In a recent State of Play broadcast, Sony gave viewers a brand new look at the upcoming samurai action game Ghost of Tsushima and its black-and-white mode. Developed by Sucker Punch, who many may know from the Infamous series, Ghost of Tsushima tells the story of Jin Sakai and his battle against the Mongolian invasion of Japan in 1274 as he defends his home island of Tsushima, the last line of defense between the Mongols and the Japanese mainland.
The latest State of Play broadcast, which aired on May 14, gave us nearly 18 minutes of new gameplay, making it one of the longest looks at Ghost of Tsushima so far. During the gameplay demo, we got to see the game's combat and exploration take a front seat in Sucker Punch's newest open-world game. One of the more interesting details shown in the State of Play is a mode that gives a black-and-white film grain filter over the game, allowing players to experience the game like it's a classic Akira Kurosawa film.
Of course, many may worry that a black-and-white mode will detract from the game's beautiful aesthetic design. Jason Connell, the creative/art director behind Ghost of Tsushima, explained how the company's playtesting helped the developers ensure the game would be enjoyable whether players have color or not. "There are definitely some things that are more challenging when you're in that mode. Once we created that mode, and you can play the whole game through it, we quickly realized there were some areas that we need to reevaluate,” Connell said. “Like, if we were using the same icon on the map but just using a different color, then that doesn't work that well. So you have to change the shape of the second icon because the color alone won't work."
A major part of designing Ghost of Tsushima to work well with the black-and-white mode was understanding how colorblind accessibility options work. "And frankly, we take a lot of cues from learning from a colorblind accessibility mode. It effectively would be that for us. We just put the mode on and play the game a ton and find out where it breaks and rework on the design. And that's how we work in general about almost everything," Connell added. He also mentioned that the game will have difficulty options in order to allow as many players as possible to enjoy the game.
Ghost of Tsushima's black-and-white mode is sure to be a popular choice for all of those old-school film buffs out there. It also speaks heavily about the game's inspirations and the team's willingness to make the game accessible. Some of the other features players may be interested in includes the ability to turn on a Japanese voice track and a photo mode for making beautiful shots.
Ghost of Tsushima will release July 17 on the PlayStation 4.
Source: IGN