Director’s Cut: The PS5 Visual Difference
Famously, Sucker Punch even had to nerf Ghost of Tsushima’s load times so that gamers could read the hints. With the PS5 now on the market, it was only a matter of time until Sucker Punch gave their already great game a facelift and got to flex their muscles on PS5 hardware with Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut. Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut promises visual and gameplay enhancements to make the PS5 experience the best and definitive way to play.
First up are the graphical quality enhancements, which are fairly subtle in this release. This director’s cut adds a couple more graphical treats to boost the experience, such as lighting reworks that better interact with fog and smoke. Lighting now disperses a little more evenly and is diffused through the fog in a much more realistic way. More particle effects for fire and sword sparks have been included, along with more smoke effects. These additions fill out the world nicely, but they aren’t game-changers.
The biggest graphical change present in this PS5 rerelease is the dynamic 4k resolution and 60 FPS treatment utilizing the full power of the PS5. The Director’s Cut has a notable sharpness compared to running the game in PS4 backward compatibility mode, so if you’re always looking to have the sharpest graphics possible like me, this upgrade could be worth it. Compared to the PS4 Pro’s dynamic 1800p max resolution and 30 FPS lock across all modes, the PS5 Director’s Cut is leagues smoother and far more visually crisp.
Making a Great Game Even Better
Loading times on PS5 are dramatically cut down, almost nonexistent. As mentioned before, Sucker Punch had to increase the load times on a standard PS4 hard drive so people could read the hints; even then, there was still some loading when it came to booting the game up for the first time. The PS5 Director’s Cut leverages the power of the SSD to remove loading almost entirely.
The timespan of launching the game to playing it is as fast as you could ask for in a game. Additionally, fast-travel times are also nothing more than a black screen for maybe a second or two. Overall I am very pleased with how fast Ghost of Tsushima is now; even if the PS4 version was speedy, the PS5 version surpasses it completely.
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Other PS5 upgrades include the Dualsense controller haptic feedback function, one of the best implementations of this technology that I have felt so far. Tons of little things in the game, such as the battering of swords, the heft of a grappling hook, and combat clunk are translated nicely to the controller. It’s a nice boost to immersion.
Combat-wise, one of my biggest issues with Ghost of Tsushima last year was the free-aiming combat. Too often would I find myself swinging at air and also targeting the wrong enemy? Thankfully, this Director’s Cut has fixed this issue with an optional lock-on combat system. This implementation feels organic to Ghost of Tsushima’s gameplay and is much appreciated.
Most of the quality of life improvements in this Director’s Cut is admittedly fairly minimal. There are also some controller rebinds and enhanced audio that is nice to have but nothing too crazy. The Japanese voice sync is also very nice to have and gives you the true samurai cinema experience should you choose to use it. The star of the Director’s Cut is Iki Island and its story, but these PS5 additions round out the package and make it a good deal.
Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut puts that last finishing touch on an already great game by enhancing the visuals and making its quality of life even better than before. As a package, Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut is a worthy upgrade over the original and worth diving into as it is simply more of a good thing.
