Alright, let’s talk about Ghost of Tsushima and sneaking. When I first fired up the game, I was all about that samurai fantasy, you know? The standoffs, the clashing steel, it looked awesome. So, naturally, I jumped straight into facing enemies head-on.
My First Tries at Combat
In the beginning, I mostly relied on parrying and dodging. Standoffs were cool, getting that quick kill felt powerful. I tried to be honorable, walking right up to Mongol patrols and challenging them. It worked okay for smaller groups, maybe two or three guys. But pretty soon, I started running into bigger camps, forts stuffed with enemies.
That’s where things got tricky. Going in swords blazing against ten guys? Yeah, that usually ended with me getting overwhelmed fast. Archers were a real pain, peppering me from afar while I tried to deal with spearmen and brutes up close. I died. A lot. It got a bit frustrating, honestly. I felt like I was hitting a wall just trying to brute force every encounter.
Giving Stealth a Real Shot
So, I figured I had to try the “Ghost” stuff the game kept mentioning. At first, I wasn’t great. I’d mistime a jump, get spotted trying to sneak past a guard, and suddenly the whole camp would be on alert. It felt slow, and sometimes kind of tedious compared to the action of open combat.
But I stuck with it. I started unlocking more Ghost techniques. Using wind chimes to lure guards away, dropping down from rooftops for assassinations, using those smoke bombs to vanish when things went south… it started to click.
There’s a different kind of satisfaction in clearing out an entire outpost without anyone ever knowing you were there. Picking them off one by one, studying patrol routes, using the environment. It felt smart, calculated.
- I practiced chain assassinations, taking down two or three guys in quick succession.
- I started using listening mode constantly to track enemies through walls.
- Getting those bonus objectives in missions for staying undetected felt pretty good too.
Finding a Balance
After playing for a while, mixing both styles became my go-to strategy. Approaching a big fort, I’d usually start by sneaking.
My process usually went something like this:
First, I’d scout the area from a high point. Identify archers, leaders, maybe Mongol dogs. Then, I’d try to take out the isolated guys on the edges, especially the archers in towers. Use stealth kills, maybe a few well-aimed arrows. Thin the herd, basically.
Once I’d taken out a few key targets or if I got spotted accidentally, then the sword came out. But now, instead of facing ten guys, maybe I was only facing five or six. Much more manageable. I’d use smoke bombs to break line of sight or get a critical strike in. If things got really messy, I could always try to disengage, hide, and go back to sneaking.
So, Does Sneaking Matter?
Yeah, I’d say it definitely matters. You can probably beat the game going mostly samurai-style, especially if you get really good at combat and manage your Resolve for healing. But it’ll likely be harder, especially on higher difficulties.
Sneaking offers huge advantages:
- It lets you control the battlefield before the fight even starts.
- You can eliminate dangerous enemies like archers or leaders first.
- It saves resources; you don’t burn as much Resolve on healing if you’re not getting hit constantly.
- It ties into the story, Jin’s whole internal conflict about honor versus survival. Engaging with the stealth mechanics makes that part of the narrative feel more earned, I think.
For me, Ghost of Tsushima felt best when I embraced both sides of Jin. Sometimes you want that cinematic standoff, that clash of swords. Other times, clearing an entire fortress like a silent shadow is way more effective and satisfying in its own way. So yeah, sneaking isn’t just an optional side thing; it feels like a core part of the experience they intended you to use. It mattered to how I played and got through the tougher parts, for sure.
