Summary
- All characters in Ghost of Tsushima are fictional, including Jin Sakai and Lord Shimura, despite historical events being portrayed.
- Developers initially considered using real historical figures but opted for fictional characters to avoid insensitivity.
- The game's focus on fictional characters allows for creative storytelling and deviation from historical accuracy for entertainment purposes.
Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima drew significant tourism to the real-life island.
Games that use historical settings like Assassin's Creed have primed players to expect at least a dash of accuracy in these works of historical fiction, and that's usually accomplished by peppering in real historical figures. Even if Ghost of Tsushima isn't a perfect, day-by-day recreation of the Mongol invasion, its settings are rendered semi-realistically, taking inspiration from the real-world flora and fauna of the maple leaf-shrouded Tsushima. It's easy to assume that its characters follow the same kind of logic, but the reality is far more complicated.
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There Are No Real Historical Figures In Ghost Of Tsushima
All Ghost Of Tsushima Characters Are Fictional
All the important characters in Ghost of Tsushima are fictional, including Ghost of Tsushima's protagonist Jin Sakai and his uncle, Lord Shimura. The only major, historically accurate event in the game is that there was a Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274 (the same year Ghost of Tsushima is set), and part of that campaign of conquest did take place on Tsushima and Iki Islands. The game even begins on Komoda Beach, the site of an actual battle between Mongol invaders and samurai. But none of the characters featured in Ghost of Tsushima's story were ever involved in it, or even existed in the first place.
According to Inverse, no one with the names Jin Sakai or Lord Shimura fought in the original Mongol invasion of Tsushima. There is no samurai clan by the name of "Shimura" in Japan, suggesting that the feudal lord is made up out of whole cloth. There is a real-life Sakai clan, but it wasn’t founded until the 14th century, long after the events of the game come to an end. Inverse also notes the Sakai clan has never been spearheaded by a man with the given name Jin.
Although Lord Shimura never existed, Castle Kaneda is real, and its ruins can still be visited on Tsushima Island today.
The closest thing Ghost of Tsushima has to a real historical figure is its antagonist, Khotun Khan, although he is also made up. Khotun is depicted as a grandson of Genghis Khan, a real-life Mongol leader who had many grandsons, so it’s not a stretch for the game to suggest he had one named Khotun. But, again, Khotun is only a work of fiction - there's no historical record of such a person ever existing. However, he is closely modeled after the real-life Kublai Khan, the Mongol leader who led the first invasion of Japan in 1274. The Mongol invasion portrayed in Ghost of Tsushima is similar in nature, but highly fictionalized.
Why Ghost Of Tsushima Didn't Use Real People
Historical Accuracy Vs. Historical Fiction
The developers behind Ghost of Tsushima originally wanted to use real-life people to inspire its characters, but after some reflection, they decided against it. They were concerned the game wouldn’t be received as well, or that it would be marked as culturally insensitive. “We actually thought ing some historical figures, and we asked some people who are more culturally aware than us and they said that it would be insensitive, so we didn’t do it,” Nate Fox, creative director at Sucker Punch, told Game Informer.
Chris Zimmerman, Sucker Punch's co-founder, expressed a similar sentiment in 2018 when he explained that though the game is a work of fiction, it’s heavily influenced by the developers' research into the nature of daily life in 13th-century Japan. "We're going to deviate from historical truth, we just want to do it intentionally," Zimmerman told GameSpot at the time. "The challenge for us, making a game in an original story but taking place in a real historical time, is making sure we're telling a story that people can relate to."
Using fictional characters also gives Ghost of Tsushima more freedom to tell an original story. Although any game inspired by history is allowed a measure of deviation from the actual record of events, that allotment diminishes every time a real historical figure is featured. Even if it's not perfectly accurate, the story must compensate for the broader strokes of history, with writers skirting the gaps in documentation to ensure they never put the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. That not only reduces the available options for plot progression, but also deflates any tension created by the uncertainty of characters' fates.
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It may seem disappointing that Ghost of Tsushima opted not to use real characters, as this would’ve added to the historical accuracy and educational elements of the game. At the same time, however, this is far from the only thing about the game that deviates from reality. For instance, most samurai that existed in the 13th century didn’t utilize the same kind of weapons or armor available in Ghost of Tsushima. Much of the armor that can be accessed and worn by Jin in the game wasn’t available until later centuries.
Sucker Punch made a conscious decision to include anachronistic details for the aesthetic and entertainment value of the game, not to add to the game's accuracy or realism. In the end, Ghost of Tsushima is just that - a game - and was made for entertainment purposes more so than educational ones, and so, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that it utilizes fictional characters in its story.
Sources: Game Informer, GameSpot, Inverse
Ghost of Tsushima
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- Top Critic Avg: 84/100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- July 17, 2020
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity
- Developer(s)
- Sucker Punch
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Engine
- Proprietary
The creators of the Sly Cooper franchise and Infamous shift gears with Ghost of Tsushima, an open-world action-adventure game. Set on the island of Tsushima, the invading Mongul armies arrive to begin their conquest of Japan. As Samurai fall in the wake of dishonorable war tactics, Jin Sakai learns that the only way to fight back will be to break expectations and walk the path of shadow. Jin will choose between the Samurai's righteous path and the Ghost's dark path. Players will traverse the sprawling island as they free citizens from invading rule and engage in fast-paced swordplay - or devastating stealth combat.
- Number of Players
- 2-4
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5
- How Long To Beat
- 25 Hours
- Metascore
- 83
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra &
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