Ghost of Yotei director insists franchise will stay true to its Japanese roots ahead of launch

Ghost of Yotei is gearing up for its exclusive release on the PlayStation 5 on October 2, 2025. Meanwhile, Sucker Punch Studios has reaffirmed that the franchise will remain committed to its Japanese roots and iconic arsenal of weapons, ensuring any future entries in the franchise will remain rooted in the land of the rising sun.

In a recent media roundtable interview reported by Filipino news outlet Ungeek, studio head and founder Brian Fleming addressed rumors about potential expansions in the series, stating that straying from feudal Japan would undermine the game’s essence. Fleming stated:

We believe the core of Ghost is someone wielding a katana, that’s part of the essence. We can’t imagine a Ghost game set in, say, Feudal Europe. That doesn’t make sense. There are plenty of games set there, but that’s not what a Ghost game is.

He further highlighted the integral role of Japan’s landscapes, and further mentioned, “For us, the natural beauty of Japan is part of the essence of a Ghost game. I gave this answer on stage at Tokyo Game Show, and I think the fans in Japan really appreciated that. That’s the way we see it. It will always have that core, open-world katana adventure of some kind.”

These words from Sucker Punch Studios’ head come just a few days before the game’s release, where the second installment in the series explored the rugged northern frontier of Ezo in the year 1603, which is now known as modern-day Hokkaido. Ghost of Yotei takes players to the footsteps of Mount Yotei, dubbed as Ezo Fuji.

Unlike the game’s previous installment, which took place in the 1274 Mongol Invasion of Tsushima Island in the late Kamakura period, Yotei features a female protagonist, Atsu, driven by vengeance in a time of shifting power dynamics in the post-Battle of Sekigahara. 

Sucker Punch’s development team drew extensive reference trips to Hokkaido, alongside visits to Shiretoko National Park, to capture the region's “alive” and “dangerous” environments, which influence the game’s combat and exploration in ways that feel more dynamic and unpredictable than in Tsushima.

As for Fleming’s comments about the series, it appears players will get further entries in the Ghost series, exclusively set in the Japanese samurai era, which spanned from the late 12th century, during the rise of the Kamakura shogunate, to the late 1870s, when the Meiji Restoration dismantled the samurai and stepped into an era of modernization.

With Tsushima anchoring the game’s timeline at 1274 and leaping forward three centuries into 1603 with Yotei, the series still has tons of historical runway left to explore. We could expect the franchise to explore the turbulent Sengoku period’s civil wars to the stable, yet intriguing Edo era.

However, Fleming did mention some self-imposed limits for the series, suggesting that the game might explore different locales like central Honshu or Kyushu, but will never balloon into a multi-era sprawl akin to Assassin’s Creed. Fleming also added, “Now, we may change time periods, we may explore different settings, but I think there are some boundaries we probably won’t cross.”