It took me 54.4 hours to complete the base game and Iki Island dlc. I got all the achievements except for new game+ and the multiplayer ones. Here's what I think. This game was hyped for so long and I was expecting something truly amazing. I don't think this is that, but you should play it regardless.

The best part of this game is the story. It's presented beautifully, filled with twist and turns. Easily the best storytelling that I've encountered in these Playstation exclusive games. I'd go as far as to say that it's the complete opposite of Horizon Zero Dawns story, which in itself had a really cool idea, but was presented in the dullest way possible. This game have you reading no tablets for story bits and you can actually remember the characters names and motivations when the game is finished. Almost forgot I was sitting in my room because of how pulled in I was.

The world is gorgeous. So many photos I took using the in game photo mod it's embarrassing. But you can't stop. All the vistas are so different from one another you really get stuck inspecting the world, which is really helped by the minimalist design choice for the UI and the game itself as a whole.

The combat was hyped up to be something really unique and world changing, but most mechanics are redundant. I played on hard mode and only died to falling a few times and some of the boss encounters on first try. For the most part defeating enemies only require the basic stance and shieldbreaker when playing. The spear stance was okay until you unlock the ability to dodge spear attack and it loses all usability. But bow and basic combat style is all you really need, which is a shame. Maybe other mechanics are useful in lethal mode, which I'll see in my next playthrough. But yeah, bare in mind that the game isn't really that challenging if you are afraid of that.

The stealth is there in the most basic way you can imagine, but it is there. Weirdly the story puts heavy emphasis on the sneaking aspect, which is the least fleshed out thing in the game. I really liked it regardless, because the simplicity allowed very fast ways of clearing out camps without being seen. The bow is your biggest friend in this game.

Sadly this game can't escape the open world mission formatting that the genre is suffering from. All the side hustles that are not character based follow same loop: Talk to person, investigate area, kill bad guy, talk to person again. Sometimes they start interestingly, maybe the person said there's a demon he saw and you are like 'Oh cool okay', but it always ends up being couple mongols wearing loincloths and a sleeveless shirt. It's like playing Witcher 3, but they took out the monsters and replaced them with regular dudes. I get this game aims for realism in the storytelling, but they could have spent time inventing more interesting and story driven sidequests. Seeing as the philosophy of the game was less is more.

Most of the overworld activities are boring, at least if you start doing them after the story. Do I really have to do a miniature trailing mission with a cute fox for 49 times? Apparently I do. Most of these activities are in their essence: go there, press R2, watch miniature cutscene. They are fine I guess if you are still playing the story while doing them and immersing yourself in the world, but afterwards it becomes apparent that there really isn't much there.

It's a decent game that has really good story and beautiful world that is brought to live by the art direction and minimalist design choices. However, these minimalist design choices creep their way into areas of the game, such as the side activities and combat, where their effect is also seen, but in a not so great light. That being said, not every game has to be the most challenging or complex to enjoy or appreciate. I bought this game for one reason and one reason only: To be a badass samurai; the Ghost of Tsushima. And oh boy that I truly was