Sucker Punch is waiting to ascertain what parts of Ghost of Yōtei you want to know more about before deciding on the direction of future DLC.
In an interview with Game Informer, co-director Jason Connell and lead writer Ian Miles talked about how game developers get the “rare opportunity” to “ctually listen to millions of people about what resonated within a story versus maybe what didn’t or what are the holes”, and use that feedback to shape further story DLC and content… if any further story is needed, that is.
“I think for us, we are at the spot in the project where we just get to put it out there and see what’s resonating with people and what people love and what people feel like they wish they maybe knew more about Atsu,” Connell said when asked about possible DLC.
“And I think for us, this is like the most important part of the project, in terms of making decisions like these, because same thing with [Ghost of] Tsushima. You can listen, you can be like, ‘Oh, okay. People seem to want to know a little bit more about that relationship or what happened to the dad.’ How do you further that character?”
He continued: “And you get this rare opportunity to actually listen to millions of people about what resonated within a story versus maybe what didn’t or what are the holes. And I think that’s the mode that you want to be in. And that’s sort of the gift.
“Certainly we love Atsu, and we think it’s a great character. And just like with Jin, if there’s room to improve it or to bring some new elements to life or clarity for the narrative’s sake and it falls within what is best for Sucker Punch, then we’ll certainly take a hard look at that for sure.”
As for how it feels to receive criticism?
“For me, I think criticism is a gift,” Connell said. “There’s some people that are going to love what you make and some people are maybe not going to like it. There’s criticism nobody ever wants to hear […] but it makes you better creators, right? Because you think about the perspective of that player or another player. Maybe it’s just okay this person didn’t like this because this was maybe for this kind of player.”
Ghost of Yōtei is Sucker Punch’s follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima, set in northern Japan around 300 years later. We awarded it 3/5 stars, writing in Eurogamer’s Ghost of Yōtei review: “Sucker Punch’s sequel offers more great swordplay and heartfelt storytelling, but would be better served as a linear action game, freed of its poor sidequests and dated open world.”
