Ghost of Yotei Ending & Story Explained

Ghost of Yotei has finally released, and it seems like some people have already barreled through the game’s violent, yet cathartic, revenge story. Ghost of Yotei is PlayStation’s last really big AAA exclusive for the year and one that fans have waited quite a long time for. Ghost of Tsushima came out in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic and was one of PlayStation’s biggest successes. The game was met with huge praise thanks to its intuitive swordplay, rich story, and beautiful world. It was a refreshing change of pace for the open-world genre and it even resulted in Sony spooling up development on a film adaptation.

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However, what fans have really wanted is a sequel. Alas, Ghost of Yotei has arrived to answer that call, but it’s not a direct sequel. It’s more of a spiritual follow-up with a new character in a new setting. It carries forward the mechanics and visual identity, but is about a whole new character’s legacy within that same world. With that said, let’s break down the story of Atsu in Ghost of Yotei.

Major spoilers for Ghost of Yotei follow below.

Ghost of Yotei Story Explained

Ghost of Yotei has a bunch of intriguing side quests that all help flesh out Atsu’s character, but this breakdown will exclusively focus on the main story, largely in chronological order. As a young girl, Atsu lived a peaceful life with her family on a home placed on a beautiful hilltop. One day, she and her brother, Jubei, ventured into the nearby woods to collect mushrooms. While exploring, they encountered a kind man named Lord Saito. The two kids invite him to their home where it’s revealed that he knows their father quite well. The kids were deceived as the two men clearly have an intense history.

Atsu’s father, Kengo, was a soldier for Clan Saito, but deserted them for raiding villages. Saito defends his actions by saying that his people needed food and became desperate. Saito reveals a small group of masked group of swordsmen and proclaims that he must make an example out of them. This group, known as the Yotei Six, slaughtered her mother, father, and brother in front of her before pinning her to a burning gingko tree with a sword, leaving her for dead.

Atsu managed to free herself from the tree and escape, eventually fleeing her homeland of Ezo to become a hardened mercenary. 16 years later, she returns back home to take revenge against the Yotei Six. She immediately targets a man known as The Snake by setting fire to a building he occupies and then battles him to the death. While she claims victory over the Yotei Six member, she also succumbs to a fatal wound. However, a spiritual force seems to resurrect her or keep her alive, prompting bystanders to dub her as the “Onryo”, a spirit that can cause harm in the world of the living.

Atsu returns to her destroyed home and is haunted by the memories of her family and wrestles with some guilt over ultimately leading the group to her home. After learning the Saito has recruited an army to help him claim Ezo, Atsu begins a quest to go take down the remaining members of the Yotei Six, including Saito’s two sons, who are known as The Dragon and The Spider, the Kitsune, the Oni, and Saito himself.

On her journey, Atsu is assisted by an army known as the Matsumae to take down the Oni. However, she learns that one of the high-ranking soldiers is actually her brother, who she thought was dead. The two reunite, but Jubei pleads against Atsu’s lust for revenge. He believes she’s headed down a dark path that she can’t return from. Unfortunately, Atsu doesn’t seem to care and is too set in her ways.

After killing the Oni, Atsu moves on to the Kitsune in the northern part of Ezo which is covered in snow. She learns that the Kitsune is the leader of a group known as the Nine Tails, a stealthy and dangerous faction that relies on things like poison to gain the edge in a fight. She joins forces with a woman named Oyuki to help take down the Kitsune, eventually learning that the group was inspired by Ghost of Tsushima protagonist Jin Sakai and are developing Wolfsbane poison. After going head-to-head with the Kitsune, Atsu is poisoned, but saved by Oyuki.

In a twist of fate, it is revealed that Oyuki is actually the original Kitsune and she abandoned the Yotei Six after feeling remorse over what happened to Atsu’s family. She planned to betray Saito, but he beat her to it and replaced her with a younger warrior who took on the Kitsune mantle. Ultimately, Atsu is able to trust and forge a strong partnership with Oyuki and they kill the Kitsune once and for all.

After a failed attempt on Lord Saito’s life at one of his compounds, the warlord moves south with his two sons. The family has been terrorizing the southern part of Ezo, prompting Atsu to take action. She joins forces with Oyuki and Jubei to fight back against Saito’s army and track down his two sons. Jubei reveals he has a somewhat mischievous secret daughter named Kiku who takes an interest in her aunt Atsu. Reluctantly, Atsu accepts the help of Kitsu when it comes to sneaking into certain places, but it comes with a bit of a cost.

Oyuki, Kiku, and Atsu track down the Spider and learn he’s about to watch a play re-enacting the day Atsu’s family was killed. Atsu steps in and changes history by killing everyone in front of the imagery of the burning tree. Kiku watches as Atsu embodies the Onryo’s rage, slicing and dicing dozens of soldiers in the process. It’s one of Atsu’s most violent moments and leaves a mark on her niece. Ultimately, Atsu realizes the impact she is making isn’t completely positive, and if she continues down this path, it may inspire Kiku to embody a vengeful spirit as well.

Atsu captures the Spider to use as bait against the Dragon, but unfortunately, Saito’s army outsmarts them. Although they take the bait, they use the Dragon as a distraction so that Saito and his men can attack and destroy Matsumae Castle. Jubei calls on his sister to help push back against the attack, but she is blinded by revenge and decides to kill the Dragon before he can slip through her fingers.

Ghost of Yotei Ending Explained

Ultimately, Matsumae Castle falls and Jubei and Oyuki are captured by Saito. Fearing for Kiku, Atsu takes her to her childhood home for safekeeping and goes after the Spider, who has been exiled by Saito for failing to protect his brother. Ultimately, the Spider is spared and he tells Atsu where to find her brother and Oyuki. After a daring rescue attempt, the trio realizes that Saito is nowhere to be found, but deduce that he has returned to Atsu’s family home where Kiku is staying.

He has taken Kiku captive and challenges Atsu to a duel, claiming that they are one in the same as they long for revenge. However, Atsu rejects this idea and claims she has found something new to live for, having been healed by her newfound family. She battles Saito, but is quickly taken down. Jubei steps in to assist and the two fight Saito together, but unfortunately, he gains the upper hand and fatally stabs Jubei.

In the end, Atsu kills Saito by pinning him to the gingko tree with his own sword. Kiku and Oyuki rush in to help Jubei who is bleeding out. He looks sadly at Kiku and Atsu promises to him that she will never be alone, not like she was. She is breaking this cycle and not only healing her inner child by embracing Kiku, but also stopping Kiku from going down the same path as her.

Six months later, Atsu has decided to hang up her sword and live a more peaceful life with Kiku and Oyuki. She visits Jubei’s grave, informing him that his daughter is growing up beautifully and is even becoming a talented musician. The wolf that has popped up throughout the game arrives on the homestead and greets Atsu warmly.

She tells the animal that her hunt is over and it wanders away, never to be seen again. It seems to be a physical representation of her rage and vengeance, one that becomes less bloody and snarling as the story unfolds. Ultimately, once she lets go of it all, she’s able to part ways with the wolf too. Ghost of Yotei is still playable after the story unfolds, but it’s framed as Atsu basically telling Kiku stories prior to Saito’s death. There is no “endgame”, as Atsu canonically leaves her life of violence behind after her last fight.