Five Ghost of Tsushima Details You Missed in the E3 Trailer

Sucker Punch Productions wowed E3 viewers with a new Ghost of Tsushima gameplay trailer during Sony’s presentation, but there were several finer details in the nearly nine minutes of gameplay that many people probably missed.

Ghost of Tsushima is set long ago in Japan as players take control of Jin Sakai, a samurai who has to expand his fighting strategies to fend off the invasion of the Mongo Empire. The trailer above was the first look at Ghost of Tsushima’s gameplay that we’ve ever received, and you’ll want to watch it in its entirety after reading up on the game below to fully take in all the details that weren’t so obvious.

“In 1274, the fearsome Mongol Empire invades the Japanese island of Tsushima and slaughters its legendary samurai defenders. Jin Sakai is one of the last survivors of a noble samurai clan. To combat his overwhelming foes, he must pioneer deadly new fighting techniques–the way of The Ghost–and wage an unconventional war for the people of Japan.”

In a new post on the PlayStation Blog, Sucker Punch’s cinematics and animation director Billy Harper broke down the biggest details that viewers missed while mesmerized by the trailer.

Tsushima Island Is Real, and Sucker Punch Went There

“Tsushima” isn’t just a cool name for a game’s title – it’s a real island in Japan, and Sucker Punch went there to get a feel for the breathtaking setting that’s seen in the image above pulled from the trailer.

“I was fortunate enough to go on a research trip to Tsushima Island with the team. As soon as we got off the plane we went to this location,” Harper said, referring to the Otsuna Grasslands shown above. “It’s on the top of a hill and I got to stand and overlook the bay. In the game, you’ll be able to go anywhere you can see from here.”

Harper added that they’ve been working continuously with Sony’s Japan Studio to arrange trips and make sure everything is faithfully represented.

Dynamic Environments Move With You

When the first conflict in Ghost of Tsushima happens as Jin approaches a group of Mongols, viewers were probably more concerned with the combat than the mud on the ground. After watching the trailer’s first fight scene again, you’ll notice that the mud clings to characters as they walk through it. Harper said that “mud, blood, and steel” were core elements in this scene and added that it includes “dynamic mud” that sticks to you.

“We’ve done this demo several times and each person in the pit always comes out looking different depending how it’s been played. They all look like they’ve been through a struggle and a fight. You will feel like a warrior – the mud is all over everybody.”

You’ll see this again later on in the trailer when Jin duels Masako and the leaves part around them as they move.

The Demo Was Just a Side Quest

If what you saw in the trailer was impressive, you’ll be happy to know that this wasn’t even part of the main game’s story. The sequence that involves the first conflict, meeting Masako, and saving someone from a temple was just a mission on the side, Harper confirmed. He explained that they wanted to show this and announce it afterwards to show just how involved the game’s quests will be, mainline or not.

“We want to make sure that everyone knows that what you’re seeing in this demo is a sidequest – it’s not part of the main throughline for Jin. It was important for us to have this first experience of gameplay for viewers to be through the lens of what a sidequest is, to show the depth of the game and how seriously we are taking the open world experience.”

Ghost of Tsushima Does Have a HUD

Part of the reason why Ghost of Tsushima’s demo looked so immersive and cinematic was because of the lack of a HUD. Despite their decision not to include one in the demo, Harper confirmed that the full game will have a display to discern info from. While he didn’t say if there’d be an option to turn it off completely, he did say that Sucker Punch is looking into ways to make it as unobtrusive as possible.

“We will have a HUD but decided not to have it in the demo in order to offer a more cinematic experience. But one thing we did learn internally was that people reacted very positively to not having it there so we are going to look for ways to make it minimal.”

Duels Are a “Unique Type of Fighting”

Though this demo was just a slice of the game since it was a side quest and not the main story, the mechanics and features shown will be seen again. At the end of the demo, we see Jin and Masako face off in an intense one-on-one fight. Calling the clash a “duel” and referring to it as a “unique type of fighting,” it looks like there will be many more duels in the game that play out in similarly dramatic fashions.

“Another important element in the demo is the duel with Masako – not just because the duel is a unique type of fighting you can do, as opposed to the normal combat against a group of enemies, but also because we want to highlight the fact that what is happening is something that happened to real people.

Ghost of Tsushima does not yet have a release date, but you can read Sucker Punch’s full comments on the PS4 exclusive here.