Assassin's Creed - Movie Review

Assassins of excitement. 

Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island - Review

 Ghosts of the past...

Console: PlayStation 4 game played on a PlayStation 5.

I didn't expect to step foot on Iki Island so soon after my trip to Tsushima. I very much enjoyed playing  Ghost of Tsushima for over 40 hours, but I felt it was time for something different. So, I moved on to Bayonetta Origins and In Tanta We Trust. I figured I’d get back to Ghost of Tsushima's expansion, Iki Island, in due time. The fall. Maybe.


That was before the trailer for Assassin's Creed Shadows came out, stoking the fires of those 'Ghost of Tsushima 2' (know revealed as 'Ghost of Yōtei') will be revealed soon, trust me' rumours. All of that got me back in the mood for more Samurai action. So, one Saturday night, I cracked open that PS4 copy of mine so much sooner than I thought I would. And here we are at my review of it. Yeah, it was that simple. Not every opening has a long anecdote.


So let's talk about this surprisingly different piece of DLC and see how well it stacks up against the base game.


After halting the Mongol invasion of Tsushima, disgraced samurai Jin Sakai, now known as "The Ghost," finds himself on Iki Island. A group of Mongols, led by "The Eagle," is occupying the island, using some sort of mysterious hallucinogenic brew to drive the people of Iki insane—a brew Jin falls victim to. The Mongols are far from his only worries, however. Jin's father Kazumasa led a campaign against Iki Island's many raiders years ago, leaving deep scars on both Iki Island and Jin. The islanders hate the samurai, and Clan Sakai in particular, with a great passion, and Jin is still haunted by his father's death.


Hallucination or not, hatred for his clan or not, Jin vows to drive off The Eagle and her forces and free Iki Island of their rule.


The story of Iki Island is fine. It's not a bad or boring narrative; it's engaging with some nice twists here and there, but it's not up to the quality of the base game. It's not as long as even one of the game's main acts, coming in at around 5 hours, nor does it feel as integrated or emotional. It's like this story was written by a B-Team. That's not meant as an insult, mind you. It's just the clearest way to explain the difference in quality.


Something that stands out here is Kazumasa Sakai, Jin's deceased father. He who casts a long shadow over his son is now finally seen thanks to The Eagle's hallucinations. Getting a more concrete view of the man who was brought up plenty before is enjoyable and satisfying. It's like finding a missing puzzle piece in what made Jin the man he is today. 


Kazumasa dying on Iki Island instead of in the Yarikawa Rebellion, as presented in the base game, is a retcon that stands out like a sore thumb, but it is what it is. It's what Jin needed: a reckoning long in the making and what needed to be done to include Kazumasa here. Jin recognizing that his father was neither a saint nor a devil and forgiving himself for the role he played in his death is good character development, even if it doesn't feel as grand as intended.


The lack of a clear ending—no end credits sequence or the like—doesn't help matters. The story ends like any other quest, which is pretty unsatisfying.


To highlight one standout negative: our big bad, The Eagle, is a poor villain. She's just not very interesting! She barely does anything! She poisons Jin like she does everyone else she meets, and then she's just gone until the very end. You don't ever learn what she intends to achieve. Such a nothing burger. The only thing I liked about her was the effects of the hallucinations she gives you, though even that overstays its welcome.


A good old fashioned 1-on-1. 


Gameplay-wise,
it's Ghost of Tsushima. They did not. Change. A thing. I thusly don't really see the point of repeating myself here because, good or bad, it's just more of the same. 


They added one more skill tree: your horse slamming into enemies at full gallop. That's it. Fun to do, yes, but underwhelming as the 'big' thing they added. It doesn't affect the combat loop of slicing and dicing your foes with your katana. It's very much a neat new trick rather than a new tool under your belt that you can weave into fighting. A new stance, or just some new things with the existing ones, would've been more meaningful given the higher difficulty of Iki Island. That's where Sucker Punch really nails it: the difficulty spike and how they went about it.


Going into this, hearing how this expansion upped the ante, I was apprehensive. I worried that Iki Island would be unpleasantly hard for someone who had to get back into things and wasn't all that great in a fight, to begin with.


That we would get, from what I've heard, a Shadow of the Erdtree situation. Its difficult and unforgiving nature is a selling point for Elden Ring, but its DLC seems to have pushed things too far. Many have just stopped playing.


Thankfully, my worries were unfounded. Yes, enemies are more aggressive, but they’re not always rash and plentiful in their attacks. There’s a new enemy type, the Shaman, who riles up their allies with its chanting. Take out the Shaman, and your enemies will stop attacking you so aggressively. If you get swamped by enemies that won’t give you a second to breathe, look for the ones shouting, singing, all those chants and take them out first.


The second trick they've done is giving your enemies the ability to switch weapons, just like you can switch stances. Switching stances to take down enemies more efficiently in a paper-rock-scissors type of deal is the name of the game, and this elaborates on it further. Just as you can get the upper hand by switching stances, now the enemy can too. It's a small but very effective way to increase the difficulty in a fitting and challenging way. 


The side quests? Again, more of the same. The core hasn't changed; they're just dressed up differently. Instead of fox shrines, you have cat sanctuaries and the like. Not unfun to do, but not all that thrilling either. We do have some spiffy new activities, such as archery challenges and a combat ring, which are nice challenges.


What's more to say now that I've covered the gameplay? A few words on the island itself. The gamified recreation of Iki Island is done just as well as Tsushima. As the other Japanese island the Mongols launched an attack on in 1274, it's the logical location for this DLC. However, it's not all that different, geographically speaking. There isn't anything here that makes it stand out from Tsushima—no Zero Dawn/The Frozen Wilds type of deal. 


Ghost of Tsushima remains one of the most picturesque games of the generation. 

The only noticeable difference is the lack of any substantial settlements and the increase in burning ruins and islanders who don't trust you. It fits the poorer, harsher and samurai-hating land of no laws that is Iki Island, but that doesn't do anything to make the area 'pop,' sadly.


Conclusion


My thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island mirror that of its base game. It's a very well-crafted expansion that is fun and relaxing but too by the numbers for its own good. There's not much here beyond more of the same without (m)any new ideas. No new gameplay mechanics or a grand setpiece or the like. It's just as enjoyable as the core game but not very memorable or fulfilling. Not worth buying at full price, if you ask me.

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