As we established in our earlier article, visiting Japan was an necessary half of creating the world of Ghost of Yōtei.
The Sucker Punch reference gathering crew from left to proper: Nate Fox, Ryuhei Katami, Jason Connell, Ian Ryan, Joanna Wang, Rob Davis.
Sucker Punch is an American firm and we’re effectively conscious that we don’t naturally come outfitted with the cultural data to carry feudal Japan to life. To do this, we want quite a bit of assist. Fortunately we’re additionally half of PlayStation, for Ghost of Tsushima we had been lucky sufficient to obtain regular suggestions from our colleagues in Tokyo. As you might need guessed, the identical is true for Ghost of Yōtei. Solely this time we’ve broadened our roster of advisers.
When setting a recreation in Hokkaido we knew an important aspect was doing our greatest to signify Ainu tradition in a respectful manner. Fortunately we’d linked with an Ainu cultural adviser earlier than setting out on our reference gathering journey and he or she was good sufficient to introduce us to her household. The group of us traveled up a close-by mountain and obtained to know one another whereas foraging for greens. It was nice, all of us from Sucker Punch stopped taking footage and obtained our palms soiled. We began actually trying on the vegetation beneath our toes. It was a beautiful solution to make new associates and begin our journey in studying about Ainu tradition. That evening we resolved to place foraging into our new recreation, we needed gamers to have the ability to share the expertise we had been fortunate sufficient to have skilled.
Yukiko Kaizawa leads the Sucker Punch crew foraging for greens.
Yukiko Kaizawa exhibits Joanna Wang and myself how one can kind the greens in preparation for turning them into lunch.
We additionally had the chance to discover the shows within the Nibutani Ainu Museum whereas speaking with our adviser. This actually helped us get a way for kinds of objects we’d see within the recreation and the way they had been used.
Nibutani Ainu Museum.
Exploring the Oshima Peninsula additionally gave us a terrific look into the lives of the Matsuamae clan who had been there in power in the course of the time interval our recreation takes place. It was attention-grabbing to see the proliferation of cherry timber on the peninsula, introduced there from Honshu, but unusual in the remainder of the island. That actually advised the story of how sparsely settled Hokkaido was in 1603 by the Wajin folks. We’ve tried to imitate that high quality within the recreation, leaning into areas of wilderness between homesteads. After all down on the Oshima Peninsula clan Matsumae had been very current, bringing with them a sense of Honshu.
Clan Matsumae’s citadel.
Our producer, Ryuhei Katami, took us throughout Honshu to coach us on Edo tradition. Listed below are some images we took.
My favourite cease was the spectacular Nikko Toshogu Shrine. Whereas there we obtained a blessing for the sport from the enshrined deity, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Omamori and Ema we acquired sit proudly in our studio on a excessive shelf going through south. They’re a relentless reminder of the time we spent on the analysis journey. Whereas our model of Hokkaido is fictional, the sensation of authenticity we attempt to create has roots in these actual world experiences.
Sucker Punch’s workplace
For anybody studying this, pondering that they may wish to go to Hokkaido, my recommendation to you is: do it. Japan is a spot so many of us go in our imaginations, to really be there’s a dream come true.