Ghost of Yotei

Ghost of Yōtei is a 2025 action-adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is a standalone sequel to the 2020 game Ghost of Tsushima. Set in 1603 in Ezo, Japan, the story follows Atsu, a mercenary seeking vengeance against the "Yōtei Six" for slaughtering her family sixteen years prior.

Ghost of Yōtei was released for the PlayStation 5 on October 2, 2025. It received generally positive reviews and sold over 3.3 million copies by November 2025.

Ghost of Yōtei is played in the third-person perspective, and features elements of combat, stealth, and open-world exploration. As Atsu, the player is free to explore various regions of Ezo, each with its own series of locations to visit, allies to recruit, and enemies to fight.

As the player progresses through the story, they unlock an arsenal of melee, ranged, and throwable weapons, expanding upon the selection available in Tsushima. The "stance" system has been replaced by a "weapon counter system"; unlocking new weapons gives the player more options to counter various enemy archetypes. Atsu begins with a single katana, and as the game progresses, she unlocks the yari (spear), kusarigama (chain-sickle), ōdachi (two-handed greatsword), and will also be able to dual-wield katana. The hankyu and yumi bows return from Tsushima, and Atsu can also gain access to a tanegashima (matchlock rifle) and a tanzutsu (matchlock pistol). Unlike in Tsushima, Atsu is able to use the grappling hook from the beginning of the game.

Returning elements from Tsushima's gameplay are combination attacks (that must be parried), and unblockable attacks (that must be evaded). New features include disarming attacks that can cause Atsu or her enemies to drop their weapons, and the ability to pick up and throw dropped weapons at foes. Atsu can also summon a wolf to aid her in open combat, or stealth missions.

Ghost of Yōtei's environments have been updated with dynamic weather effects inspired by the real climate around Mount Yōtei, including snow, rain, and aurora borealis.

The game features a non-linear story, allowing the player to choose the order in which they confront the Yōtei Six (with the exception of the Snake and Lord Saito, who are fought as the first and final boss respectively). Players can take on side-quests for NPCs, with new activities such as bounty hunting for monetary rewards, and weapon mastery quests to unlock new in-game abilities. Atsu has the ability to set up a camp, allowing her to regain health and spirit, cook meals for stat boosts, craft ammunition, and interact with vendors to trade resources and equipment. Side activities allow the player to improve their statistics; returning from Tsushima, players can bathe in onsen (hot springs), cut bamboo, and follow foxes to find charms. New side activities include sumi-e painting (replacing Tsushima's haiku composition), gambling by playing zeni hajiki, and learning new songs on the shamisen. The "guiding wind" also returns to direct Atsu to objectives, and can be changed by playing the shamisen.

Kurosawa Mode returns to Ghost of Yōtei, based on the black-and-white films of Akira Kurosawa. Two additional modes, inspired by the works of Takashi Miike and Shinichirō Watanabe, are also available in the game.

A sequel to Tsushima's co-op multiplayer Legends mode was announced, titled Ghost of Yōtei: Legends. Like its previous entry, it will feature two-player story missions and four-player survival matches where players will fight against gigantic, monstrous versions of the Yōtei Six and enemies inspired by Japanese mythology. Yōtei: Legends is set to release in 2026 as a free update for all base game owners.

The story is set in the environs of Mount Yōtei in Ezo (modern-day Hokkaido, Japan) in 1603, 329 years after the events of Tsushima. The main character, Atsu (Erika Ishii / Fairouz Ai), is a wandering mercenary who adopts the persona of the vengeful onryō in her quest to hunt down the "Yōtei Six" – renegade samurai Lord Saito (Feodor Chin / Miou Tanaka) and his lieutenants the Snake (Nelson Lee / Mutsumi Sasaki), the Oni (Tommy Kang / Atsushi Miyauchi), the Kitsune (Matthew Yang King / Jun Fukuyama), and Saito's sons, the Spider (Robert Wu / Tomokazu Sugita) and the Dragon (David Sakurai / Tomokazu Seki) – who, sixteen years prior, had slaughtered her family, destroyed her home, and left her for dead, pinned against a burning ginkgo tree with her father's katana.

Supporting characters allied with Atsu – referred to as her "Wolf Pack" – include Oyuki (Jeannie Bolet / Romi Park), a traveling shamisen performer and former Yōtei Six member; Jubei (Noshir Dalal / Shogo Nakamura), Atsu's twin brother and a Matsumae clan samurai who goes by the title Lord Kitamori; and Kiku (Suzie Yeung / Shion Wakayama), Jubei's teenage daughter.

As a child, Atsu's family are massacred by the Yōtei Six, led by Lord Saito, an event later called the Night of the Burning Tree. Atsu survives and flees Ezo, becoming a wandering mercenary for the next sixteen years before returning home to take her revenge against the Yōtei Six. She first kills the Snake while he is drunk, but he wounds her; she miraculously recovers, causing witnesses to fearfully dub her the "onryō".

Atsu returns to her destroyed family home, learning that Saito is building a rebel army to claim the entire island of Ezo for himself as the self-appointed "Shogun of the North"; the Matsumae clan, loyal to the Shogun, have declared war against Saito. As she travels around Yōtei, Atsu kills Saito's forces, takes on bounties, assists the locals, and trains under various weapon masters. Offerings are given to the onryō, and many rōnin attempt to take her bounty, with Atsu's exploits gaining her a following of weapon masters, merchants and warriors dubbed the "Wolf Pack."

Atsu attempts to assassinate Saito at a training camp, but fails. Surprised she is alive, he challenges her to a duel, which is interrupted by the Matsumae attacking the castle, and Saito retreats into hiding.

Atsu assists the traveling shamisen performer Oyuki to track down the Kitsune and thwart his production of wolfsbane poison. However, the Kitsune does not recognise Atsu; based on this and Oyku's experience, Atsu deduces she was the previous Kitsune. Oyuki admits she freed Atsu at the Night of the Burning Tree; disillusioned, she founded a shinobi group for Saito to distance herself from him and ultimately betray him. However, she was herself betrayed by her disciple, Dojun, who became the new Kitsune. After a duel, Atsu forgives Oyuki, who teaches her shinobi techniques and helps her to kill Dojun.

While pursuing the Oni, Atsu discovers her brother Jubei also survived the massacre and was rescued by the Matsumae clan, rising in rank to become the samurai officer Lord Kitamori. The Oni has put out a bounty on one of his men, Mad Goro, who stole his prized musket; Atsu finds him, but the Matsumae refuse to let him go after interrogation. Atsu instead takes the gun and Jubei as bounty to the Oni to infiltrate the castle, recovering the original saya for her sword as she and Jubei attempt to assassinate the Oni; however, the attempt is unsuccessful, and the two flee. Jubei struggles to reconcile his love for his sister due to his sense of duty to the Matsumae and leaves, arguing that their parents would want them to fight for the living rather than sacrifice others for revenge. The Oni attacks the Matsumae in retaliation, allowing Goro to flee. The siblings reconcile and find Goro, now masquerading as a monk, who tells them of a secret passage to the Oni's Castle. They infilitrate, incite a prisoner rebellion, and slay the Oni together.

Atsu, Jubei, and Oyuki discover Saito has built a secret fleet to assault the Matsumae heartland. Jubei saves a teenager from execution, revealing she is his daughter, Kiku. While Jubei takes her to the safety of Matsumae Castle, Atsu and Oyuki search for Saito's sons. With the Dragon proving too cautious, Atsu captures the Spider as he re-enacts the Night of the Burning Tree as a play; enraged, she massacres the Saito forces, but stops at killing the Spider. The Matsumae organise his public execution to lure out the Dragon, but they are outmaneuvred by a Saito counterattack on the castle. Jubei and Oyuki leave to defend the castle, imploring Atsu to help, but Atsu stays to kill the Dragon. The Spider flees, and Jubei and Oyuki end up missing.

Finding Kiku safe, Atsu evacuates her to her family home, goes to dual katana master and ex-bounty hunter Hanbei for help, and tracks down the Spider. Having been disowned by his father for letting the Dragon die, he duels Atsu. Haunted for choosing vengeance over her family, Atsu spares him; he reveals Jubei and Oyuki were captured at Saito's castle. Atsu rescues them and learns Saito is waiting for her at her family home. Saito lets Kiku go on the condition Atsu finishes her duel. Jubei saves Atsu at the last moment, but is mortally wounded. Atsu manages to disarm Saito, using both their swords to pin him to her family's ginkgo tree; Saito begs her to kill him, but she leaves him to die alone and promises the dying Jubei that she will raise Kiku in his stead with Oyuki. After Jubei dies of his wounds, Atsu sees Kiku as her younger self and embraces her as the three mourn Jubei's death.

Six months later, Atsu has retired the onryō role to live a life of peace with Kiku and Oyuki, having finally found closure.