026 and released on October 1, 2026 at $69.99, including the base game, Legends and two new pieces of content, Echoes of Sekigahara and Most Wanted
OtaHub's Take
The Metacritic score of 86, clearly higher than Ghost of Tsushima's, is solid evidence that the decision to change the combat system, a big risk for a franchise that already had a winning formula, paid off. Sony's continued heavy investment in post-launch content, from the free Legends mode to a full Complete Edition within a year, suggests the studio treats Ghost of Yōtei as one of the PS5's long-term strategic IPs, much as Horizon and God of War were expanded after their successful launches.
Updated September 24, 2026: this article was rewritten from verified sources; the previous version contained outdated or inaccurate information.
Sources: PlayStation Blog, PlayStation LifeStyle, Dexerto.
