Yakuza-series Director Toshihiro Nagoshi Offers High Praise For Ghosts of Tsushima

Spencer Baculi |

Jul 31, 2020

The smash-hit Ghosts of Tsushima continues to receive high praise from Japanese critics. A legend in Japanese gaming, Yakuza-series Director Toshihiro Nagoshi, also recently applauded Sucker Punch for their work in producing the Samurai-action title; including their research into Japanese culture and the use of “innovative elements.”

Produced monthly by the show’s titular parent company, SEGANAMA is a monthly live stream hosted by anchor Ayana Tsubaki that provides fans with the latest news and updates related to SEGA titles.

During these live streams, Nagoshi hosts a small Q&A segment, wherein the director provides insight into the development processes of his titles and even addresses fan questions.

SEGANAMA’s broadcast on July 28^th, Nagoshi was asked by a fan to share his thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima:

According to translations provided by video game news outlet Dualshockers, Nagoshi stated that while he believes “it’s a game that definitely should have been made by Japanese people,” Japanese developers “definitely lost” to Sucker Punch’s research and artistic efforts.

Nagoshi said, “We definitely lost to them. I think it’s a game that definitely should have been made by Japanese people, but I heard they did a monstrous job collecting data and everything. There’s also the Kurosawa Mode, showing how they tried to pursue an artistic movie feel with the game overall.”

For Nagoshi, Ghosts of Tsushima helped to disprove a popular assumption that “Western people would never get certain Japanese things,” with Nagoshi finding the game to be, “the kind of work made by non-Japanese people that makes you feel they’re even more Japanese than us.”

The famous director would go on and praise the work behind all the elements of the game by saying, “The game also has a lot of innovative elements, like how it uses shadows really well. I’m sure they worked tremendously hard on all these things too, and it fits the story.”

He went on, “It’s amazing. It became the fastest-selling new PlayStation IP too. I knew it would sell a lot. But I was wondering whether it’d sell that much or not. Because similar-looking games recently released like Sekiro, and some could think they don’t need Ghost of Tsushima anymore.”

Nagoshi was also quick to praise how “so many different people put in so much effort” to adhere protagonist Jin Sakai to players despite his appearance as an “old-looking guy.”

He stated that “I’m sure in any other company, if the designers showed up with his artwork, it would have got rejected (laughs)”.

Both Nagoshi and Tsubaki would also mention that the foxes found throughout Ghost of Tsushima. In the game, they lead Jin to hidden shrines. This detail has gone viral on Japanese twitter. Many noted that these animals and their use were appropriate for the time period. The would go on to state that many Japanese are themselves unaware of the creature’s cultural significance.

Concluding his segment, Nagoshi praised Sucker Punch as courageous for their attempt in creating a culturally and historically respectful representation of the Japanese during the Mongol Invasion of the island.