Ghost of Yotei makes great use of PS5 and all its bells and whistles, but one of the clearest examples is its time travel mechanic.
At certain spots in the game, you're able to warp instantly to the past in order to see the world from Atsu's perspective when she was a child. Combining the PS5's speedy SSD with Sucker Punch's technical wizardry, it's a great effect that allows for these neat flashback moments.
However, the feature was, at one point, planned to be a much bigger part of the experience.
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In a video featuring creative director Jason Connell and Vince Gilligan (creator of Breaking Bad and Pluribus), Connell touches on the flashback mechanic, revealing that it was once intended to be implemented game-wide.
He says he was initially very excited about the concept, and wanted to have it be possible "as many places as we can, maybe everywhere".
Unfortunately, after working on the feature for a year, it dawned on the team that having it cover the whole game would be too much. Connell points out Sucker Punch would effectively be "doubling [the] art" required for the game.
"In the end, it was the right choice because it is a very powerful narrative tool," he says, explaining that its use for more bespoke, potent moments in the story was a more effective use of the feature.
Indeed, if the flashback mechanic was available at any point in the game, Sucker Punch would have to create two world maps, and come up with many more narrative beats to justify Atsu's memories of every place — it definitely seems like too tall an order.