Published , by Bill Lavoy
Published , by Bill Lavoy
You could be forgiven for approaching a PC port of a PlayStation exclusive with some hesitation. Over the last several years there have been a few rough launches for games that shined on the PS5 and eventually made their way to PCs. Much to my delight, however, Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is a fine PC game, even if there are one or two small, unforced errors.
I never was able to get into Ghost of Tsushima on PS5. I played it for several hours, but my true gaming comfort is playing on PC and, more recently, with a mouse and keyboard. As a self-proclaimed open world connoisseur, I knew that this was my kind of game, but I didn’t want to experience it on console when I knew I would enjoy it more on PC. Fast forward nearly four years and Ghost of Tsushima has finally arrived on PC and is everything I hoped it would be.
To be clear, this is not a review. Shacknews has already published a Ghost of Tsushima review and scored it a sparkling 9/10. There is no doubt that this is a fantastic game, the only questions revolve around how it translates to PC. What kind of features does it introduce? How is the controller support? Are there any major performance issues? Those are the questions I had coming in, and hopefully I can clear them up for you if you’re thinking of picking up Ghost of Tsushima on PC.
Ghost of Tsushima comes with all the bells and whistles that you’d expect to see from a PC port, including unlocked framerates and PC-specific graphics options. This includes DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3, and Intel XeSS. You can rebind keys if you’re using a mouse and keyboard, and there is even support for ultra-wide monitors. These are all features you’d expect in a good PC port, so it’s nice to see them included.
Once I was set free in the world, I experienced no performance issues. I installed Ghost of Tsushima on an SSD and cranked every setting I could to the max. My i9-11900K @ 3.50GHZ and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti handled everything without a care in the world. I didn’t experience any major drops in framerates and had zero crashes (knock on wood).
What puzzled me was the controller support. Yes, there is support for the DualSense controller, including the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Yes, there is support for various controllers that aren’t made by Sony. What’s missing, though, is full support for third-party controllers that use the PlayStation button icons. I have the Victrix Pro BFG Wireless Controller for PS5, PS4, and PC. The game detects it fine, but since it believes that it’s a normal PC controller, it only shows Xbox button icons. Keep in mind that this controller is officially licensed by PlayStation. Unfortunately, there is no option to manually choose your button icons. I can’t imagine Sony would be happy to know that officially licensed PlayStation controllers are forcing players to use Xbox button icons while playing a game published by PlayStation Studios. It’s not a big deal to me since I opt for mouse and keyboard, but it’s a puzzling oversight just the same.
It’s taking me actual restraint not to gush over how good Ghost of Tsushima is on PC. We all know how beautiful it is on PS5 and how great the gameplay is. Now, crank that up and add the precision of mouse and keyboard. The combat, especially straight-up sword fighting, is absurdly satisfying. I’m addicted to approaching enemies and initiating a standoff, then cutting them down and taking on the rest of the baddies without a care in the world. I had to rebind a couple of keys that I didn’t like (Alt to dodge and Z to heal), but that’s why the option to rebind keys exists.
If there’s one thing that just doesn’t quite work as well as I’d like with a mouse and keyboard, it’s horseback riding. But that’s not a problem unique to Ghost of Tsushima. Red Dead Redemption 2 might have the best horse physics in history, and even that wasn’t great with a mouse and keyboard. Some things do, in fact, work better with analog sticks for movement. Of course, you can freely swap between a controller and mouse and keyboard. Pick up the controller when you’re on horseback, then swap to mouse and keyboard when you’re on foot. Problem solved?
It should concern Sony that every time a PC port of one of their PlayStation exclusive titles is released people wonder if it will be good or riddled with problems. That shouldn’t be happening. With Ghost of Tsushima, there is nothing to fear. Not only does it include PC features and settings we’ve come to expect, but it also arguably plays even better for those that would rather use a mouse and keyboard, and it doesn’t appear to have any major performance issues. This is one PC port that sticks the landing in almost every way and is a can’t-miss title for PC players that love open worlds.
These Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut PC impressions are based on a code provided by the publisher. Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is available on PC now.