Ghost of Tsushima is a wildly different project for Sucker Punch Productions, best known for the Sly Cooper and inFamous series. Following the story of a samurai named Jin Sakai, players explore the gorgeous island of Tsushima. Ghost of Tsushima's art style almost makes the environment seem supernatural at times, and it's prime content for a photo mode.
The good news there is that Ghost of Tsushima has a fantastic photo mode, maybe the best one seen in video games yet. The trend of photo modes continues to get more popular, and it's a feature fans continue to want in nearly every game.
As gaming moves onto the Xbox Series X, developers should take note of what Suckerpunch has done. Ghost of Tsushima's photo mode should become the standard moving forward into next-gen.
Ghost of Tsushima Makes Its Photo Mode Easy to Use
The most important aspect of Ghost of Tsushima's photo mode is how easy it is to use. Sucker Punch assigned the photo mode to its own button and pressing right on the D-pad instantly launches into it, with absolutely no delay. On top of that, the game provides so many different options for camera angles, filters, and more. The photo mode even lets players save different camera angles and swap between them at will. There's honestly an overwhelming amount of options, but Ghost of Tsushima lays it all out in an easy to navigate menu. Of course, the share button on PS4 makes it even easier to get photos up and going. There's so much thought that Sucker Punch put into the system for Ghost of Tsushima.
Ghost of Tsushima Sets the Standard For a Built-In Photo Mode
What really elevates Ghost of Tsushima's photo mode over others, is that Sucker Punch clearly developed it as a core feature of the game, rather than something that's just tacked on. So many things in Ghost of Tsushima are built to work within that photo mode. The game makes fantastic use of particles and wind, both of which can be altered within photo mode, according to player's whims. The environment even stays animated whenever photo mode is activated keeping Jin and any other characters frozen, while the grass and trees around them blow in the wind. It's this level of dedication that makes Ghost of Tsushima's photo mode so unique. It isn't some afterthought, but an essential part of Ghost of Tsushima, and one that players are actively encouraged to use.
As games become even more graphically impressive and console can process more, photo modes like Ghost of Tsushima need to become the standard, if a photo mode is going to be used at all. Developers need to build the photo mode into the experience, and not have it feel like some separate program that players are using. Sucker Punch set the new expectation with Ghost of Tsushima, and now it's up to others to follow it.
Ghost of Tsushima is now available on PS4.
