The usual outrage has already hit Ghost of Yotei and it’s beyond tiring

People have already started whining about Ghost of Yotei and I’ll give you three guesses why. If you immediately guessed that it’s because there’s a woman in it; congratulations.

The September 2024 State of Play wrapped up with what I thought was a pretty exciting look at Ghost of Yotei, a successor to Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima. Set 400 years after the first game in the franchise, we get a new region, new technology, and a new protagonist in Atsu.

Therein lies the problem. For the crime of having a woman in it, Ghost of Yotei looks to have become the official new target of whatever the hell is happening with Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Typically, it’s worth just ignoring these sorts of conversations, but with the baffling speed at which people have decided to write off Ghost of Yotei, it’s hard to ignore in this instance.

The ‘problem’ with Ghost of Yotei

After barely three minutes of footage and within only an hour of getting that small morsel, people have started pinning Ghost of Yotei with the usual buzzwords. The game is “woke”, it’s “DEI trash”, you know what I’m talking about.

The accusations stem from the fact that new protagonist Atsu has lady parts and according to some, that’s enough to make the whole game untouchable. Obviously, the concept of not touching a woman is very familiar to most people leveling these sorts of criticisms but there’s more to it so let’s unpack.

Some have pointed to a perceived historical inaccuracy based on unconfirmed assumptions. “Why bother making a game about a Japanese period if you’re not going to honor it?” One armchair historian replied to Sucker Punch’s reveal on X. “There were no female Samurai warriors. It’s nonsensical to base your game around one especially when you did such a respectful job with the first GoT.”

Others aren’t even attempting to mask what is supposed to be the quiet part of these arguments. “No Jin. Female lead. G*y af,” read another pearl of wisdom from these stalwart defenders against the woke mind virus.

Other less reasoned takes (yep, less than that) have referred to Ghost of Yotai as “DEI slop” or a “Ghost of Concord” (good one bro). It’s the same brainrot rhetoric that has plagued games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows or Dragon Age: The Veilguard in their prerelease periods.

That’s not to say there aren’t some genuine concerns about these games or Ghost of Yotei. Many players have complained that we aren’t getting a continuation of Jin Sakai’s story and it’s okay to be disappointed about that.

Luckily, I think I can assuage the fears of those players and the ones brigading against this new game because it has a g-g-g-girl in it.

Mad about nothing

If you couldn’t tell with the limited footage of the game and the extreme speed of these knee-jerk reactions, we know very little about Ghost of Yotai. Fortunately, there is a handy little tidbit that should quiet the crowd screeching about “female Samurai”.

Sucker Punch has not directly stated that Atsu is a Samurai at all. In fact, they’ve gone out of their way not to by describing the protagonist as “a wandering warrior in Feudal Japan”. You’d think folks so concerned with the rich history of Japan would know that Samurai is a title and just holding a katana (or two in Atsu’s case) doesn’t make you one.

Turns out, anyone can pick one up, train with it, and still become a formidable combatant. To get ahead of the next logical fallback, there are documented historical accounts of capable female warriors in Japan including cavalry regiments. The first game even featured a few martially-oriented female characters and nobody seemed to mind then…

For those disappointed that we aren’t getting a follow-up to Jin’s story from Ghost of Tsushima, that heading above might seem a little inflammatory. It’s true Ghost of Yotei won’t see us continue Jin’s journey and leaks of the State of Play line-up referring to ‘Ghost of Tsushima 2’ might have set some expectations of that.

It sucks having your hopes dashed but the good news is, at no point ever has Sucker Punch ruled out a direct sequel. Games like Spider-Man Miles Morales have taken us into spin-off territory only for Peter Parker to return in Spider-Man 2. We can’t say with any degree of certainty that Jin will return in a full-fledged game, but there has been absolutely no indication that he won’t.

In fact, we already know we’ll be seeing Jin again very soon, albeit in a different medium. There’s a Ghost of Tsushima movie in the works from John Wick director Chad Stahelski, all focused on Jin’s story from the first game.

At the very least, Ghost of Yotei is an indication that Sony and Sucker Punch are invested in the world they established in Ghost of Tsushima.

If down the line, some janky gameplay footage or anti-consumer inclusions make an appearance, some trepidation is totally valid. Complaining that a game is led by a female character is a little trite though.