Five years ago today (well, technically yesterday — sorry we’re a bit late on this one), Sony released Ghost of Tsushima as a PS4 exclusive.

A real departure from the inFAMOUS games in terms of style and tone, Ghost of Tsushima was PlayStation Studios’ Sucker Punch expressing its love for all things samurai cinema. Featuring a gorgeous Japanese setting and deadly blade-based battles, the open world title would quickly become a fan favourite.

In the years that followed its launch, Sucker Punch would add to the blood-stained adventure with the superb Iki Island expansion, alongside a PS5 Director’s Cut re-release.

It even received its own co-op multiplayer mode in the form of Legends — which, to this day, remains a criminally overlooked addition (in our humble opinion).

At the time of its arrival, we gave Ghost of Tsushima an ‘excellent’ 9/10, praising its free-flowing open world design and tight, satisfying combat. To us, it often felt like a refinement of the typical open world formula, although its reliance on stereotypical map markers would eventually be counted against it by some less enthusiastic players.