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The anticipated game, Ghost of Yotei, will follow a woman on a quest for vengeance in the snowy reaches of northern Japan.
Even before Ghost of Tsushima won players over with its samurai protagonist and cinematic flair inspired by Kurosawa films like “Yojimbo,” its designers felt confident enough to start planning a sequel.
On Tuesday, Sucker Punch Productions announced Ghost of Yotei, the beginning of an official franchise that will include at least one movie and other spinoffs, putting the series alongside emblematic Sony PlayStation titles like God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Nate Fox and Jason Connell, creative directors on Ghost of Tsushima, had long envisioned a spiritual successor to the 2020 game, which brought players to the periphery of the Japanese shogunate period, with the Mongol invasion of the country’s Tsushima Island in the 1200s. Critics applauded the game’s historical accuracy, and the players who bought 13 million copies eagerly speculated about a sequel.
Concept art for Ghost of Yotei. Developers from Sucker Punch Productions visited more than a dozen locations in northern Japan for inspiration.
An initial trailer for Ghost of Yotei, which is scheduled to be released on the PlayStation 5 next year, describes the game’s setting as “beyond the edge of Japan” with an imposing image of Mount Yotei from what is now the country’s northern Hokkaido region. After snowy scenes of battle and bloodshed, a woman named Atsu emerges, bowing to a wolf companion and looking ahead toward an unseen expanse.
“When we started working on a sequel, the first question we asked ourselves is ‘What is the DNA of a Ghost game?’” Fox said. “It is about transporting the player to the romance and beauty of feudal Japan.”
Inspiration for the new game’s setting came during two research trips into northern Japan. The Sucker Punch team, which mostly resides in Washington State, visited more than a dozen locations. But it was the image of Mount Yotei reflected across Lake Toya that inspired awe.
“I sat there for two hours just staring at the mountain,” Connell said of the active stratovolcano, which is similar in appearance to Mount Fuji. “It was stunning.”
Fox said another highlight was Shiretoko National Park on the northeastern tip of Hokkaido, which he visited to record nature sounds for his audio team.
“Inside the park, you have to watch a video telling you about the dangers of bears,” Fox said. “Being in this incredibly beautiful park with jagged cliffs and water, yet all the time being aware there were dangerous bears, was electrifying.”
“We strive to bring that into the video game — that feeling of danger.”
Without going into detail, the developers said Ghost of Yotei was a story of “underdog vengeance” that followed Atsu as she moved through the natural landscape, including sprawling grasslands and snowy tundras. They said players would have greater control over her story than in the previous game.
“One challenge that comes with making an open-world game is the repetitive nature of doing the same thing over again,” said Connell, noting that players would be able to master firearms in addition to melee weapons like the katana. “We wanted to balance against that and find unique experiences.”
The action-adventure franchise Assassin’s Creed is releasing its own take on feudal Japan in November, and the Emmy-dominating television series “Shogun” is set in the 1600s when the Tokugawa shogunate dominated most of Japan but struggled to control Hokkaido. (Fox considers himself a fan of the television show and the book it was based on; his dog, an Australian labradoodle, is named Lord Toranaga after a main character.)
Ghost of Yotei will follow a new protagonist, Atsu, as she moves through Japan’s natural landscape, including sprawling grasslands and snowy tundras.Credit...Sony Interactive Entertainment/Sucker Punch Productions
The sequel to Ghost of Tsushima is the linchpin to a series of tightly choreographed efforts by Sony to transform the series into a larger entertainment franchise. A cinematic version of the original game has been in development for several years under Chad Stahelski, who directed the “John Wick” films.
In recent years, game companies have achieved some critical and commercial success by turning their characters into Hollywood stars. The second-highest-grossing movie of last year was “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which celebrated Nintendo’s mascot and earned more than $1.3 billion at the box office. The year before, a movie based on Sony’s Uncharted games made about $400 million.
Hermen Hulst, the chief executive of Sony’s studio business group, said developing intellectual property across entertainment formats would drive customers back to the original games. “We saw the same with ‘The Last of Us’ on HBO,” he said.
“From a business perspective it makes a lot of sense,” Hulst said. “When a television series or movie comes out, people are inspired to play again or make friends to play.”
Even before Ghost of Tsushima won players over with its samurai protagonist and cinematic flair inspired by Kurosawa films like “Yojimbo,” its designers felt confident enough to start planning a sequel.
On Tuesday, Sucker Punch Productions announced Ghost of Yotei, the beginning of an official franchise that will include at least one movie and other spinoffs, putting the series alongside emblematic Sony PlayStation titles like God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Nate Fox and Jason Connell, creative directors on Ghost of Tsushima, had long envisioned a spiritual successor to the 2020 game, which brought players to the periphery of the Japanese shogunate period, with the Mongol invasion of the country’s Tsushima Island in the 1200s. Critics applauded the game’s historical accuracy, and the players who bought 13 million copies eagerly speculated about a sequel.
Concept art for Ghost of Yotei. Developers from Sucker Punch Productions visited more than a dozen locations in northern Japan for inspiration.
An initial trailer for Ghost of Yotei, which is scheduled to be released on the PlayStation 5 next year, describes the game’s setting as “beyond the edge of Japan” with an imposing image of Mount Yotei from what is now the country’s northern Hokkaido region. After snowy scenes of battle and bloodshed, a woman named Atsu emerges, bowing to a wolf companion and looking ahead toward an unseen expanse.
“When we started working on a sequel, the first question we asked ourselves is ‘What is the DNA of a Ghost game?’” Fox said. “It is about transporting the player to the romance and beauty of feudal Japan.”
Inspiration for the new game’s setting came during two research trips into northern Japan. The Sucker Punch team, which mostly resides in Washington State, visited more than a dozen locations. But it was the image of Mount Yotei reflected across Lake Toya that inspired awe.
“I sat there for two hours just staring at the mountain,” Connell said of the active stratovolcano, which is similar in appearance to Mount Fuji. “It was stunning.”
Fox said another highlight was Shiretoko National Park on the northeastern tip of Hokkaido, which he visited to record nature sounds for his audio team.
“Inside the park, you have to watch a video telling you about the dangers of bears,” Fox said. “Being in this incredibly beautiful park with jagged cliffs and water, yet all the time being aware there were dangerous bears, was electrifying.”
“We strive to bring that into the video game — that feeling of danger.”
Without going into detail, the developers said Ghost of Yotei was a story of “underdog vengeance” that followed Atsu as she moved through the natural landscape, including sprawling grasslands and snowy tundras. They said players would have greater control over her story than in the previous game.
“One challenge that comes with making an open-world game is the repetitive nature of doing the same thing over again,” said Connell, noting that players would be able to master firearms in addition to melee weapons like the katana. “We wanted to balance against that and find unique experiences.”
The action-adventure franchise Assassin’s Creed is releasing its own take on feudal Japan in November, and the Emmy-dominating television series “Shogun” is set in the 1600s when the Tokugawa shogunate dominated most of Japan but struggled to control Hokkaido. (Fox considers himself a fan of the television show and the book it was based on; his dog, an Australian labradoodle, is named Lord Toranaga after a main character.)
Ghost of Yotei will follow a new protagonist, Atsu, as she moves through Japan’s natural landscape, including sprawling grasslands and snowy tundras.Credit...Sony Interactive Entertainment/Sucker Punch Productions
The sequel to Ghost of Tsushima is the linchpin to a series of tightly choreographed efforts by Sony to transform the series into a larger entertainment franchise. A cinematic version of the original game has been in development for several years under Chad Stahelski, who directed the “John Wick” films.
In recent years, game companies have achieved some critical and commercial success by turning their characters into Hollywood stars. The second-highest-grossing movie of last year was “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which celebrated Nintendo’s mascot and earned more than $1.3 billion at the box office. The year before, a movie based on Sony’s Uncharted games made about $400 million.
Hermen Hulst, the chief executive of Sony’s studio business group, said developing intellectual property across entertainment formats would drive customers back to the original games. “We saw the same with ‘The Last of Us’ on HBO,” he said.
“From a business perspective it makes a lot of sense,” Hulst said. “When a television series or movie comes out, people are inspired to play again or make friends to play.”
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