Ghost of Tsushima - DLC Review (Director's Cut)

With the Iki Island expansion, there is now the first paid DLC, which is also included in the new Director's Cut, coming to PlayStation 4 & 5. With the DLC you get a completely new island with a new story, new opponents and friends, new mini-games, new techniques, new outfits and a bunch of Easter eggs from well-known PlayStation blockbusters like God of War. In the second act of the main game, you can reach the island by boat. I played the game on the PlayStation 5 and these are my impressions.

Basically there is just more "Ghost of Tsushima" and that's always a good thing for me. In my opinion, Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best open world games out there and now runs even better on PlayStation 5.

Story:

I don't want to reveal too much here. Something on the island will make you hallucinate and you will learn completely new sides and facets of Jin Sakai. The actual story is very varied and exciting. The characters of the actual main story also get more weight, since it is a very personal journey. However, I didn't like the real antagonist that much. There was a lack of narrative depth here and it seemed very one-dimensional.

Exploration is key (once again):

As in the main game, one of the greatest strengths of the game is actually exploring the open world. Birds show you points of interest again. You ride over beautiful fields of flowers. You will enjoy the views and beautiful panoramas that Sucker Punch brings to the screen.

Almost on every corner there is something new to discover that simply enlivens the open world and invites you to explore. For me this is a real strength again, which also applies to the DLC.

Fabulous animals:

Do you love animals and especially in video games? Then this DLC is the purest dream for you. You can use your flute to charm animels. You can pet and even feed monkeys, deer, and wild cats. I always love it when animals appear in video games and you can actively interact with them. Many games can take an example here with Ghost of Tsushima. Much love for this. 

DualSense features:

The features of the DualSense were now implemented especially for the Director's Cut. You can now ride over hard surfaces and feel the haptic feedback on your hands. Bows have to be stretched with a certain amount of resistance via the addaptive triggers and the features also contribute to a more immersive experience in combat.

Don't expect advancements like you did in Astros Playroom, but I loved the new features and I would love to have them in any upcoming PlayStation 5 game.

Graphics and performance:

The game runs super smoothly on the PlaySation 5 with 60 frames per second. The picture is sharp and the loading times are practically non-existent. You thought these were already short on the PlaySation 4 Pro. Now with the Director's Cut they are practically the fastest I have ever seen in an open world game to date. This is simply a very big plus point, as it means that fast travel works quickly and the exploration of the wonderful game world is not interrupted for to long.

You can still argue about the quality of the textures. These could of course have a little more detail in general, but for me the total work of art always counts and that is simply beautiful in Ghost of Tsushima. Still one of the most stunning open worlds for me.

The areas in the new DLC are beautiful again and impress with the use of bright colors, which are particularly effective when HDR and an OLED TV are used.

Small side note. All trophies that you have already unlocked in the main game will be unlocked for your PlayStation account in the Director's Cut after implementing your previous save.

For the Director's Cut you easily select your "old" PS4 save data from the main menu and load them. This should also be a standard feature in the upcoming PS5 Director's Cut games (which will certainly come).

Verdict:

In the DLC everything looks pretty familiar, but this is not surprising. Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best open world games out there, so simply "more" doesn't mean anything bad. The attention to detail can be seen on every corner and I can hardly wait to experience the future stories about Jin Sakai. I recommend the DLC and of course the Director's Cut to all those who already enjoyed the main game. I promise you will not be disappointed.

DLC Score: 8.5/10

Code provided by PlayStation

If you are one of the newcomers and have not yet experienced Ghost of Tsushima, I can highly recommend the Director's Cut. You get one of the best open world games even more polished and with more content. 

You can find my full review here https://germanstrands.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-dream-becomes-true-in-my-childhood-i.html

Director's Cut Score: 10/10

Code provided by PlayStation