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Ghost of Yotei: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more

A samurai stares at a mountain.
Sucker Punch Productions

Ghost of Tsushima was an outstanding game to end the PS4 generation with. Sucker Punch chose to pivot to a new IP far divorced from its past Infamous or Sly Cooper games and focus on a more grounded and historically influenced game about the Mongol invasion of the island of Tsushima. Naturally, we all expected a continuation of the story since that was just one small component of that conflict. Indeed, a sequel will be an upcoming video game, but not in the way we all expected. Ghost of Yotei has been revealed and is making some big changes, but also holding true to what Sucker Punch believes to be the core of the series. Similar to Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Marvel’s Wolverine, we have a lot left to discover about this new game. Let’s follow the wind together to find out all we can about this upcoming PS5 game.

There’s a chance Ghost of Yotei will also be an upcoming PC game, but you won’t find it on a list of upcoming Xbox Series X games or upcoming Switch games.

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Release date

The main character in Ghost of Yotei faces off with a wolf.
Sucker Punch

Sony dropped a new trailer with no warning on April 23 that revealed Ghost of Yotei‘s release date of October 2, 2025.

Platforms

Protagonist on horseback looks out at a large mountain.
Sucker Punch

This almost goes without saying, but Ghost of Yotei will be a PlayStation 5 exclusive. At least, it will be at launch. As we know, PlayStation has gotten into a regular rhythm of releasing even its premier single-player games on PC a year or more after its console release. While we expect this to be true for Ghost of Yotei, nothing is certain until PlayStation officially confirms it, but it should be fairly safe to assume this game will come to PC at some point after that one-year mark.

Trailers

Ghost of Yōtei - Announce Trailer | PS5 Games

The first trailer for Ghost of Yotei was the announcement trailer that was the big surprise finisher for the September 2024 State of Play.

The trailer instantly sets the tone with black-and-white imagery of the new landscape and a voice-over establishing saying, “We are beyond the edge of Japan,” and reveals the new setting of Mount Yotei, 1603. From here, we are introduced to our new protagonist riding through vibrant and vast vistas even more beautiful than the first game. The trailer’s climax reveals that our new hero is, in fact, a woman as she stands off with a wolf. Lowering her blades, the two look to the horizon as a familiar gust of wind pushes them onward.

An accompanying PlayStation Blog post revealed that our new Ghost is named Atsu, but holds any additional plot details secret for now, except for the fact that it will be an original story. Being over 300 years since the events of the first game, it isn’t likely that Mongols will return as the main antagonists, and instead the story will feature a new threat.

We also learned that Atsu will be on a quest for revenge against those who killed her family. She will do jobs along the way to earn the money to fund her journey.

The Onryo’s List trailer shows the incident in question where a group killed Atsu’s family and left her for dead. Besides more gameplay, we also see that there will be moments where we are transported back to Atsu’s past to learn more about her history and the events that lead up to her family’s murder.

There are six targets Atsu will be hunting, each going by a codename: The Snake, The Oni, The Kitsune, The Spider, The Dragon, and Lord Saito.

Gameplay

Enemies facing off in Ghost of Yotei.
Sucker Punch

There were bits and pieces of what looked like gameplay in the initial trailer, though it can be tough to tell since we expect the game to remain very light on HUD elements like the first game. However, we know that riding horses and exploring a range of environments, from sunny fields to snowy mountains, will be back and more detailed than before.

With six main targets, the game will allow players to explore and follow whatever leads they choose to find any of the killers they choose.

Duels also appear to be back, but we don’t see any actual combat, traversal, or stealth just yet. Those mechanics are not only expected but likely improved and expanded upon. The blog post only vaguely suggests that Ghost of Yotei will “introduce new mechanics, gameplay improvements, and even new weapons.” A few of those weapons we do get a glimpse of, such as a rifle and kusarigama.

Other official information confirms that new weapons introduced will be the odachi, kurasigama we noted earlier, and dual katanas.

The second trailer showed off more gameplay with those weapons, as well as a spear. That wolf we saw does appear to be some form of companion, though it is unclear exactly how it works. All we spotted was an instance of it attacking an enemy in the snow, perhaps indicating that we will be able to command it to attack enemies so we can finish them off.

Platforming is back, with a grappling hook, sliding, and rope walking.

There is also the tease of other activities returning from Tsushima, plus new ones like making camp wherever you wish to stargaze and recover.

Preorder

The collector's edition items in Ghost of yotei.
PlayStation

Ghost of Yotei is coming on October 2, but perorders are not up yet, but are opening on May 2. Preordering any version will get you a few preortder bonuses, but there are also a Digital Deluxe Edition and Collector’s Edition with even more goodies that will show up onthe PSN store page. Here’s what each one holds and how much they cost.

Standard Edition – $70

  • Preorder bonuses: in-game mask and seven PSN avatars of the six villains.
  • Physical or digital copy of the game

Digital Deluxe Edition – $80

  • All the preorder bonuses
  • Digital copy of the game
  • The Snake Armor
  • Alternate dye for your starting armor
  • Unique horse color and saddle
  • in-game charm
  • Gold Sword Kit
  • Early unlock of Traveler’s Maps

Collector’s Edition – Price TBD

  • Everything from the previous versions
  • Atsu’s Ghost Mask replica
  • Atsu’s sash replica
  • Tsuba replica
  • Pouch of coins and Zeni Hajiki instructions
  • Papercraft Ginkgo tree
  • Art cards
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over five years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
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