The year is 1274. Samurai warriors are the legendary defenders of Japan—until the fearsome Mongol Empire invades the island of Tsushima, wreaking havoc.

Well-crafted narrative with interesting themes; Truly stunning environments that are a joy to explore; Clear main questline that can be followed without hindrance; Optional side missions are solid and provide exciting rewards; Combat is challenging and satisfying.

Mission variety is a little lacking; Final act feels short after such a lengthy build-up; A few too many animation hiccups.

For a game that’s supposed to close out a console generation, Ghost of Tsushima is frustratingly old-fashioned in its design. It looks every bit the stunningly cinematic samurai epic and there's plently of slashy enjoyment to be had here, but it’s constantly hampered by little faults that chip away at and dull its blade.

Looks and sounds gorgeous (especially in photo mode); Great attention and respect to Japanese traditions and culture; Epic one-on-one samurai duels;

Dated and generic open world and stealth design; Frustratingly linear in places; Messy and annoying mob combat;

Ghost of Tsushima is an excellent open-world adventure from Sucker Punch Productions which adds some innovative ideas to a fairly stagnant genre. The game's depiction of the time period is generic and inoffensive, but that doesn't prevent it from being a stunning visual showcase and a worthwhile swan song for the PS4

Tsushima is a beautiful and compelling world to explore; Combat and exploration are both rewarding and satisfying; A likeable cast of characters across a robust campaign ; Innovates on the open-world formula in some surprising ways;

The main narrative is a little boring and predictable; Lacking in challenge even on the hardest difficulty ; A few unusual technical issues;

It might be overshadowed by the other PlayStation exclusive this summer, but GoT's believable game world and superb combat system show that the PS4 has an embarrassment of riches right now. It does fall into some of the less welcome open-world tropes, with some formulaic elements, but everything is lifted by Sucker Punch's keen attention to detail and clear love for Japanese samurai cinema.

Beautiful game world; Well-told story; Intuitive and intelligent combat system; Vast amount of character customisation; Kurosawa film mode is a great gimmick;

Some open-world elements seem formulaic which makes it feel like a grind at times; Enemy types can lack variety;

Ghost of Tsushima is an absolutely gorgeous open-world action/adventure with incredible combat and clever solutions to longstanding issues in the genre, despite dropping the ball on the stealth side of its stealth/action split.

Ghost of Tsushima is an absolutely gorgeous open-world action/adventure with incredible combat and clever solutions to longstanding issues in the genre, despite dropping the ball on the stealth side of its stealth/action split.

Ghost of Tsushima is the samurai Assassin's Creed Ubisoft will wish it had made

Tsushima is a work of art, Sumptuous stories with soul, Combat that keeps you on your samurai toes right until the end, Foxes

A bleak and bare start to the third act