Ghost of Tsushimahas been out for a little over four months now, but players across the video gaming landscape are still singing its praises. Thanks to its beautiful world and impactful gameplay,Ghost of Tsushimahas proved it deserves to be among the handful ofGame of the Year candidates for 2020.
As with any major AAA title video game, the foundations for some of its strongest elements did not just evolve overnight, as was the case withGhost of Tsushima’s fluid combat system. A recent post on the official PlayStation Blog goes into great detail explaining how Sucker Punch designed and balancedGhost of Tsushima’s combat throughout development.
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The post on PlayStation Blog is written by none other thanGhost of TsushimaSenior Combat Designer Theodore Fishman, who goes into great detail on what challenges the team faced when balancing combat. The first major aspect that Fishman speaks on regardingGhost of Tsushima’s combatwas something the team called the “lethality contract.” Fishman explains that Samurai combat is traditionally known to be fast, precise, and lethal, but maintaining that balance throughoutGhost of Tsushima’s progression was quite a difficult task.
Maintaining rewarding combat while managing level progression, various difficulty settings, a wide array of charms, and gear upgrades meant factoring in a lot of variation. One of the first challenges the team had to move past was the “sword sponge” problem. Very early playtests resulted in some negative feedback with one player even noting that, “I felt like I was hitting enemies with a foam bat.” Obviously, this was not what the team wanted to hear, as maintaining a mixture of the “lethality contract” andGhost of Tsushima’s skill-based combatwas key.
The adjustments the team made in regards to the “sword sponge” problem helped progress them closer to the game’s final combat system. The team tweakedGhost of Tsushima’s armor systemand enforced a maximum “hits to kill” limit on enemies, but there were still issues to be addressed. Next, Fishman goes on to talk about balancing the gradual increase in difficulty and enemy behavior, resulting in tweaks to the game’s parry system. Eventually, the team would finalize aspects of the combat system like staggering enemies, enemy attack patterns, and the various stances.
Fishman also touches on howGhost of Tsushima’s dueling system broke the “lethality contract,” providing an interesting new challenge for the team to tackle. Additionally, the team knew thatGhost of Tsushima: Legends’ gameplay systemrequired a different approach to combat, but the team was able to make it work in the end. Fishman’s full post is an excellent read that givesGhost of Tsushima’s combat much more nuance after knowing what went into it. Players who enjoyedTsushima’s fluid and robust combat system should absolutely take the time to check it out.
