Ghost of Yotei: What Didn’t Make It Into the Final Game

The developers at Sucker Punch have shared details about the mechanics and ideas that were cut from Ghost of Yotei at various stages of development.

Climbing — the game originally featured a free-climbing system inspired by The Legend of Zelda, allowing players to scale virtually any surface or mountain. The feature was dropped after playtesting revealed it broke the flow of world exploration.

Age-switching for Atsu — the team wanted players to switch between a young and an older version of the protagonist at any moment. The technical scope proved too large, so the mechanic was kept only for a single side quest.

Rotating map — a real-time map that rotated to follow the camera was prototyped but ultimately cut after playtesters reported motion sickness.

Weapons — twin axes, a shield, and war fans were all explored during development. The heavy kanabo club, considered as one of the weapon options, was eventually replaced by the long odachi sword.

World size — the final map is smaller than originally envisioned. Atsu was meant to explore two additional regions, but the development team ran out of time to fill them with meaningful content.