Ghost Of Tsushima
Credit: Sony
There’s been a lot of talk lately in the video game industry about Xbox exclusives making their way to other platforms, and as always it’s been a very controversial subject (and one we discuss in my latest Game Night! podcast).
I’m generally sympathetic to the idea of exclusives being “timed” or having some sort of perk for their home platform (such as an Xbox game being free with Game Pass but not free on PlayStation). Exclusive games are certainly one way for a business to lock in its customer base and make money. Then again, by definition you’ll have fewer consumers if you only launch a game on one platform.
That’s been the thinking over at Microsoft for years now, where Xbox titles have been released on both console and PC concurrently. I’ve always thought this was a mistake. But Sony’s alternative—for many years only releasing its titles on PlayStation—was also a mistake.
Sony has settled on what I would call the “sweet spot” when it comes to console exclusivity: Release exclusive titles on PlayStation only and then a year or so later, release them on PC. Which leads us to Ghost Of Tsushima, a game that launched way back in 2020—and one that I believed deserved Game Of The Year over its PlayStation rival, The Last Of Us Part II.
Now, obviously more than a year has passed between then and now, but finally we’re getting Ghost Of Tsushima on PC, after it was also released on PS4 and PS5, getting a Director’s Cut in 2021 which will be the same version PC players get if they purchase the game on Steam.
Given we’ve had no real news about this upcoming PC release, it’s surprising to see how soon the game comes out, with a release date of May 16th, 2024. Not every PC release has gone smoothly for Sony, with The Last Of Us releasing in a truly shoddy state, but I’m hoping Ghost Of Tsushima is a hit. I think PC players will genuinely enjoy its unique take on open-world gameplay, beautiful graphics and Japanese setting, and the really engaging combat system. This game looked like Assassin’s Creed in Japan but ended up being something so much more (though I think Assassin’s Creed fans will also enjoy it).
The story takes place in 13th century Japan during the Mongol invasion. You play as Jin Sakai, a samurai on a desperate quest against an overwhelming foe. It’s quite fun! And if you’re watching Shogun at the moment (which is excellent) this will make for a nice game to play after that series wraps.
The PC version of the game comes with some perks such as:
- Unlocked framerate and expanded graphics options.
- Support for ultrawide and super ultrawide, as well as triple-monitor support.
- NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3 and Intel XeSS support. NVIDIA Reflex and DLAA are also supported if you have a compatible GPU.
- They’ve actually added Japanese lip sync to this version and since it’s better to play in Japanese with subtitles, this should be a nice touch.
- You can use controller or mouse and keyboard. Haptic feedback will work as intended on a PlayStation DualSense, as will adaptive triggers.
So that’s some good news in a world filled with the other kind.