Introduction

Ghost of Tsushima released in July 2020 on the PlayStation 4 to great success. In its first 3 days in the market, it sold 2.4 million copies; by early November, it hit 5 million sales; and most recently, it exceeded 6.5 million sales. For a new IP, this is quite an impressive market performance by Sucker Punch. Not only did it impress gamers, but it also impressed Tsushima mayor Hiroki Hitakatsu to the point that he made the Sucker Punch devs permanent ambassadors to the real island.

Apparently, the Ghost of Tsushima news does not end there. Apparently, the game will be getting a movie adaptation and Chad Stahelski will direct it. If you don't know who Chad Stahelski is, he is the director for the John Wick films.

My Thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima's Success

I own a copy of the game and have put in a few dozen hours. While I have not finished the game due to work, Ghost of Tsushima is a whole lot of fun. There is a healthy variation of enemies; the katana styles add another layer to the combat; and you get a wide arsenal of weapons for both fighting and stealth. The art style and music are extremely beautiful. Both the main story and side stories make you feel invested in Jin, the protagonist, and his allies.

Credit: Alessio Palumbo of Wccftech

Throughout the PS4 and Xbox One generation, more and more developers churned out more and more open-world games. The genre hit a saturation point and it felt like once you play one open-world game, you have played them all. Leveling systems became grindy; maps grew larger at the expense of density; and a lot of side content only served to pad out time. For instance, I played fair bit of Horizon: Zero Dawn, but it never drew me in due to its low density and unbalanced combat system (the melee combat sucked). The story was alright and the graphics were very impressive, but the overall package felt incomplete.

Despite the fact that Ghost of Tsushima launched during the PlayStation 4's twilight days, Sucker Punch did a really good job keeping the experience fresh. While the world of Tsushima appears empty, there are lot of stuff you can do: finding inari shrines, fighting mongols and ronins, doing the Mythic Tales, finding Shinto shrines, discovering hot springs, and more. Travelling is a lot less hand-holdy with the game's clever use of nature as a compass and extremely impressive fast travel loading times.

Credit: Michael Cabrer of mxdwn.com

Yes, this does come off as some sort of a review, but it's to show how Ghost of Tsushima hooked me in while other open-world games failed to do that. No, the game is not flawless (e.g. the camera needs some work). The story isn't unique (and honestly, nothing is unique at this point). However, it strongly hit the basics with good storytelling, great gameplay, and solid QOL designs. Overall, I'm happy for Sucker Punch and their game's success as they deserved it.

My Thoughts on the Movie Adaptation

While I'm quite enthusiastic about the game, I'm not as enthusiastic about the movie adaptation. I am, in no way, doubting Chad Stahelski's abilities. In fact, if you check out the box office performance of the John Wick films, they do better every time. My concern is that I don't think the game's story will fit well in a movie format.

There's only so much that you can cram into a 2 to 3 hour film. Ghost of Tsushima is not a short game and along with its main story, it contains several side stories, too. Allies like Masako Adachi, Yuna, Ryuzo, and Norio each have a series of story-focused sidequests dedicated to them. When you play the game, you are free to start any of their sidequests at any time thanks to its open-world nature.

Basically, with the genre of Ghost of Tsushima and plethora of side content, the movie format will not work effectively. Instead, I think an adaptation of the game would work best in an episodic format. It provides more flexibility and will allow this hypothetical series to give ample attention to Jin's allies.

But who knows? Maybe Mr. Stahelski can pull it off.