Here's a deep dive into the world of Ghost of Tsushima. There was nothing quite like it at E3 this year, as far as utterly shocking the system into sitting bolt upright and taking notice of insane environmental artistry. The light that spokes out in God rays through the canopy of a bamboo forest. Or the ball-of-fire sunset shining past a shrine manicured like a bonsai sculpture. Some of these scenes make me want to cuss. I just can't believe what I'm seeing on the screen.
Volumetric mist. Light playing on leaves. Fields of wind-blown wheat. Procedural sun breaks through the clouds. Insects floating over the water. And despite the fact that there's so much soft movement in the vegetation, despite the fact that these scenes are so gorgeous, there's actually a brilliant level of restraint and minimalism going into these shots. It doesn't come from the school of Shove Everything You Can Into the Picture, thank goodness.
Just get out. If this game doesn't come with a photo mode, then I'm burning everything down. And don't worry, there's an invading army to deal with. There's stuff to do in this world. This ain't no walking simulator, even though we'd really only expect graphics of this caliber from still-life worlds like Dear Esther or What Remains of Edith Finch.
Ghost of Tsushima is coming to PlayStation 4 with its launch date TBA.
