If I could craft a brilliant sumi-e picture, just know it would be here.
It would be my own little easter egg for my series of interviews with creators from Sucker Punch Productions. A haiku introduced the first part of my interview with Nate Fox and Jason Connell. But such things don’t worry the Onryō, or the Ghost of Yōtei known as Atsu. So what does concern her? Or the world she inhabits and its journey to fruition. While I certainly gathered a lot from Nate Fox and Jason Connell, I now had the chance to get a whole new perspective on the Onryō. And that was through the eyes of the games’ Campaign Director, Rob Davis.
Atsu goes on some really interesting journeys throughout the course of this game. And it’s a mix of taking those emotions and finding a great pace that feels like it’s got a good mix of action, adventure and rhythm.”
Rob Davis, Campaign Director (Sucker Punch Productions)
We sit atop a building in the CBD. Wind rushing around. Labor rattling away beneath, threatening to drown us out under the sun. But like the Ghost of Yōtei, it appears to come to a quick harmony. As does my breathing. And also my anxiety-riddled speech. These occurring from the weight of arriving late to the interview while attempting to rebuild normalcy in my life. A thing that almost seems as foreign to our hero too.
Readying the recording, I congratulate Rob and Sucker Punch on a massive 24 hour sales record and widespread critical acclaim. They thank me as I steer toward the first of my questions. Noting Yōtei had been cited in multiple publications as their largest open-world game to date, I wondered how this influences the way they develop the campaign structure.
“Oh, wonderful question”. We’re off to a great start. Especially after my brain tried to self-destruct the meatsuit it was in with a potential panic attack. “We are really focused as a team. And the game is used in a way where we’re trying to deliver this feeling and emotion of being a wandering mercenary”. Now that I’ve had my time with the game, I think they succeeded. “So we are responsible for all the missions, the open world game play and a lot of the encounters in the game.”
“And when we go to think of the missions and story, we’re always trying to think about what is the emotional goal?”
“How can we make the player feel those goals before we even start coding in the game?”
I noted to Rob that I love the way they brought up how everything has a link to finding an emotional path. This followed by the scale and size of Yōtei. I then asked about a quote from Art Director, Joanna Wang. They said the team “didn’t just want bigger, you wanted more alive”. So while a campaign has a set path, what choices do they make for the campaign to feel like this?
“This time around we had a really inspiring goal. Which was can we make everything in the world feel like it’s hand crafted? Hand touched?”. If you’ve played, I’m sure you’ve felt this touch Sucker Punch have brought to Yōtei. “It has its own little stories and lore and nods and they all contribute to Atsu and the greater conflicts going on in the game”.
You know. Like your war against the Yōtei 6. Or has a little golden bird caught your eye again?
“It’s wonderful to see players responding to it, because it was a huge effort throughout the game. We took a certain amount of pride and a really close partnership with our narrative team to make sure everyone felt like it had a purpose in the world and contributed to Atsu’s revenge quest.”
The feeling of lawlessness across Hokkaido. The concept of how a Yotei 6 villain is living in this space and why they are there and what their value and purpose is.“
Rob Davis, Campaign Director (Sucker Punch Productions)
Enjoying how Davis spoke to the teams hands-on approach and ownership of different narratives across Yōtei had me think of one character immediately.
Manjuro. Bear of Ezo.
The way Davis’s words resonated and gave a sense that someone really did care for this character. In the scheme of things, Manjuro doesn’t change the path of Onryō. But the care for his story. The choices you can make. It felt to me like someone was saying “This is my guy! I’m carrying him to the end!”. Which is an outcome that can occur.
Recalling both Nate Fox and Jason Connell’s remarks about the loading times of the game to Game Informer, and my own experience and shock at how exceptional it was, I had to wonder how this informed their direction with the ability to jump between story beats in a second.
“It has been so fabulous to see people call out how fast the load time is, because I’ve been playing the game for 2 years and I started taking it for granted! I had forgotten how fast these load times were.”
Reminder: The load times are very fast.
“Hearing players saying ‘oh, it’s so convenient!’ and, this is the PS5 really working in our favour. It was inspiring for me because [as I said], I had actually gotten accustomed to it. I played through the game at home on a big couch and a big TV and I try to get that full player experience. And I’ve absolutely taken it for granted!”
Noted, Rob Davis. But also don’t take it away. It is such a brilliant part of the overall package that is Ghost of Yōtei.
“In terms of how we designed the campaign around the PS5 being performant, we really lean into wider sight lines and the more natural, larger scale world. So you’ll see moments in the game where we’ve very deliberately crafting the time to go to a certain shot.”
It’s like a living postcard.”
Rob Davis, Campaign Director (Sucker Punch Productions)
“Or moments where we’re encouraging you and ways to guide you around world to see all the living parts of it. When we went to Hokkaido, those feelings touched us at a very human level.”
“The rolling fields. The winds blowing against your skin. The way a bear scratches against a tree to climb it. When we saw those experiences and when we saw that we could do these larger, almost Wild West-like environments. We tried to design the campaign experience around it.”
“And often the first mission of each valley; The Tale of the Ainu. The Tale of the Kitsune. They’re tours of the space. And you always have a character with them [Atsu]. And in a way we’re planting the seed for exploration throughout that space.”
Much like this first part of the interview, the question receives the final part of its answer.
“So these missions are designed in three areas which you may want to check along the way. We put some inspiring points of interest [1] and sites [2] in your head, as we guide you in the valley [3]. So whether you go and explore initially while arriving in say, Ishikari Plain, or whether you go and meet characters and converse with them, either way the game guides you with visual exploration and discovery.”
It’s always such an incredible experience for me to hear this insight.
Especially from creators who have so much passion and love for their game. Fox, Connell and now Davis, all had this similar aura. A deep admiration for what they were making. The need to take as much care of it as they could. There’s no wonder Ghost of Yōtei has once again translated into success for Sucker Punch Productions.
You can find the next part of the interview, up at Yeah Nah Gaming.
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