Gaming

Ghost of Tsushima review: Making of a legend

A samurai’s journey

Published

July 14, 2020

Rodneil Quiteles

Vengeful Samurai
Rids his land of invaders
Haunting. Like a ghost

Ghost of Tsushima is the last major PlayStation 4 exclusive before the PlayStation 5 hits the shelves. It has the unenviable task of closing a chapter in gaming, and it does so with a lot of heart and subtle flair.

You play as Jin Sakai — a samurai who survived the first confrontation against the Mongols. Among the samurais in the battlefield, it was only you and your uncle Lord Shimura who survived the attack, with many believing you had also fallen in battle.

KOMODO BEACH. Samurais clash against Mongols early in the game.

Your mission is to take the island back by any means necessary. Sometimes, that means going against the way of the samurai which you had dedicated your life to.

The story has several beats but the dilemma between tradition and progression is a constant theme. Many tales along the way reveal that people haven’t always stayed true to tradition, and how that’s not always necessarily a bad thing.

Fight like a samurai

Combat takes a lot of patience, discipline and precision. Especially during the early stages of the game where you’ll really have to rely on your skills to get through enemies.

I thought I had already learned to take my time in combat with a few previous games I played. However, my general lack of patience worked against me. Timing your parries can be hard even with visual cues from your opponents. Either that or my timing is just plain terrible.

Once you get the hang of combat, you’ll develop a thirst for battle. This is because the game does a good job of rewarding you with every successful execution.

You gain resolve with each kill. Resolve is what you use to replenish your health. So if you’re low on health and resolve, you’re actually encouraged to go into battle so you can live to fight another day.

You’ll also encounter different types of enemies. Each one can be dealt with more easily by using a certain sword stance.

You’ll acquire all four stances as you progress to the game, but you will definitely encounter foes you don’t have the exact stance for. This is where your parrying and dodging skills will really be put to test.

Stone, Water, Wind, and Moon – these are your fighting stances

There’s also a stand-off mode where you call out an opponent and you face each other head on. It’s pretty easy at first but, again, timing gets complicated when your opponent starts adding feints to throw you off.

Lastly, there are duels. It’s mostly reserved for key story moments or when acquiring certain mythic items. In terms of combat execution, it’s pretty much the same except your opponent won’t go down after a few thrusts and slashes.

Haunt like a ghost

You don’t always have to face your enemies head-on. You are, after all, trying to take down an entire invasion. Certain tales or missions require that you strike from the shadows. This is where your ghost skills and tools come in.

Much like the sword stances, it will take progressing through the game to unlock all the ghost skills and tools. Skills like focused hearing alter your surroundings so you can tell where each target is at. You move slowly at first but you earn skill points as you build your legend to unlock more skills.

The ghost tools are unlocked after certain points in the story. Some of them aid you in assassinations but some can be also used in direct combats. One especially useful tool is the smoke bomb.

You will inevitably face a horde of Mongols at certain points with a bunch of them attacking you almost simultaneously. Dropping a smoke bomb confuses your opponents and leaves them open to one slash or one thrust kills.

If you’ve played older Assassin’s Creed titles, raiding strongholds and assassinations will feel familiar in Ghost of Tsushima. Approaching from high ground, creating distractions to misdirect attention, all in the service of that slit-throat kill — all these come into play when attacking stealthily.

Every tale adds to your legend

Ghost of Tsushima probably has the best side-quests in games released from the last two years. Everything you do in the island is interconnected and is aided by environmental cues.

To get to certain shrines you follow either a fox or a yellow bird. The fox only really guides you to the Inari shrines which help open up charm slots to aid you in battle.

Meanwhile, the bird guides you to mostly every other objective — be it an item you can retrieve, a spot to reflect and write a haiku, or the next tale to tackle to continue Jin’s journey.

The game offers a style of play where you rely solely on these things to progress. For an open-world game done as well as Ghost of Tsushima, that’s a perfect way to get lost in its world.

The island of Tsushima is divided into three main areas. The main story will have you progressing towards the north of the island to ultimately rid the place of Mongol forces. But progressing through the story is only half the fun.

The island is teeming with stories that range from gut-wrenching to light-hearted moments to help balance the general grief everyone in the island feels.

Ghost of Tsushima_20200708233214

The side quests do not seem like side quests at all. Each one feels like a small chapter in the bigger story that is being told. Tales from villagers will have you facing off against bandits or taking down Mongol strongholds.

There are also tales corresponding to key characters — allies in your battle to liberate Tsushima. All of which reveal an unexpected truth with each character. The way of the samurai is held in such high regard, but some of the tales will show how even those devoted to that path can stray from it.

Slay in subtle style

Everything about Ghost of Tsushima’s style and visuals is just absolutely stunning to me. Persona 5 was lauded for being a very loud and stylish depiction of modern Japan, this game should be lauded about style but for a different reason.

First, the environment. I’ve seen people talk about grass mechanics. Honestly, it’s not one of the things I usually look at when playing, but rest assured this game does it right just as well as the best ones.

It is, after all, built upon the idea that you can explore the island with a minimal game hub. This is so you can take in Tsushima in all its glory and explore every nook and cranny of the island to your heart’s desire.

The color palette of the game’s menu screen is also extremely satisfying. It’s mostly neutral colors highlighted with red or yellow/gold. It certainly took a minimalistic approach — a characteristic that most associate with Japan.

The Mythic Tales are also done exquisitely. These tales net you key items or techniques — all born from the legendary stories told amongst Tsushima’s inhabitants. In this case, you search the island for musicians who will tell the tale.

Each tale is told with the visual aid of Sumi-e or Japanese Ink Painting. Every tale feels epic as it is being told, and each item or technique learned in the pursuit of each tale proves incredibly useful in battle.

Everything flows seamlessly

Every single element in Ghost of Tsushima flows seamlessly. From combat to exploration, absolutely nothing feels out of place. It all makes sense within the confines of the story.

There are no mindless fetch quests or fighting for no reason. You roam different parts of the island with the ultimate goal of freeing it from the Mongols’ control. This, while also dealing with bandits and traitors — which also goes to show how not even a single, formidable enemy can unite a people.

You will deal with many emotions as you progress through the game. The constant tug of war between the traditional ways of the samurai and the necessity to fight in the shadows is reflected in many different tales of the story. It’s the theme that, at its facade, feels old and tired, but is given new life and deeper meaning in the story.

Being the sole surviving samurai following the initial Mongol siege, you turn into the de facto hero. Jin, naturally, was reluctant at first. But as his legend grows, so does the hope of the people that they can indeed fight back and reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

This hope is forged through your countless exploits around Tsushima. Freeing one area after another, taking down strongholds, and using both all you learned as a samurai and the ghost methods you’re forced into by necessity — all of it adds to one grand legend. The legend that is the Ghost of Tsushima.

Ghost of Tsushima will launch on the PS4 on July 17, 2020

Related Topics:Ghost of Tsushima PlayStation 4 PS4 SuckerPunch

Features

Why choose the MSI Claw?

Is it the gaming handheld for you?

Published

April 18, 2024

GadgetMatch

The MSI Claw is the latest gaming handheld from a major PC and laptop brand. The competition in this emerging gadget segment is tighter than ever. So, what is it about the MSI Claw that can scratch your gaming itch? Here’s a quick list.

Best grip in the game

One quick glance and it’s hard not to compare the claw with another popular gaming handheld. But a closer look and actually holding the thing will reveal that its grip easily feels better.

It has a slightly deeper groove that makes it easier to hold. So, MSI’s “Grip and Game” tagline isn’t all talk. Its design truly does provide one of the better feeling handles among its competition.

The overall design makes sure it’s made for extended gameplay sessions. The buttons are where you expect them to be. That includes the four mini buttons on the upper edges of the screen. These are the View, MSI Center M, Menu, and Quick Settings buttons.

In addition, the face buttons and d-pad all feel great. The face buttons, in particular, feel comparable to those of regular console controllers.

The rest of the buttons and triggers have a very satisfying tactile feel. It also uses Hall Effect technology to get rid of any stick drift issues.

Up top, you’ll find the power button, MicroSD Card slot, Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port, audio jack, and the volume buttons. These are intuitively placed and just makes sense given the overall design approach.

As cliché as it sounds, you’ll really think you got your money’s worth once you hold, touch, press, and grip the MSI Claw.

Dragon Vision

Now, MSI isn’t really calling it that but I thought it sounds pretty cool. A big part of the whole gaming experience is the display. Balancing resolution and frame rates is always tricky but the MSI Claw does it convincingly.

With this gaming handheld, you get a 7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Looks great on paper and it’s even better in real life. It’s the sweet spot in terms of both size and performance. There’s enough here to immerse you all while delivering a satisfying level of crisp and smoothness.

It’s comfortable to view whether you’re on the couch, on a desk table, or lying down getting a quick game in before you get some shut-eye.

Battery Life

At 53Whr, the MSI Claw has a 36% larger battery capacity than its contemporaries and promises 50% more play time.

MSI claims “elevated performance with extended endurance” using the Claw with faster charging capabilities.

These percentages are hard to measure in real life usage. What we can say for certain is that you get the expected performance and playtime typical of a handheld. That’s a little under two hours for graphically demanding titles, and close to four hours on less demanding ones.

The charging claim is legitimate. The MSI Claw juices up faster than most other handhelds, going from 20% to 100% in about a little over a K-Drama episode (roughly a little over an hour).

MSI Center M

Any self-respecting gaming handheld has its own software to make navigating the thing more manageable. While its direct competitors have an armoury crate and a space, MSI went with Center M.

The best part about MSI Center M is it puts your installed games front and center. Right when it launches, you get immediate access to the titles you have available on your machine.

MSI Afterburner is already the most commonly used app for taking a look at how your machine is performing while you play. That functionality is built-in to the MSI Claw. You can access it view the Quick Settings buttons.

Layout and functionality-wise, the MSI Center M is certainly one of the better Gaming Handheld softwares available right now.

Competitive Performance

A defining trait of the MSI Claw is that It’s the first gaming handheld to be powered by Intel Core Ultra. With it comes Intel XeSS tech. What it does is leverage AI upscaling to boost the fps of select titles.

As of launch, 50 notable games are supported. That number will certainly grow throughout the device’s lifespan. Some of the titles include Hi-Fi Rush, Dying Light 2, Forza Horizon 5, Call of Duty Warzone 2.0, Returnal, and many, many more.

Naturally, results will vary depending on the game mode you’re using. But in general, AAA games get anywhere between 10% to 45% better frame rate performance with Intel XeSS.

For our part we played TEKKEN 8 and the recently launched Horizon Forbidden West. Both graphically demanding games played relatively well on the MSI Claw. Frame rate performance on TEKKEN 8 is crucial and we got a relatively consistent fps, never dropping below 40.

Horizon Forbidden West is a much more graphically demanding game. We were able to run it in Medium Settings and while it doesn’t look as incredible, it still played relatively well with a frame rate surprising for a gaming handheld.

Extras

MSI made sure that if you wanted to, you could get some extra stuff with the MSI Claw. Its separately sold accessory set includes the Claw Travel Case, Nest Docking Station, Claw Lanyard, and Claw Keychain.

On paper, the MSI Claw lists its ergonomic design, AI Engine, and App Player as distinct advantages over its competition.

Whether it’s the Gaming Handheld that matches your needs is still ultimately up to you. If you have the opportunity to test drive the device, we suggest you do so. That might just solidify your purchase decision.

Price and availability in the Philippines

The MSI Claw will be available in three configurations in the Philippines. There are priced as follows:

MSI Claw A1M-075PH (PhP 45, 995).

Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 processor 135H
512GB NVMe PCIe Gen4x4
LPDDR5 16GB, dual channel
Intel® Arc™ Graphics

Claw A1M-076PH (PhP 50, 995).

Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 processor 155H
512GB NVMe PCIe Gen4x4
LPDDR5 16GB, dual channel
Intel® Arc™ Graphics

Claw A1M-077PH (PhP 53, 995).

Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 processor 155H
1TB NVMe PCIe Gen4x4
LPDDR5 16GB, dual channel
Intel® Arc™ Graphics

Ongoing Promotion

You can still get your own MSI Claw with exclusive bundled freebies 𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃 until 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟑𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒!

This feature article is a collaboration between GadgetMatch and MSI Philippines.

Deals

Play Assassin’s Creed Mirage for FREE

For a limited time

Published

April 17, 2024

GadgetMatch

If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to try Assassin’s Creed Mirage, that opportunity has come. The game is available for free trial on the PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, Ubisoft Store, and the Epic Games Store. The promotion will be available from April 17 to 30.

During the Free Trial, players will have access to the first two (2) hours of the. Progression will carry over if they purchase the game.

Players streaming will be able to get and offer to their viewers an exclusive reward: Basim Valhalla Sword, if they stream during the Free Trial period. This unique sword is Basim’s weapon from his later years in England.

Discounts will also be available on PC via Ubisoft Connect only. From April 17t to 24 , Assassin’s Creed Mirage Standard Edition and Deluxe Edition will be 40% off.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Assassin’s Creed Mirage spins a tale centered around an already established character, rather than a blank slate like Valhalla’s Eivor. It follows Basim Ibn Ishaq, a character introduced in Valhalla. Taking place before the events of the previous game, Mirage has the assassin root out the Order in 9^th-century Baghdad, a setting familiar to those who played the original title in 2007.

Gaming

GameSir announces Nova, Nova Lite gaming controllers

Budget-friendly gaming controllers

Published

April 16, 2024

GadgetMatch

Gaming peripherals brand GameSir has introduced two new budget-friendly gaming controllers: The GameSir Nova and GameSir Nova Lite.

These controllers feature multi-platform compatibility and cutting-edge technologies, like anti-drift Hall effect sticks and tri-mode connectivity, for affordable price points.

The GameSir Nova is available for UK£ 39.99/US$ 35.99/PhP 2,100 while the GameSir Nova Lite costs UK£ 29.99/US$ 24.99/PhP 1,500.

Color options for the Nova are Neon Teal and Retro White, while the Nova Lite comes in Stellar White and Space Purple. Customers may purchase from Amazon, Amazon UK, and the GameSir website.

Ultimate multi-platform gaming controller

The GameSir Nova and Nova Lite are both compatible with multiple devices, including PC, iOS, Android, and Switch. The Nova Lite, meanwhile, can also connect to Steam Deck.

Both controllers also support tri-mode connectivity for flexibility. The Nova can be connected via Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, or a wired connection. Its Lite counterpart supports Bluetooth, a wireless dongle, and a wired configuration.

Precise, consistent gaming

With anti-drift Hall effect sticks, the Nova provides a smooth and consistent gaming experience. It uses specially optimized algorithms, and even supports motion controls to tilt, shake, or rotate for more immersion.

The Dual HD Rumble Motors in the grips also provide vibrations for real and precise feedback, whatever the game’s effects may be. Furthermore, there are two programmable macro back buttons that allows gamers to execute complex combos with ease.

The Nova Lite, meanwhile, also has analogue triggers, a 20Hz Turbo function, and two motors in the grips to cater to the user’s needs and feel.

In addition, the Lite includes a multi-function M button. Users may use this button to adjust different settings on the fly. For instance, pressing M plus the D-pad’s up and down buttons raises or lowers the vibration intensity. The sticks’ dead zones may also be adjusted to one’s liking.