How Ghost of Yōtei is Potentially Flipping an Age-Old Cinema Script in Videogame Form

"Inside the dusters, there were three men. Inside the men, there were three bullets..."

“Jidaigeki” or “Chanbara” -- Japanese cinematic terms for period pieces and samurai/sword-slinging joints in film and TV, respectively, are oft cited as inspirations for media of the same setup, narrative and tonal ilk of the “Western” genre. You know, cowboys, gunslingers, bandits and the like… that kind of Western. In some circles of thought, Toshiro Mifune is as interchangeable, character-to-character, as Clint Eastwood in their respective roles, regardless of era, culture or geolocation. This is largely because the genres have so much in common and work to similar themes that can get quite deep, such as colonisation, subjugation, starvation, lawlessness, honour, revenge and more.

And there are myriad reasons for the similarities we’ll get to shortly, but more importantly up front is the coalescence of influence from both, historically, in modern media.

Videogames in particular. 

So when the trailer for Ghost of Yōtei dropped, it got us to thinking and wondering just what this sequel will be and do. There are some hints embedded in it, too, if you’re willing to look past the absolutely stunning Mount Yōtei setting, alongside a few other aspects that were teased from the PlayStation Blog post. And we get that maybe, just maybe, we’re reading too much into what was shown but it’s hard not to recognise a tone reversal when you see one, especially if you live and breathe both influential genres and narrative styles as we do.

Let us explain.

Ghost of Yōtei

Genre: Open-World Action-Adventure
Developer: Sucker Punch
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: 2025
Classification: TBC
Author: Stephen Farrelly
Date: October 02, 2024

The Wild East

This is the most obvious reasoning for where we’re leaning with the point of this mini feature, but tonally this could have been a Western (as in the genre) reveal trailer. The “Wanted” poster, the wild horses, the dusty izakaya, new protagonist Atsu’s shamisen and the very Western soundtrack the trailer plays to… much of it gave us a vibe that, in many ways, Ghost of Yōtei, might be leaning more on tonal tropes of the Western than as deeply as Ghost of Tsushima did with its love of Jidaigeki or Chanbara overall. It’s a small observation and could even have just been done as a stylish visual note for certain audiences, but this gives us a bit of pause, because there’s another element of the trailer that’s important to point out, and it happens in the opening extreme wide shot which, incidentally, is black and white and layered with old film grain.

"That burning temple might have more significance than you think..."

Perhaps even more importantly is that the following shot, also in black and white, is of a burning temple before we see one more sweeping shot of Mount Yōtei. But that burning temple might have more significance than you think, because after these three stunningly-presented opening shots, we switch to colour and our shift in tone goes from old to new.

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"Iaido" is the ancient samurai art of unsheathing your sword in a deadly or aggressive strike and is still taught today. Its origins are well-known and well-documented. The 'quick-draw' in the Western genre obviously borrows very heavily from this, but there's little-to-no-evidence that 'pistols at dawn' in the Wild West was ever a 'planned' thing. Rather, violence, disputes and, of course, booze, held larger sway to starting gunfights. But that in the Western genre there's almost a 'martial art' related to 'gun slingin'' tells us a lot about the influence of Chanbara on romanticised depictions of the "Wild West".

Lady Snowblood or, “Now in Technicolor”

A lot was said across myriad camps at the launch of Tsushima in regards to what it did right, what it did wrong and, more importantly, what it left out. This writer did so on another platform I contribute to a while back that you can still read, and it’s all entirely still relevant. But we’re not here to list “10 Things Ghost of Yōtei Needs”. Rather, we’re here to acknowledge that we might see a paradigm shift in this IP for the good of it, now and into the future.

"Again, this helps us lean more and more into this being a samurai tale that actually takes its cues from the Western genre..."

There are plenty of open-world games Yōtei could borrow from, but Red Dead Redemption 2 would have to be a fairly tantalising north star. Not that we want it to be wholly derivative in a different sheen or era, but let’s consider a few things already mentioned above such as the music, the “Wanted” poster and the dusty izakaya, which is essentially a Japanese saloon. That this game is even based in the land it is, which is now Hokkaido but in 1603, when Ghost of Yōtei is set, is outside of the laws or governance of ‘Japan’ not being a part of the unification process, means it was a lawless and dangerous place. Especially for outsiders, while the native Ainu population were in the sights of expanding Japanese rule, all of which from a setup point of view is not at all unlike the ‘untamed west’ of the romanticised Western genre. And again, this helps us lean more and more into this being a samurai tale that actually takes its cues from the Western genre, though there was also still enough in the trailer to suggest Yōtei won’t step away from its source material too far, either.

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The term "Jedi" from Star Wars, which was heavily influenced by both Japanese "Jidaigeki" and "Chanbara" styles (specifically Kurasawa), and the American "Western" genres of cinema can be clearly seen a form of the term “Jidai” from “Jidaigeki”, which when said phonetically, makes the most sense - “J-e-de-ai”. The Hidden Fortress and Seven Samurai are the most obvious influences for Lucas, but there's more from both regions, cultures and all of the genres and subgenres embedded throughout. And to this day, it permeates... the Lone Wolf and Cub influence on The Mandalorian being chief among them and arguably the most prominent.

Wolf’s Rain

Maybe unknown to some is that wolves once littered the Japanese landscape but were all but wiped out over a hundred years ago. It’s the very, very awesome foundation for the fantastical and anime-specific Wolf’s Rain, as mentioned in our Anime Gateway piece, but that there’s a wolf in the trailer whom appears to be Atsu’s sidekick is interesting as in Japanese folklore wolves were not only often worshipped, but were intrinsically tied to the mountains and mountain gods and, in Ghost of Yōtei, we have a giant fuck off mountain right at the centrepoint of the proposed playspace.

"A game riddled with folklore, superstition and even the supernatural at times -- we can maybe, just maybe see a bit of direction in place..."

This could mean we might get more mythological or, at least, superstition (based on folklore) than was experienced in Tsushima (outside of its Iki Island expansion) and if we go back to Red Dead Redemption 2 -- a game riddled with folklore, superstition and even the supernatural at times -- we can maybe, just maybe see a bit of direction in place.

Other Internet sleuths have already pointed out the political upheaval that happened in the region around that time period that eventually escalated but let’s, for now, just acknowledge that this stunning-looking 2025-bound open-world samurai epic, might have more in common with the Western and ‘Dead Eye’ than you might think. And, honestly, that’s not a bad thing considering how much each borrows from the other in modern media.

About the author

Written By Stephen Farrelly
Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment, lifestyle and sport under his belt. He is a proud pug dad, loves art in all forms but particularly street and tattoo culture, and is the director of Swear Jar...
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