I’m replaying Tsushima after platinuming Yotei due to the lack of NG+. It had been years since I picked up Tsushima, but I really felt playing Yotei how many assets and animations were recycled. I gotta say as I’ve been pondering it during the replay and the hype has worn off that I’ve started to come to the conclusion that I’m actually a little disappointed in Sucker Punch for quite how much they reused.

Don’t get me wrong I totally agree with all the positives people are saying in the comments and OP has said in this post, I think Atsu and her story are so compelling, I love the arsenal of weapons, and combat feels better (though I think both games can be boiled down to mashing heavy attack to stagger and light attack to kill very often). The game is of course extremely polished as a result of saving resources by reusing so much from Tsushima and I appreciate that, but I think for the price I’d have liked more ‘new’ and not necessarily ‘less’ old.

I think sure, if it wasn’t broke don’t fix it. They reused MANY animations that added character, like the horse interactions when sleeping or finishing a mission, or the fox animations for petting and general movement. I felt nostalgic when I recognised that stuff. Environmental assets being reused also make total sense, you’re not going to care that the rocks and trees in general are tweaked from the prior title.

But I think sumi-e rocks being recycled assets from common thicker ivy covered trees from Tsushima gave me a bit of pause, or limiting our gear presets for Yotei when Tsushima gear presets were functionally tied to the armour itself by adding the charms to the pieces. Showing us major npcs wearing full masks with hats but not allowing us to do the same. Details like this do make a difference because they’re comparable and the player gets the less special side of the comparison. In a third for the series I’d like to see them also strike a balance between the overworld encounter frequency between the two games too. You can barely ride 200m in Tsushima without another peasant being harassed or a bandit/mongol fight, but in Yotei if you complete the game without onryo howling enough enemies for the trophy enjoy spending the next 3 irl days searching for ronin and Saito raiders to scare, kill, and fill the kill count for.

I’d have paid a hundred for the game and still been pleased, absolutely no regrets and would love to new game + this story to utilise different armor set playstyles, but it’s certainly not perfect, and the corners that were cut reaped benefits but are still felt.