Ghost of Yotei Will Have a Less Repetitive Open World Says Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch Productions recently announced Ghost of Yotei, a follow-up to its 2020 open world action/adventure title, Ghost of Tsushima. While the game was applauded with strong reviews on release, several outlets and fans criticised some of the game’s repetitive open world activities. However, Sucker Punch is now taking this into account for the sequel as it stated that Ghost of Yotei will have a less repetitive open world, instead opting for more “unique experiences” while exploring.

Sucker Punch creative directors Nate Fox and Jason Connell sat down with New York Times recently to chat about Ghost of Yotei, revealing new tidbits of information including building a franchise out of the game with one movie and other spin-offs in the pipeline. One piece of information that was glossed over during the interview was Sucker Punch’s approach to designing a less repetitive open world for Ghost of Yotei.

Connell stated:

“One challenge that comes with making an open-world game is the repetitive nature of doing the same thing over again. We wanted to balance against that and find unique experiences.”

Ghost of Tsushima was a magnificent game but even its most die-hard fans have admitted that some of the open world activities tended to become a bit stale after a while. The gameplay, visuals and outstanding art direction mostly drove players towards exploration and did a lot of the heavy lifting.

For Ghost of Yotei, it seems like Sucker Punch Productions is learning valuable lessons about designing a compelling open world – naturally, there are several good examples to draw inspiration from now, including the stellar world designs of Elden Ring and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. We’ll just have to wait and see how much the studio has learned since then and hope that the follow-up’s world is a compelling one.

Ghost of Yotei releases in 2025 exclusively for PS5.

Source: New York Times