‘Horizonis an industry plant’ gets thrown around a lot, but it feels like it might be true. The series has nothing but forgettable characters, built on the back of a tired Ubisoft formula without ever pushing the envelope forward. It’s a serviceable RPG at best, and yet thanks to major sales (Zero Dawn is touching 25 million), it has spawned a big-budget sequel, PS VR2 launch title,Astro BotVIP level, Lego adaptation, rumoured MMO spin-off, and even a remaster less than a decade later. That’s not to mentionthe reportedly cancelled TV series.
It sells well, sure, but it has no cultural footprint. It is a vapid blockbuster, always overshadowed by its peers - especially the ones it tends to release right next to. Yet every passing year, Sony pushes Horizon harder and harder, desperate to make it stick as the flagship PlayStation series, more so than evenThe Last of UsandGod of War.
Sony clearly doesn’t want prestigious icons front and centre. It wants a malleable blockbuster that can easily fit different audiences, whether it’s kids, VR enthusiasts, or your average gamer. That’s what Horizon is designed for, but it feels painfully forced. Just like with a certain Jurassic theme park, there’s only so much you can do with robot dinosaurs before things get stale. Horizon will never be the adaptable flagship Sony wants it to be, but it has an alternative sitting in the wings that fitsperfectly—Ghost of Tsushima.
During the most recent State of Play, developer Sucker Punch revealedGhost of Yotei, setting an immediate precedent. The series can go anywhere, anytime, with anyone, so long as the idea of the Ghost prevails. The sequel might also be in Japan, but there’s no reason the eventual third game needs to be. Meanwhile, Horizon is stuck with Aloy in the same post-post-apocalypse, growing stale with every new entry.
In fairness, Ghost of Tsushima does suffer from some of the same problems that Horizon does — Aloy and Jin are painstakingly bland, and both games take liberally from the established Ubisoft formula. The difference is that there’s far more potential in Ghost’s future. It’s already dropping Jin for a new protagonist, which could be its Ezio moment, and exploring new settings ensures that the series can stop itself from going stale.
Where Tsushima saw Jin protect the titular island from Mongol invaders,Yotei could be exploring the underrepresented indigenous Ainu people, a wholly unique setting that sheds light on a side of history most are unaware of. That is far more exciting than retreading old ground again and again. Asour Editor-in-Chief Stacey Henley wrote, it has solidified the series as the first majorAssassin’s Creedcompetitor after Tsushima already clearly inspired Shadows.
It’s malleable, influential, and is expanding into the multimedia world with a Chad Stahelski-directed action film. Ghost of Tsushima has flourished into what Horizon has been manufactured for, and that natural, earned development can be felt in its community.
2020 was an exciting year for The Game Awards. The nominees for the top prize wereDoom Eternal,Animal Crossing: New Horizons,Hades,Final Fantasy 7 Remake,The Last of Us Part 2, and Ghost of Tsushima. It had earned a place among the greats, and fans really went to bat for it.
To this day,they argue that it was ‘snubbed’with the same fervour asSpider-Man 2fans. I don’t agree, but Tsushima having the same passion behind it as one of the most popular superheroes of all time goes to show how good a job Sucker Punch did at fostering a community that cares about this series and its future.
In such a stacked field, Tsushima won Player’s Voice, though some of that wasdue to its unwitting role as the face of a culture war.
I’ve yet to meet a Horizon fan nearly as passionate. Even inthe communityduring the year it launched, suggesting that it should win GOTY was mostly met with apathy. The general sentiment was, ‘I love it, but there are better games.’ There isn’t that same drive as there is with Ghost fans, because it’s a by-the-numbers series that isn’t doing anything bold, failing to leave any kind of significant mark. That’s what makes Sony’s continual push of it feel so artificial.
Ghost of Tsushima and now Ghost of Yotei have earned that place as Sony’s flagship blockbuster, with a dedicated fanbase, a potential that leaves its future completely open, and a mark on one of the industry’s legacy titans. Horizon, on the other hand, will never shirk the reputation of a ‘plant’ or the memes of launching under the shadow of far more exciting games.
It has no room to grow beyond Aloy or carve out a meaningful legacy. The ship has long since sailed, even if Sony is still rushing to get on board, but Ghost is right there, just waiting for the winds to change.
Ghost of Yotei
WHERE TO PLAY
Discover a bold, new story of a warrior in Japan who is on a mission of vengeance all her own.Set 300 years after the critically acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yōtei is standalone experience set in 1600s rural Japan. The story follows a haunted, lone mercenary named Atsu. Thirsty for revenge, she travels through the beautiful, rugged landscapes of northern Japan, hunting those who killed her family many years earlier.
