Ghost of Yotei Gameplay Guide

Ghost of Yotei is a third-person open-world action game set in Ezo in 1603. You play as Atsu, a mercenary hunting the six outlaws who killed her family. The Ghost of Yotei gameplay loop will feel familiar if you played Ghost of Tsushima: sword fights, stealth, horse riding across a large open world and a steady supply of side activities. But Sucker Punch changed several core systems, most importantly by replacing Tsushima's combat stances with a set of different weapons.

Most of what is below was shown in the July 2025 State of Play gameplay deep dive and confirmed in interviews and reviews. For graphics settings, see our Ghost of Yotei PS5 guide; for collectibles and regions, see the map guide.

In Ghost of Tsushima, Jin switched between four stances of the same katana to counter different enemies. Ghost of Yotei drops stances entirely. Instead, Atsu carries five different melee weapons, and each one is effective against particular enemy types. You can switch weapons in the middle of a fight, and Sucker Punch describes the result as more improvisational than the old stance system.

Switching is encouraged but not forced. Sucker Punch has said the game will not punish you for sticking to one weapon type, so you can play with a favourite if you prefer. Atsu can also disarm enemies and use their own weapons against them, and some weapons can be thrown.

Alongside her blades, Atsu has bows, a tanegashima matchlock rifle with different ammunition types and a tanzutsu pistol, plus quickfire tools such as kunai, smoke bombs and blinding powder. Firearms can be deadly when used at the right moment, but Sucker Punch made them secondary weapons that cannot replace a sword.

The biggest new companion mechanic is Atsu's wolf. You can call it into battle, where it helps take down enemies quickly. PlayStation lists the wolf among Atsu's core abilities, next to disarming techniques and mounted tackles, where Atsu knocks enemies down from horseback.

Stealth is still a big part of Ghost of Yotei gameplay. In the gameplay deep dive, Atsu took out a group of three enemies in quick succession without alerting anyone else. The game's 22 Yotei Six camps are where you will use stealth and open combat most, and since patch 1.1 you can replay them with a results screen that tracks goals such as finishing undetected.

Ghost of Yotei keeps Tsushima's minimal on-screen interface. The guiding wind returns to point you towards your objective, and you can change where it leads by playing different songs on Atsu's shamisen. A spyglass lets you look across the landscape and mark points of interest without opening the map menu.

Riding is faster too: guide your horse along paths of flowers to pick up speed. Leads, clues and missions are tracked as cards, which gives you a simple way to choose what to do next. At Atsu's childhood home you can switch back in time and see the place as it was when she was a child.

Atsu's reputation has a cost. As her bounty grows, bounty hunters come after her, which leads to random fights as you travel. The system works both ways: Atsu can also take on bounties herself, and they are tracked with the same card system as other leads. There are 31 bounties in the game.

You can set up camp in the open world to rest and cook. Travelling merchants visit your camp, so you can buy weapons, tools and clothing without going back to a town. The game also has extensive armor and cosmetic customization.

Between main missions, Ezo is full of smaller activities. Hot springs raise your maximum health, Bamboo Strikes increase your Spirit, shrine climbs and fox dens give charms, and Altars of Reflection give skill points. There are also sumi-e painting, shamisen songs, dueling trees and Zeni Hajiki, a coin-flicking minigame. Our map guide lists how many of each there are and in which region.

A few habits make the first hours of Ghost of Yotei gameplay easier, based on how the systems above work.

Estimates from guide sites and reviews are consistent. Sticking mainly to the main story takes around 25 to 30 hours. Doing a good share of side content brings that to roughly 35 to 45 hours, and finishing everything for 100% completion takes 50 to 60 hours or more. Playing on the higher difficulties such as Lethal can add another 10 to 20 hours because fights take longer. Sucker Punch's creative director has said the time commitment is similar to Ghost of Tsushima.

Ghost of Yotei gameplay has grown since launch. Patch 1.1 in November 2025 added New Game+, which keeps your gear and upgrades, and made Yotei Six camps and duels replayable with scored results. Ghost of Yotei: Legends, a free online co-op mode for up to four players that builds up to a Raid, arrived on March 10, 2026.

On October 1, 2026 the Echoes of Sekigahara expansion adds heavy weapons, new enemy types and a new region, and the Most Wanted mode brings roguelike runs with four playable characters, including Jin Sakai. Our Ghost of Yotei DLC guide covers both.