Leading up to its release, Ghost of Yotei has often been criticised for looking all too similar to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima — but the sequel does apparently take full advantage of the PS5 hardware to push visuals that its PS4 predecessor simply wouldn’t have been able to handle.
In an interview with Automaton, art director Joanna Wang explains what the generational jump means for Yotei overall, and it makes for a really interesting read from a technical perspective.
“For Yotei, we realized very quickly that we needed to improve draw distance. To portray the vastness of the Hokkaido map, we needed to be able to render distant views with high fidelity and accurate depth of space,” says Wang, alluding to the fact that the sequel’s environments are much more open than what you’d find on Tsushima’s relatively narrow island.
She continues: “We can now load millions of assets, with tens of thousands visible on-screen at once. Real-time particles like leaves, snow, ash and fog number in the hundreds of thousands across both near and far distances.”
“We were able to improve the look of starry skies, auroras, time-of-day transitions, grass rendering, and terrain deformation – like realistically kicking snow off trees. Altogether, these make the world feel more alive and interactive. I think that’s the power of the PS5.”
So although Yotei may not immediately look like a massive graphical upgrade from Tsushima, it sounds like the open world itself has greatly benefitted from the improved processing power of a current-gen console.
Then, from a more artistic perspective, Wang outlines the game’s overall look: “In real photos, random noise patterns appear, but since we aim for a “painterly look,” we remove that noise, both from individual material textures and entire scenes.”
“For example, in a grass field, we might add only white flowers for horses to gallop through, but avoid mixing too many colours. This is related to the minimalism I mentioned earlier, as it draws attention to what matters – the white foreground (flowers) against the green background (grass).”
“From the smallest textures to the overall landscape, everything follows this kind of philosophy. Combined with our rendering team’s lighting, skies and clouds, I think the result is a cohesive world that feels beautiful and harmonious.”
Indeed, Ghost of Tsushima itself wasn’t some kind of graphical powerhouse at the time of its release, lacking the kind of intense detail that other PlayStation Studios — like Naughty Dog — may focus on.
However, it made up for its slightly rougher edges with an immaculate art direction, packing its open world with outstanding sights.
What do you make of Ghost of Yotei at a surface level? Do you think your DualSense’s Create button will be getting a workout? Follow the rustling leaves in the comments section below.
[source automaton-media.com]
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Robert (or Rob if you’re lazy) is an assistant editor of Push Square, and has been a fan of PlayStation since the 90s, when Tekken 2 introduced him to the incredible world of video games. He still takes his fighting games seriously, but RPGs are his true passion. The Witcher, Persona, Dragon Quest, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Trails, Tales — he’s played ’em all. A little too much, some might say.