Out of all the things that Sucker Punch has showcased for Ghost of Yōtei, the shamisen is arguably the most mysterious. During its State of Play deep dive, we briefly saw Atsu cycling through songs to play, including the Song of Vanity, Song of the Wolf, etc. In a new interview with IGN, co-director Jason Connell confirms that it can help locate various collectibles, including new outfits.
Originally belonging to her mother, Atsu’s shamisen is likened to the Traveler’s Attire from Ghost of Tsushima, which helped in discovering nearby content. “I love that the shamisen exists and there’s actually songs that you can learn inside of the open world, and those songs can then guide you to certain types of things,” said Connell.
“So you want to collect some of these songs because they’ll guide you. The Song of Vanity might guide you to cosmetics, and we know how people love dressing up in the game and putting on cool outfits. So I’m really excited about showing more of that and for players to get an opportunity to use that.”
It’s thus possible that the Song of Well-Being leads to onsens for increasing Atsu’s max health, the Song of Spirit leads to Bamboo Strikes to increase max Spirit (which replaces Resolve), and the Song of Shrines helps in locating shrines. The Song of the Wolf is the most intriguing, however. Does it cause the rogue wolf to appear more often?
How Atsu will discover these songs remains to be seen, so stay tuned for further updates. Ghost of Yōtei launches on October 2nd for PS5, retailing at $69.99. Check out Sucker Punch’s thoughts on the new weapon swapping system and how you won’t be punished for sticking to a single weapon type.
