Ghost of Tsushima is an action-adventure stealth game played from a third-person perspective. The game features a large open world, with no visible waypoints on the HUD, which can be explored with or without guidance by wind direction.[1] Players can travel to different parts of the island on horseback. An item that acts as a grappling hook is available to access difficult to reach areas.[2] The game features side quests and non-playable characters with which the player can interact.[3]
Players can engage in a direct confrontation with enemies, called a stand off, using their katana, which can chain up a series of fatal strikes against a set number of enemies.[4] Additionally, the player has access to bows, which can fire different types of arrows. Alternatively, using stealth allows to evade enemies, and strike them silently, and use tools such as firecrackers to create distractions, smoke bombs to disorient alerted foes, and kunai for striking multiple enemies.[5] One-versus-one dueling with non-playable characters are featured as side quests.[3]
Players can also unlock various sets of armor, clothing and charms. Each set has different properties that provide benefits in combat. Some armor reduces damage taken, while another increases total health or melee damage. Most sets of armor and clothing can be upgraded, by collecting materials in the area or by completing quests. Only body armor and clothing have these perks, while headwear and face wear are for visual appeal. Charms are items that are acquired through exploration that also give different effects to general gameplay, such as decreasing damage taken, reducing enemy detection speed, or increasing how much health is recovered from healing.[citation needed]
The game's highest difficulty is a more realistic mode in which the player and enemies do massive damage to each other, with all non-boss fights ending in one or two successful cuts.[citation needed]
A multiplayer mode titled Legends was released in late 2020. Players can complete story missions based on Japanese folklore with another player.[6] A horde mode, in which players fight waves of enemies, is also available for a group of four players. A raid was added post-Legends launch.