The creative director behind Ghost of Yotei has revealed that he’s not bothered by the amount of side quests players tackle in the recently-launched samurai epic, as above all he just wants plays to have fun.
Speaking with GamesRadar+, Jason Connell said Sucker Punch Productions doesn’t mind “too much” how fans decide to go about their time in Ghost of Yotei, providing they are simply having fun. With that in mind, the game’s open-world is ripe with exploration and side activities, so the opportunity is there if you want it.
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If they don’t want to do it, we’re just like, ‘OK, that’s your choice,'” said Connell. “As long as you’re having fun, we don’t care too much.” He went on to say that the team left “a bunch of hooks in there to try to keep you in the spirit of the main story, getting an appropriate amount weapons at a decent rate. Our philosophical sort of thing about this game was to let you have more freedom than any game we’ve ever had.
It’s very complex, and the pacing is sort of a slightly different model for each one. Narrative pacing is a bit easier to understand, and so that one’s a bit more straightforward, but that open-world pacing one is quite challenging. We do all these little tricks to make it kind of work out for us.
Ghost of Yotei was released for PS5 on October 2, 2025, and you can read our full review here. The game topped the UK physical all format charts upon release, bumping EA Sports FC 26 off the top spot in the process although physical sales were down around 40% over its predecessor.
[Source – GamesRadar]