After a linear and gritty prologue, Ghost of Yotei mirrors Breath of the Wild with a sweeping release into its open world, much like Ghost of Tsushima already did with its rousing title intro back in 2020. But it's what comes after the ride into Ezo that gives the PS5-exclusive sequel a voice of its own. Under the shadow of Mount Yotei, Atsu's vengeful journey finds the freedom to be more than another prestige PlayStation blockbuster.
Perhaps the most shocking thing about Yotei – an iterative follow-up, as detailed in our Ghost of Yotei review – is that it never tries to be more complex or bigger than Tsushima, unlike Marvel's Spider-Man 2. This is neither good nor bad. It's a different approach to Sony's blockbuster behemoths. We repeatedly fall into the same discussions of PlayStation's first-party output feeling same-y, but it actually has more to do with the publisher limiting itself to a handful of genres than with its studios lacking style or expertise.
