Ghost of Tsushima 2 Has a Nearly Impossible Balance to Strike to Catch Lightning in a Bottle Twice

Ghost of Tsushima has been called an Assassin’s Creed-like game based on its formulaic open-world trappings, but what it achieved in its overall atmosphere is criminally understated in that deduction. It’s easy to reduce Ghost of Tsushima to its core activities and its narrative emphasis, and yet where it thrives—where any open-world game should thrive, really—is in the moments players take between climactic, epic action to enjoy what little respite such a tragic story affords.