Sucker Punch Productions’ sequel Ghost of Yōtei is launching tomorrow; players will once more stroll through feudal Japan with betterized horseback riding and combat featuring haptic-feedback and adaptive-trigger features of the DualSense controller. The official PlayStation account revealed the truly phenomenal features of the game via Twitter and suggested a follow-link for players to consider optimizing their controller before diving in.”
And I say that the crazy response this announcement has gotten is… well, something else. There were some genuine excitement about reentering that universe from some gamers, but the comment section blew up into a fed-up rage fest demonstrating how divided the gaming community can become with… well, everything.
Let’s temper the reality surrounding Ghost of Yōtei. With the sequel, the villagers are promised to be delivered with the same amazing open-world experience the first game was famed for, but with further polished mechanics. Haptic feedback lets you feel that tension of drawing your bow or the clash of swords in your hands while the adaptive trigger gives resistance to pulling back on the reins during a little bit of horseback riding. It’s the little details that really get an experience that next-gen feel.
But then it descended into chaos. One gentleman, named Lucas, came out and said that “they removed the protagonist, Jin Sakai in favor of an obnoxious overweight hideous man-hating lesbian,” with an image supposedly of the new protagonist attached thereto. That set off the storm, with many others supporting the alleged “woke agenda” and calling the game “antifa” whatever that means in the context of feudal Japan.
Players, meanwhile, ask for the usual. Sumair questioned whether this would come to PS4, to which another user replied, “The technology is too old to run it. Sorry”-a truly epic burn, if you ask us, still holding on to last-gen consoles. The truth is that Ghost of Yōtei is looking to be a currently generation exclusive, leaving the PS4 owners all in the cold. That does sting.
Well, for a whole bunch of them, the hype is there. EdwardBonsall screamed, “Releases in about 9 hours for people U.S. East Coast, baby! You already know!” while Ashley European Tour had just posted, “Can’t wait to play this,” with an excitement GIF. This band of gamers just wants to enjoy this for what it is-a gorgeous action-adventure game set in an underappreciated period in gaming history.”
Then the whole console war argument has to pop up. GilbertDelgado8 straight-up asked, “Can I switch from Xbox to PlayStation from now on? I kinda feel I am getting fucked over there with some recent events,” referring to whatever those recent dramas are in the Xbox ecosystem. TheDragon2545, on the other hand, went all-caps, demanding that PlayStation keep its console prices at $500 while simultaneously condemning the price hikes to the Xbox Game Pass.
James Jay then gave a hint of sanity to the chaotic situation by asking, “Anyone playing (aka not bots on X) this? I’m torn. What are your honest thoughts?” which is probably what most sane people are thinking within this whole screaming frenzy. Is the game really good, actually, outside of all the surface-level controversies?
Bobby T kept it simple with, “Soon now. Please let me kill some colonizers from the south,” which honestly seems like a pretty common gaming aspiration if you think about it. On the other hand, agi_dark cautiously says, “I hope it’s good,” which is every gamer’s feelings before hitting down 70 bucks on a new release.
The wildest comments are posed by Zakrose with, “How do I not play as a terrorist?” and The16bitNERD offering a cryptic, “Rip Charlie Kirk,” which, well, we have no context for, but is definitely something somebody felt strongly enough about to publicly address to the official Playstation account.
Clearly, Ghost of Yōtei is making its way into a very divided world of gaming. There are matters of controller settings and platform availability seeping into the comment section, culture-war arguments, and console constituent pride trashing each other.
The actual game-which happens to look gorgeous, with satisfying combat mechanics-feels so secondary to some other side discussions. For anyone eager to start losing themselves in a carefully constructed world with responsive controls and fantastic gameplay, the wait is excruciating. Whether the final iteration can live up to all the hype and actually rise above the online drama is to be seen, but one thing for sure is that this entire gaming populace has so much to say about it.
