Gaming

Ghost of Yotei review: A tale sharpened by vengeance

Cold steel, quiet moments, and the heavy cost of revenge

Published

September 25, 2025

Revenge doesn’t leave room for ceremony. It doesn’t wait for drums to roll or banners to rise. Revenge is quick, sharp, and personal—like a blade pressed against the throat of the one who wronged you. That’s the story Ghost of Yotei tells, and it’s the story you live the moment you step into Atsu’s sandals.

If Ghost of Tsushima was about honor, legacy, and the soul of a nation under siege, Ghost of Yotei takes a different cut. It strips away the grandeur of armies clashing on fields and the dilemma of fighting as samurai or ghost. Instead, it focuses on something more primal: one woman’s burning need to reclaim her home and carve justice into those who tore it from her.

This shift makes Yotei a different kind of ghost story. One less about how history remembers you and more about how vengeance consumes you.

First impressions: A premier PS5 experience

Within the first hour, Ghost of Yotei asserts itself as a premier PS5 title. That’s almost a given these days, but here it’s worth pausing to appreciate. Yotei is breathtaking, from snowcapped peaks to dense villages, rendered with such clarity that you find yourself slowing down just to look.

Even the act of riding your horse feels cinematic, the camera pulling back ever so slightly to give you a wider, painterly view of the world. It’s a quiet but effective touch that makes exploration feel grand without losing intimacy.

The DualSense controller adds another layer, not with flashy gimmicks but with quiet, mundane moments. You feel it in the strain of building a fire, the tension of stringing a shamisen, the rhythm of cooking, or the delicate strokes of sumi-e side missions.

They don’t change the game, but they draw you into its quieter spaces—the stillness between battles where Atsu is more than her vengeance.

The opening sequence also sets the tone. Forget the sweeping invasion of Tsushima, where armies clashed and honor hung in the balance. Here, Atsu’s journey begins with something far smaller and more personal: a confrontation with one of her primary targets. No soldiers at your back, no sprawling battlefield—just you, your steel, and the first taste of revenge.

Combat and exploration: Sharpened and reforged

If Tsushima made combat dance-like with its flowing stances, Yotei changes the rhythm. Stances are gone, replaced instead with switching weapons tailored to enemy types.

On paper, it’s a neat twist. In practice, it can feel clunkier. Switching mid-fight, I often tried to chain an attack only to end up swapping weapons instead. Some of that might be muscle memory, but even after adjusting, the mechanic occasionally broke the flow.

That said, the expanded arsenal adds versatility. You’re no longer bound to katana-only duels. Since Atsu isn’t weighed down by samurai honor, every tool at your disposal is fair game—even in duels.

Throwing kunai, other ghost tools, and heavier weapons all come into play, making fights unpredictable and deeply satisfying when you string the right combinations together.

Loadouts are another standout addition. You get five customizable sets of armor and charms, and you can switch between them mid-fight. It’s a system that rewards experimentation, letting you prepare builds for stealth, brute force, or balanced encounters.

Progression feels organic, too. Yotei doesn’t spell out what you can or can’t handle. It’s only when you test yourself against strongholds that you discover just how outmatched you are.

That trial-and-error loop—failing, upgrading, returning stronger—feels like a lesson taught through scars, perfectly in line with Atsu’s path of vengeance.

And then there’s exploration. You’re free to roam after the prologue, but the game gently nudges you toward key areas first. Along the way, incidental encounters teach mechanics without overt tutorials.

Birds and foxes still guide you, but less intrusively than before. Often it’s NPCs whose chance encounters point you toward bamboo strikes, hot springs, or vanity items, making the world feel more lived in.

Story and side quests: Revenge with depth

What surprised me most about Ghost of Yotei is how well story and gameplay hold each other. The cohesion here is tighter than in Tsushima — which was already tight to begin with. Every side quest, every diversion, flows back into Atsu’s journey.

On the surface, Atsu is a mercenary and bounty hunter, her blade guided by vengeance. But the side quests are where cracks show. You see her warmth, her compassion—the humanity she tries to bury beneath her steel. It’s this duality that shapes pivotal story beats. Atsu isn’t just a vessel for revenge; she’s someone who struggles with how much of herself she’s willing to sacrifice to see it through.

That’s what makes her story resonate. You aren’t just dishing out cold steel—you’re watching someone wrestle with the very cost of vengeance.

It’s also where the game sneaks in moments that make you smile. Twenty hours in, I switched the dialogue to Japanese and noticed NPCs calling Atsu rurouni. That’s “wanderer” in English—a reminder that while the localized anime Rurouni Kenshin was branded as Samurai X, its truer translation is Kenshin the Wanderer. It’s a subtle cultural touch that grounded Atsu’s character even more, a drifter carrying vengeance but also a heart still searching.

Around the 60-percent mark, I switched to Watanabe mode, where the creator of Samurai Champloo lends his signature lo-fi beats to exploration and combat.

After 40 to 45 hours, the change in music breathed new life into the experience. Still, the tracks lacked variety. A handful more would have gone a long way toward making the mode feel as dynamic as it deserved.

Variety and challenge

Combat and exploration may carry the game, but variety keeps it fresh. Early hours separate puzzles, platforming, and raids. Deeper in, the game starts blending them.

Solve a puzzle, it opens into a platforming section, which then rewards you with a raid. It’s a satisfying escalation that prevents fatigue from setting in.

Photo mode is fun as always.

And of course, the Easter eggs are back. Just as Tsushima tucked little surprises for fans to find, Yotei does the same. They’re never heavy-handed, always small delights for those paying attention.

The price of vengeance

By the time the credits roll, Ghost of Yotei leaves you with something sharper than spectacle. Where Tsushima gave you the weight of history, Yotei carves its mark with intimacy. Revenge doesn’t need armies or nations to matter—it just needs a blade and a target.

That’s why Ghost of Yotei stands on its own. It may lack the grandeur of its predecessor, but it’s more cohesive, more personal, and more daring in how it tells its story. Atsu’s journey isn’t about how the world remembers her; it’s about how far vengeance will take her—and how much of herself she’ll lose along the way.

In the end, Ghost of Yotei is less a story about honor and more a reminder of the cost of revenge. And it’s a price you’ll feel, long after the controller is set down.

I highly recommend this game. It’s a swift Swipe Up—as swift as Atsu unleashing a katana strike.

Ghost of Yotei was reviewed on a PlayStation 5. The Publisher provided the review keys.

Related Topics:Ghost of Yotei PlayStation PlayStation 5 PS5 Sucker Punch Studios

Gaming

Anno 117: Pax Romana helps you get into strategy games

However, the campaign lacks a conclusive ending.

Published

December 1, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

People often ask me why I like playing strategy games. The answer lies in the beauty of creating a well-oiled machine. Though the genre hardly fulfills the quick shots of adrenaline from playing competitive shooters or sports games, there’s still a palpable satisfaction in creating something that works. If you’re still on the fence, Anno 117: Pax Romana serves up an easily digestible experience even for those who are new to the genre.

What’s in a strategy game?

Have you ever built a Lego Technic set, tried knitting, or did a home improvement project on your own? A proper strategy game scratches the same itch: the desire to cobble together smaller into a beautiful product.

In Anno 117, you find yourself beginning a new life as a fledgling governor of a Roman province during a time of relative peace. The game begins, as they all do, with a blank slate. You land on your chosen island, build a few houses to start a small town, and send your villagers off chopping wood and gathering food. When you’ve gathered enough materials, you unlock a new tier of buildings and requirements. Grow big enough again, and you expand to more islands. Then, it’s all rinse and repeat.

The goal, of course, is to build a thriving Roman city that will make neighboring governors jealous. And jealous, they will be. When you butt heads enough, rival leaders can send sorties against you, necessitating you to build an army of your own.

In this way, Anno 117 is all about balancing resources and managing problems across your territories.

The interface is your friend

When you begin your first game, you might get overwhelmed with how little Anno 117 holds your hand. Besides a small introductory pop-up, you’re mostly left to fend for yourself. At first, I thought that this system was oppressive. I just wanted to play the game, not pore over menus.

But that was before I figured out the other element of the game’s magic. Besides managing resources, it’s all about discovering what’s next. The game cleverly hides your next goal by keeping it hidden from view, as opposed to just locking everything with gray locks. When you first start a game, you will have access to buildings corresponding to the first tier of citizens. To even see what the next tier of citizen is, you need to make the preceding tier happy enough with their respective set of needs and luxuries.

This is such an impressive system. While all the different problems keep me busy short-term, the desire to see what else I can unlock keeps me engaged for the long haul.

And it’s not just the different tiers of citizens and buildings, either. Anno 117 also has one of the most extensive tech trees I’ve seen in a game. Calling it a tree or a web is an understatement. There are dozens of technologies you can unlock, and it will take dozens of hours to complete.

Likewise, there’s a religion system that unlocks new benefits based on how many patrons your chosen god has.

In Anno 117, there’s always something new to unlock. Don’t let the starting interface fool you; the game is surprisingly robust and expansive.

Two regions push the boundaries of difficulty

As with other Anno games, Anno 117 features more than one region to develop. To begin with, players have a choice between Latium and Albion. Latium is the Roman-centric region of abundance where most of the neighboring governors are friendly. Albion, on the other hand, is harsher and filled with Celts who don’t always agree with the encroachment of Romans.

Each region has its own challenges, even if Latium is generally a relaxing experience. Personally, I prefer how laidback Latium is, but Albion’s challenges are still just as tantalizing.

The challenge, however, is balancing the two regions together. You can build both regions at the same time. Naturally, the goal is to create a self-running engine that you don’t need to supervise the entire time. The journey is excruciating, though. Often, while you’re in the zone building on Latium, an emergency in Albion ruins your concentration and demands your attention. It doesn’t help that there’s a lengthy loading screen when switching regions.

Thankfully, maintaining colonies in both regions isn’t a requirement. You can easily stay in Latium exclusively without disappointing your citizens.

Also, this won’t be the final lineup. Like the previous Anno 1800, Ubisoft already has a roadmap in place for more content and, presumably, more regions.

An incomplete campaign ruins the story

To be transparent, this is my first Anno game. My natural inclination is to start the campaign. It starts off with a fairly compelling premise. First, you can pick between two characters: Marcus and Marcia. While the broad strokes of their respective campaigns remain the same, there’s just enough difference to differentiate between the two.

For example, Marcus is tasked with proving his worth as a governor to his politician father. He helps build the city of Julianus and ingratiates himself with Emperor Lucius and his family. However, a tragedy forces him to the hostile lands of Albion.

On the other hand, as if in a different universe, Marcia’s campaign started off with herself betrothed to the actual governor of Julianus. However, before she can meet with her new husband, Emperor Lucius warns her that her husband is ill and whisks her away to govern on her own. Regardless, the same tragedy strikes and forces her to Albion.

These stories are compelling enough to see the story to its completion. Unfortunately, it’s a disappointing conclusion.

When Marcus and Marcia are shipped to Albion, a potential usurper, Calidus, ascends and claims himself as Emperor. Regardless of whether you follow or oppose Calidus’s instructions for Albion, the new Emperor will celebrate your success either way. He then leaves you in charge of Latium once again before leaving for parts unknown.

And unknown, they will remain. After settling on Albion, the campaign transitions into a sandbox mode with no limits. There is no conclusion to the story; there is no grand confrontation. It’s a sore disappointment if you’ve invested quite a lot of time in the campaign. Hopefully, future DLC patches this up.

Is Anno 117 your GameMatch?

Lackluster campaign endings aside, Anno 117 is one of the most approachable strategy games today. It doesn’t hold your hand, so you can learn the ropes and get acclimated on your own. There’s a wealth of content to discover, so you can easily spend hours just figuring out what comes next.

In a gaming climate where the Roman empire is often associated with warfare, Anno 117 is a peaceful exploration of Roman culture that leaves a more lasting memory for fans of the genre. What’s more, this is just the beginning; the upcoming roadmap looks exciting enough to keep fans playing for a long time.

With all that said, it gets a Super Swipe from me.

Gaming

You can play SNES games on this Nike shoe

The project celebrates the SNES’s 35th anniversary.

Published

November 27, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

Image source: Gustavo Bonzanini / Instagram

Have sneakerheads gone too far? While we’ve seen gaming-related collaborations before, no one has gone so far as to stick an actual console inside a sneaker before. But, then again, there’s a first time for everything. To celebrate the console’s 35th anniversary, a designer has packed a playable Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or SNES) inside a pair of Nike Air Max 90 sneakers.

Most collaborations of the same type usually incorporate inspired visuals onto the shoe. Some, for example, just add a console’s colors into the shoe’s design. The SNES-inspired show goes beyond by adding the console (or a version of it) into the shoe.

Designer Gustavo Bonzanini, who designed the SNES-packed shoe, added a small Raspberry Pi Zero W into the shoe’s tongue. The microcomputer was then programmed to emulate 16-bit games like Super Mario World. It even has the classic RCA cables so you can plug into an old TV for that additional nostalgia.

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The one thing it can’t do, however, is have a wired connection to the classic SNES controllers. Instead, Bonzanini customized the controller to have wireless connectivity. It’s a touch of modernity but ultimately adds to how impressive the effort is.

To top it all off, the console-slash-shoe can power gameplay for up to 30 minutes. It’s tiny, but it’s an art project after all.

That said, it’s not for sale. As cool as it is, the SNES Nike is only to celebrate the console’s 35^th birthday.

If you really wanted to, it’s not too difficult to play SNES in today’s age. Nintendo even offers the console in its Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions.

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Shadows gets Attack on Titan-themed content

The story is available only until December 22.

Published

November 26, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

Ubisoft is no stranger to quirky DLCs, especially for the Assassin’s Creed franchise. One of its most infamous is Assassin’s Creed III’s The Tyranny of King Washington, which imagines an alternate reality (or as alternate as an Assassin’s Creed entry can get) where George Washington became a dictator. Now, the franchise is getting even wackier with an official tie-up with Attack on Titan.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the ongoing entry for the series. The title has players go on a journey of revenge in medieval Japan as the stealthy Naoe and the brutal Yasuke. Since launching, the game has gotten an expansion which adds an epilogue to the story. Today, a new update adds more content and a timed story.

A chunk of the update was already revealed previously. It contains a new story that has Naoe and Yasuke learn each other’s skills (or a version of them, at least). Adding to that story is a new quest tied to the popular Attack on Titan series. It also comes with custom gear and mounts based on the series.

Naoe and Yasuke travel to the enigmatic Crystal Cave to help a strangely garbed woman named Ada. A cult is threatening to initiate a deadly experiment on one of Ada’s friends, which might see the arrival of an actual Titan in medieval Japan. The story’s trailer ends with a brief tease on the aforementioned monster.

Though most of the update is for keeps, the Attack on Titan content will be available only from now until December 22.