Five years ago, Ghost of Tsushima let me wander when the world was locked down

It is July 2020, and just like everyone else I am locked in my home while I wait for Covid-19 to leave the world alone so we can get back to our normal lives again. Video games have always been an important part of my life, but even more now, because my pregnant wife and I have been at home more than we ever did before. I grind away at two of my favorite recently released games, Animal intersection: New horizons for their cozy vibes and Final Fantasy 7 -REMAKE Because I love Final fantasy And I will always do it. Then a friend comes with and interrupts who grinds with a comment about a game called Ghost of TsushimaAnd I'm fascinated.

In fact, I hadn't even heard of it. My job as a video game journalist had not started at that point, even though I already had my BA in mass communication and media studies, so I was not necessarily updated on all the current events in the gaming industry to the extent I am today. Yet I took my friend's advice and started reading reviews of Ghost of TsushimaEventually, go away with questions about why I had never heard of it and why I was not currently playing it. I immediately bought it and pigeon into its breathtakingly open world, just to discover an adventurous escape that I had longed for such a tumultuous time as the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Ghost of Tsushima's open world was the escape I needed

Apart from what I had seen in reviews, I didn't know what to expect Ghost of TsushimaBut that really wasn't what I stopped getting. I had grown to appreciate and even long for open world games at that time, simply because of how much they offer when it comes to content-even if that content is often artificial. Before September 2020 I did not have children, which meant I had more time to invest in significant maps filled with icons and achieve 100% completion of massive games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey Without thinking about how they can be designed differently. So of course when I met Ghost of TsushimaI fell in love with its world.

Sure, the playing aspect of its open world design takes lots of clues from a formula that has since been condemned, with repetitive activities and maybe for many map markers, although that part is more subjective. And to be fair, I began to notice it at that time, to the point where I eventually expressed the desire after Ghost of Yotei to treat one's open world differently. But it was not the content of Ghost of TsushimaOpen World that I cared as much as it was so it gently led me through its peaceful, engrossing world and releasing me in a way, especially for a year when I felt caught, suffocated and unsure of the future.

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Ghost of Tsushima offered me peace for a time of chaos and insecurity

Much of that immersion came from its minimalist skin, which in turn emphasized the undeniable beauty of its world. Most open world games offer players a compass or mini maps to guide them, but Ghost of Tsushima led me through feudal Japan with its innovative guiding wind mechanics, even when I had a custom waypoint set. It was something I had never experienced before, and not only was it a brilliant way to replace a potentially immersion UI, but it encouraged my investment in the road rather than the destination, and the sound of the wind that swept across Tsushima Island gave me an overwhelming sense of calm that I explored.

It was not the content of Ghost of TsushimaOpen World that I cared as much as it was so it gently led me through its peaceful, engrossing world and releasing me in a way, especially for a year when I felt caught, suffocated and unsure of the future.

In the end I treated Ghost of Tsushima As I would have something else open world game at that time, ignore the main mission as often as I could, instead I chose to let myself wander into the unknown. But things were different this time, because the exploration felt less about games and more about the discovery. Even without a clear goal sometimes it still felt to move in any direction I would somewhere that mattered, because real life asked me to stop going completely Ghost of Tsushima Simply asked me to slow down and take in its wonderful views.

Here I found peace. Despite the real world around me, which seemed to stop in many ways, the questions that swirled over my head still got that everything feels towards the end of an era. But the calm in Ghost of Tsushima Somehow, all these issues silenced a bit. Ghost of TsushimaIn his own silent, had a way to be higher than confusion, anxiety, anxiety and doubt that the world echoed on social media and news while we all remained indoors. It did not give an answer, but it gave me a place to breathe. And for the short time window, that was exactly what I needed.