With a certain big-name game being delayed until 2025, that means that certain other titles now have the ability to shine on without being overcast by a certain Rockstar’s shadow. One of those titles is Ghost Of Yotei by Sucker Punch. This sequel game is set 300 years after the events of the first game and features an all-new protagonist, alongside a new setting for the game via the island of Hokkaido. Sucker Punch wanted to do all it could for this game to stand out from its predecessor, and that meant once again going to Japan to learn about the place where the game would be set.
In a new entry on the PlayStation Blog, the team not only showcased pictures of their trip to the island but also explained key details about what they learned there and why they picked the island as the game’s setting in the first place:
“So, how did we pick the setting for our new game? That’s easy, Hokkaido is unbelievably beautiful and in 1603 it was the edge of the Japanese empire. Back then it was called Ezo, a mysterious island to the north, sparsely populated by Wajin (Japanese) people bold enough to build a life for themselves in the cold wilderness. This combination of beauty and danger spoke to us. It was the perfect place to tell Atsu’s tale; a warrior so driven by revenge that locals start to believe she’s an onryō walking the land.”
The team admitted that it did more than one trip to Hokkaido, including sending the teams that went into different locations so they could learn even more about the island. One such spot was Shiretoko National Park, a place that they stated was a spot “filled with beauty and danger.” Sucker Punch was amazed by the natural beauty of the spot, while also put on edge because of all the trees that had bear markings on them!
Apparently, that “mixture of feelings” is what they want to accomplish in Ghost of Yotei as you play and explore the island.
The team will apparently do another blog about their experiences, and gave a key tease about its content by being honest about their own position:
“The landscape spoke to us and we’ve done our best to capture the spirit of it in our fictional version of the island. But that wasn’t all we learned while on this trip. As a bunch of Americans we knew how ignorant we were about Japanese culture. To help start to solve that problem we met with a wealth of knowledgeable individuals and visited important cultural sites… but more on that at a later date.”
