Joanna Wang, the lead environmental artist for Sucker Punch’sGhost of Tsushima, recently wrote up adetailed PlayStation Blog poston the process behind creating the beautiful environments that can be found in the game
As it turns out Tsushima is a real place, a Japanese island located between the Japanese mainland and the Korean Peninsula:
However the game’s setting isn’t a 100 percent recreation of the island. Instead the developers took essential elements of the island, mixed with some inspirations from mainland Japan, and built up a more unique world. During the research trips, birds and nature sounds were recorded and photo-scanned Tsushima island, and used them in the actual game.
As the devs continued to work on the game’s environments, they made a decision to make the natural spaces more memorable and unique. Tons of methods were used to limit the variety of foliage, pushing color values, increasing translucency levels, and reducing noise on textures. In the end, this bold use of color in nature became a theme for the game. By limiting the types of foliage in biomes, they were better able to bring a sense of freshness to each area and create a much more memorable world:
Below are some video clips showcasing the full range of gorgeous environments, as well as the wind effects that are vital to navigation:
https://gfycat.com/ifr/OldfashionedJitteryAntlion
https://gfycat.com/ifr/DeafeningReasonableGrayling
https://gfycat.com/ifr/ParchedNecessaryGardensnake
https://gfycat.com/ifr/LankyEasyBeaver
https://gfycat.com/ifr/PlushImpureHairstreak
https://gfycat.com/ifr/CrispShamelessAlaskanhusky
Recently a brand newJapanese gameplay trailerwas released, which shows off some of the techniques detailed above:
As the launch of the game approached, it would be prudent of players to free up some space on their PS4’s hard drive.Ghost of Tsushimawill require players to have aminimum of 50GBavailable space to start playing. There’s also the fact that it could need even more space on launch day if there’s a day one patch. You can startpreloading the gamenow ahead of its launch.
In an interview with IGN, Game Director Nate Fox talked aboutthe game’s difficultyand stated that “We are trying to make a grounded game in that sense, so a couple blows from the enemy will kill you,” Fox said. “We watched samurai movies and people go down with one or two strikes, and that is embedded inside of the combat. Beating the Mongols in battle will be hard, but it’s that challenge that makes it feel alive and the victory rewarding. You can’t just run into a camp and fight 5 people at the same time, you will get overwhelmed and die.” Although later, we also found out that you can change these settings to suit your own playstyle better so if you don’t enjoy getting your ass kicked hard, you can do something about it.
You can also check outChris Hawtinwho has put together an incredibleGhost of Tsushimamotion poster that director Akira Kurosawa would be proud of, as well as this incredibleGhost of Tsushimainspired PlayStation 4by XboxPope. Famed Japanese artist Takashi Okazaki, the creator of theAfro Samuraimanga,recently collaboratedwithGhost of Tsushimato produce some gorgeous manga-style posters.
Ghost of Tsushimais slated to launch on July 17th, 2020, and will be a PS4 exclusive. If you want to pre-order the game throughAmazon, you may do so here. You can also prepare for the launch by checking out this editorial onthe five Samurai moviesto watch before it releases.
