“As long as you’re having fun, we don’t care too much,” says Jason Connell, the creative director of Ghost of Yotei, during an interview with GamesRadar. Despite being an experience heavily driven by narrative, Sucker Punch didn’t want the players to feel trapped in completing the story. Instead, they wanted them to enjoy their time in the region of Ezo and be the sculptor of their journey.
Ghost of Yotei Lets You Dictate Your Playthrough
While most open-world games force you to tick every box in order to move forward, Ghost of Yotei gives complete freedom to explore the game at your own pace. This freedom of exploration makes them want to explore every nook and cranny of the in-game world, find hidden secrets, and then get back to the story whenever they want. The sense of urgency here is eliminated, making it stress-free.
Sucker Punch’s philosophy of using the player-first perspective reflects that they don’t care much about the players completing the game. They want the players to have fun instead and play the game in a way they are comfortable with. Jason Connell says:
As long as you’re having fun, we don’t care too much, but we do have a bunch of hooks in there to try to keep you in the spirit of the main story, getting an appropriate amount of weapons at a decent rate.
Rather than using punishing detours, Ghost of Yotei uses environmental hints, narrative hooks, and character interactions to gently guide the players back to the main story. By using this technique, both the main story and the flow of exploring the game remain unhindered. The developers have managed to create an experience where players can set their own pace without losing sight of the story.
There’s No Completionist Pressure in Ghost of Yotei
Open-world games usually rely on checklists to keep players engaged, but Sucker Punch deliberately resisted that temptation. Ghost of Yotei encourages the players to pursue what they find most interesting in Ezo. Whether it’s uncovering hidden shrines, playing Zeni Hajiki, or clearing the Wolf Dens, a lot of options are present on the deck.
That being said, gone are the times when you had to complete every mission and unlock all the weapons to embrace the true beauty of a game. The success won’t be counted by how many side quests are completed; instead, it will be counted by how deeply players are involved in the content, both emotionally and rationally.
Let us know if you will be completing the main story quickly or rather take your time with Ghost of Yotei in the comments below.
