As we established in our earlier article, visiting Japan was an vital a part of creating the world of Ghost of Yōtei.
The Sucker Punch reference gathering workforce from left to proper: Nate Fox, Ryuhei Katami, Jason Connell, Ian Ryan, Joanna Wang, Rob Davis.
Sucker Punch is an American firm and we’re properly conscious that we don’t naturally come outfitted with the cultural data to deliver feudal Japan to life. To try this, we want a number of assist. Fortunately we’re additionally a part of PlayStation, for Ghost of Tsushima we had been lucky sufficient to obtain regular suggestions from our colleagues in Tokyo. As you might need guessed, the identical is true for Ghost of Yōtei. Solely this time we’ve broadened our roster of advisers.
When setting a sport in Hokkaido we knew a vital ingredient was doing our greatest to characterize Ainu tradition in a respectful approach. Fortunately we’d linked with an Ainu cultural adviser earlier than setting out on our reference gathering journey and she or he was good sufficient to introduce us to her household. The group of us traveled up a close-by mountain and bought to know one another whereas foraging for greens. It was nice, all of us from Sucker Punch stopped taking footage and bought our arms soiled. We began actually trying on the crops beneath our ft. It was a stunning solution to make new mates and begin our journey in studying about Ainu tradition. That evening we resolved to place foraging into our new sport, we wished gamers to have the ability to share the expertise we had been fortunate sufficient to have skilled.
Yukiko Kaizawa leads the Sucker Punch workforce foraging for greens.
Yukiko Kaizawa exhibits Joanna Wang and myself methods to type the greens in preparation for turning them into lunch.
We additionally had the chance to discover the shows within the Nibutani Ainu Museum whereas speaking with our adviser. This actually helped us get a way for types of objects we’d see within the sport and the way they had been used.
Nibutani Ainu Museum.
Exploring the Oshima Peninsula additionally gave us a terrific look into the lives of the Matsuamae clan who had been there in energy throughout the time interval our sport takes place. It was attention-grabbing to see the proliferation of cherry bushes on the peninsula, introduced there from Honshu, but unusual in the remainder of the island. That basically informed the story of how sparsely settled Hokkaido was in 1603 by the Wajin folks. We’ve tried to imitate that high quality within the sport, leaning into areas of wilderness between homesteads. In fact down on the Oshima Peninsula clan Matsumae had been very current, bringing with them a sense of Honshu.
Clan Matsumae’s fortress.
Our producer, Ryuhei Katami, took us throughout Honshu to coach us on Edo tradition. Listed here are some images we took.
My favourite cease was the spectacular Nikko Toshogu Shrine. Whereas there we obtained a blessing for the sport from the enshrined deity, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Omamori and Ema we obtained sit proudly in our studio on a excessive shelf going through south. They’re a continuing reminder of the time we spent on the analysis journey. Whereas our model of Hokkaido is fictional, the sensation of authenticity we try to create has roots in these actual world experiences.
Sucker Punch’s workplace
For anybody studying this, considering that they could need to go to Hokkaido, my recommendation to you is: do it. Japan is a spot so many people go in our imaginations, to truly be there’s a dream come true.
