Now that Sucker Punch Productions is a few weeks removed from the release of its open-world action adventure game Ghost of Yōtei, co-director Jason Connell and lead writer Ian Ryan have spoken about what the future holds for new protagonist Atsu. In an interview with Game Informer, Ryan and Connell were asked about whether her story is complete, or if we’ll see more, like we did with Ghost of Tsushima’s Iki Island expansion.
For his part, Ryan believes that the end of Ghost of Yōtei represents only one chapter of Atsu’s story being complete. He does note, however, that there is still much more ahead of her in her life, even after she got the revenge that she had originally set out for. With that in mind, he also believes that Atsu’s future is going to be far from smooth sailing. Major spoilers follow for the ending, so be warned.
“For me? I see it as a chapter is done, but she has so much more in front of her,” said Ryan. “She’s just suddenly learning to live again without her brother with her niece and as a surrogate mother figure. Revenge is now fully behind her, but she’s not fully healed. She’s healed a lot, and she’s learned to see a future beyond revenge.”
“But what that future is? Is it just going to be smooth sailing? I think absolutely not. And that’s one of the interesting things about Atsu’s story that also makes it, really relatable.”
As for whether or not we’ll see any post-launch story content coming to Ghost of Yōtei, Connell said that it largely depends on the title’s long-term reception. Whether or not the title will get any DLC or expansion releases will ultimately depend on if players are more interested in learning more about Atsu. Comparing it to Ghost of Tsushima, Connell noted that players were quite keen on learning more about protagonist Jin Sakai even after the end of the original title’s story.
“I think for us, we are at the spot in the project where we just get to put it out there and see what’s resonating with people and what people love and what people feel like they wish they maybe knew more about Atsu,” said Connell. “And I think for us, this is like the most important part of the project, in terms of making decisions like these, because same thing with Tsushima. You can listen, you can be like, ‘Oh, okay. People seem to want to know a little bit more about that relationship or what happened to the dad.’ How do you further that character?”
“And you get this rare opportunity to actually listen to millions of people about what resonated within a story versus maybe what didn’t or what are the holes. And I think that’s the mode that you want to be in. And that’s sort of the gift. Certainly we love Atsu, and we think it’s a great character. And just like with Jin, if there’s rooms to improve it or to bring some new elements to life or clarity for the narrative’s sake and it falls within what is best for Sucker Punch, then we’ll certainly take a hard look at that for sure.”
Ghost of Yōtei is available exclusively on PS5. For more details, check out our review. Also check out the reasons behind Sucker Punch Productions picking Hokkaido as the main setting for the game, as well as what the studio’s future plans entail.
