Ghost of Tsushima is quite clearly inspired by old samurai movies in terms of look and atmosphere, but according to director Nate Fox, there was one video game that inspired the upcoming open world title more than anything else: Red Dead Redemption.
Rockstar's Western epic released back in 2010 on the PlayStation 3, but its influence is still felt when it comes to more modern, open world game design. Fox tells GAMINGbible: "I would say the number one inspiration for the title was Red Dead Redemption -- not Red Dead 2 but Red Dead Redemption -- because they did such a fantastic job bringing the fantasy of being an outlaw cowboy to life."
Fox continues: "Landscape, the way that people talk to you, the way that you move -- all of it brought you into that identity. And for us, I used to say like, 'hey', when I would try and get people excited about the game, 'think of it like as the same format as that'."
It's an interesting quote, and we're certainly looking forward to seeing whether we can pick out any obvious similarities in how the game's shaped. It's also quite funny that a game about being a samurai is taking cues from a game about being a cowboy, since old western films were often hugely inspired by early samurai movies. Quite the reversal.
Anyway, back to Ghost of Tsushima, Fox adds that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was another game that the developer looked at. "When we're building the game, and a game like Breath of the Wild comes out -- that does such an amazing job of showing how the power of curiosity can be stoked in all these many ways," he says. "I think that that game really inspired us to try even harder, to go deeper, to just clear out the decks so that you could be just as present as possible in Tsushima."
Are you hyped for Ghost of Tsushima? Are you a Red Dead or Breath of the Wild fan? Liberate your home in the comments section below
[source ladbible.com]
Comments 30
Red dead redemption remains almost unparalleled in the open world space. What a game. I thought it was far superior to the - still absolutely excellent - red dead 2.
This gives me great hope for Ghost of Tsushima. I'll be waiting for that moment when a haunting score kicks in during a highly emotional moment near the end of the game!
Not a bad game to be inspired by, is it?
They should've looked at Knack 2 for inspiration IMO.
Just to close the circle, Nintendo's own Eiji Aonuma claimed to have taken inspiration from Red Dead Redemption 2 for Breath of The Wild's sequel.
Eeyup, things are looking up alright.
Red Dead Redemption had really boring open world design. Vast wilderness to do either some uninteresting side quest or just ride around. The novelty wore off after the first ten hours. This legit makes me less interested in GoT.
Not surprising. RED2 is just an amazing game. I liked Zelda Breath of the Wild, but the narrative was a let down.
A silly Photo Easter egg hunt should not be the vehicle to deliver a story in an open world game. But not Nintendo's strong point in general
Either way, Can't wait for Ghost of Tsushima. Day1 just like red dead 2 and ZBOTW.
I honestly believe this will be one those silent gems. If done right we could end up with another Horizon.
Ok. Inspired by one of the best games ever is a very good thing. Rdr 1 was a masterpiece.
Leeennnnyyyyy!!
@willi3su Couldn't agree more. What Red Dead has is amazing set pieces and good voice acting and storytelling. But the overall gameplay is shallow.
Really? RDR is the inspiration? Ok im going to have to play it fully myself to be able to criticize properly, but c'mon man. It was clearly influenced by Assassins Creed. So much so, if you told me Ubi was suing for copy write, id probably believe you lol.
"would say the number one inspiration for the title was Red Dead Redemption β not Red Dead 2 but Red Dead Redemption"
What? But RDRII is RDR and more... sounds more like "RDRII is on another level so let's just play it safe and say RDR so we don't get hopes too high". I don't even see myself ever wanting a RDR remake after RDRII - it does everything better. Still, it's a great inspiration and it's got me looking forward to this GOT.
@TheArt I donβt agree. RDR1 was much better than 2 imo...
Iβm glad this dev singled it out over the sequel.
@Dodoo and you have no reasons...of course there are and always will be comments like that. It's anyone's guess there are gonna be people who'd say TLOU is better than TLOU2, even if does everything better.
@TheArt I think they where busy with the game before RDR 2 released. π
@Grimwood The left out the boring stuff.
@Flaming_Kaiser Well sounds more like it and not that they think it's better than II.
@TheArt That is what i think atleast. π π
That's good news.
@Agramonte while I wasn't very fond of BOTW's narrative myself, it's genius from a design standpoint.
It's the only narrative in an open world game I can think of that actually goes hand in hand with the game being open world.
Skyrim's, or inFamous, or The Witcher 3's stories, for example, don't strictly need an open world to be told: they are linear stories with a linear progression (not that there's anything bad with that).
Zelda's, on the contrary, has already happened when the game starts, and having to recollect the memories allows the player to discover it in any order, while exploring organically. It's a story that only an open world game...no, only this game could tell.
Mechanically it's genius.
Basically the "real" narrative of the game is Link preparing to take on Ganon by exploring and completing shrines and Beasts, and that ends up matching 1:1 with the player's experience. Again, it's genius.
@Belekai 100% agreed. Iβm 164 hours into Oddysey right now, and also played tons of RDR1. All I seen of GoT screams Odyssey. The huge map, the large pretty but empty areas of between missions, even the way you loot and the UI elements showing where enemies are. Hell, at times it feel as much an Assassin Creed game as Bloodblurne feels like a Dark Souls game.
Edit: I will play the game, regardless. Iβm a sucker for open world games. But what has been shown so far, RDR it ainβt.
@clvr As much "genius" as me taking a mediocre children's book and tossing the pages in the yard and having the kids go find them before bed when they ask for a "story"
Na, that is the same mentality that "I am making an open world game" so everything needs to be designed "open" regardless if it is a good solution or not for the task. That needs to end.
And nothing "new". It was just a more graphic intensive interpretation of telling a subplot by tossing a bunch of documents or audio tapes in the open world "for the player to find as they explore" behind an umbrella side quest. It has been done for decades in Western open world RPGs. Nintendo putting a fancy camera Ui and a cut scene makes no difference. It still just ends up a disjointed pile of ideas devoid of any pacing to speak of.
Link preparing to take on Ganon by exploring the world is just a series of game mechanics (That is what Nintendo knows how to do, everything else is window dressing for them)... Beating Ganon was more about those game mechanics and how you mastered them (or skipped). Not the satisfying completion (or telling) of a story arc.
Glad I grind cores for the ancient set and arrows... not that I found picture location #4 up on the hill.
"Na, that is the same mentality that "I am making an open world game" so everything needs to be designed "open" regardless if it is a good solution or not for the task. That needs to end."
To be honest I agree with that, but from where I stand BOTW does the exact opposite of that.
As you said, Nintendo starts from gameplay and then derives the rest from that, and that's exactly why the story serves the mechanics, making you go out and explore.
On the contrary, a lot of other open worlds feel like a tacked-on list to check on an otherwise linear story that could've worked without it.
"Link preparing to take on Ganon by exploring the world is just a series of game mechanics (That is what Nintendo knows how to do, everything else is window dressing for them)... Beating Ganon was more about those game mechanics and how you mastered them (or skipped)."
Exactly. In the end, the "story" Link experiences in the game is the exact same as the player's, and that is what I consider genius.
Everything you do in the game feeds into the ultimate goal of defeating Ganon, encouraging the player to explore because deiven by curiosity, rather than checking icons off a list.
How many games have you played that tell you the next story mission is super urgent, but you're free to get distracted by meaningless fetch quests?
There's no such ludonarrative dissonance in this game, because every single thing in this game is designed around its open world and feeds into it.
@TheArt Both RDR games are great but if there's a couple of things I'd criticize about 2 it's that New Austin is incredibly empty, Guarma needed more thought and development put into it. They could've left New Austin out and nothing would be different. And if there's an issue that both or all Rockstar games have that I've noticed is that the mission designs are strictly linear and don't let you do what you want to do. Other than that both games are amazing and have amazing stories and gameplay.
@Nepp67 Well it's 1899 you'd expect a lot of vegetation and a few settlements. Even so it's hardly empty when you keep chancing upon interesting random things in the wilderness and are going pelt hunting for unique outfit crafting. I'm on my 3rd playthrough and still finding new things, it'd feel empty for anyone obviously if they're just galloping from mission to mission and not actually deeply exploring the world. There's absolutely NOTHING they can add to make the world feel more occupied, what? Buildings? Again, it's 1899 and that's what we're gonna get.
@TheArt You do know that making excuses as to why a part of a map is incredibly empty cause it's
1899 doesn't change the fact that it is incredibly empty right? You finding animals to skin doesn't mske it any less empty. There's practically nothing to do on that part of the map. Imo they should've taken that entire part of the map out and make it a linear segment for John's epilogue so that they could've put more development time into making the map of Guarma.
@Nepp67 ??? I don't get you? What would you rather they put there instead of large plains, forests between towns in 1899? I mean this is Rockstar we're talking about, they could've put whatever on there to make it not feel your so-called "empty" if they wanted to. With all the random events like someone being attacked by a bear, or stick-up dudes jumping you, strangers asking for help, finding rare items in shacks, forts, crushed boats etc, finding treasures, bounties etc I don't know how you're playing it but it's not empty. Sometimes I'm just wishing to get from A to B without being interrupted by some random event but there's always something going on, and it's all fun.
@TheArt Lol It's like you didn't fully read my comment. As I said, they should've taken it out and put more development time into Guarma. Having random events(which are rare) of civilians asking for help doesn't add anything as I could find stuff like that anywhere else. Niether is going into shacks or abandoned houses to find loot(Which by the way isn't anything special and is just either junk to sell or health items)where you could find that anywhere else on the map besides New Austin. It sounds like to me you're trying so hard to find anything to make New Austin not sound empty when it REALLY is. There's no stranger missions, there's no side activities to do, there's not even bounties to do over there. It's barren and empty unless you like fighting Del Lobos and going to Fort Mercer over and over.....
@Nepp67 Woah woah oh you mean NEW AUSTIN, I thought you were speaking of New Hanover all along sorry sorry πππ
YES! As for New Austin it's practically empty, I agree. It's true I've hardly spent anytime there during the epilogue, it's all about Arthur and New Hanover for me so I thought you were talking about that. Cause I know there's a lot going on in Saint Denis, the Bayou etc so I was confused as to what you want.
I agree a lot of people would've loved more of Guarma than New Austin but seeing the latter with RDR2's graphics isn't half bad also.
@Tharsman Yeah man, its always good to take inspiration from other games, i mean if it works dont fix it right? I loved the AC games, glitches and all, but GoT seems to be copying a little too much for my liking. Playstation has always been the goto system for open world games, especially this generation. I never give a final opinion on a game until i have completed it, so lets just hope it offers something more on top of the AC formula. As long as they build on it rather than copy paste im sure we will all enjoy it
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