8 Things to Do First in Ghost of Tsushima

Choose How the Game Looks & Sounds

Before you even start your adventure with Jin to help stop the mainland invasion of the Mongol Forces, you’ll need to choose how Ghost of Tsushima looks and sounds.

Specifically, you’ll be allowed to choose between the English and Japanese audio and voice track. If you’re looking for a truly authentic Japanese adventure across the isle of Tsushima, you’ll want to choose the latter and enjoy the subtitles instead. Or you can just keep it in English if you so prefer.

Then you’ve got the option to play with the Kurosawa Mode enabled or disabled. This was previously referred to as the Samurai Cinema Mode. This turns the game’s visuals black and white, and even adds a film grain effect. If you’d rather enjoy Ghost of Tsushima in full color, simply disable this option.

You can enable and disable this at any time by pressing the Options button and then selecting ‘Display.’ Then go to ‘Kurosawa Mode’ where you can toggle the mode on and off.

Go Explore

The world of Ghost of Tsushima isn’t wholly unique. Yes, it’s an open world teeming with different icons to go and explore, but the way it goes about you exploring that world and uncovering all these tidbits is truly refreshing. So, we’d advise you go out and explore the world on your own.

You don’t have to go far, but it’s worth just wandering around the immediate proximity of the Hot Springs area that is more or less your tutorial section. Not only will you bump into a Fox Den, you’ll also come across a Point of Reflection. We’ve explained these more below, but the point here remains the same.

Don’t be afraid to venture off the beaten path, and explore the incredible world that Sucker Punch has laid out before us. It truly is stunning and is filled with interesting things to see that you could otherwise easily miss.

Fox Dens

If there’s one thing that caught our eye during Ghost of Tsushima deep-dive stream, it was the fact that we could interact with and follow foxes to uncover cool secrets in the world.

Foxes will lead you to hidden shrines, also known as Fox Dens. If you honor the shine you find here, you’ll unlock things like Charm Slots which will be a massive helping hand on your adventure.

Once you’ve discovered the locations that the foxes guide you to, you’ll also unlock them as fast travel locations to help you get around a little bit easier. Though, it’s worth keeping in mind that fast travel isn’t just limited to fox dens, but any place you’ve visited already.

Get to Grips with Guiding Wind

Guiding Wind is, well… your guide in the world of Ghost of Tsushima. It acts as your waypoint, but rather than being a garish colored line, messin’ up your view of the beautiful world, it’s a more natural guide to your next point of interest or mission.

Spend some time towards the beginning of the game just figuring out Guiding Wind, what it looks like, how to use it, and generally just getting to your waypoint. That way you’ll be all set for your epic adventure when things really kick off.

Head to an Undiscovered Flower

If you want to pretty up Jin for quest to kill off the Mongol invasion of the mainland, you’ll need to start accruing lots of different flowers.

These undiscovered flowers can be exchanged with Merchants to purchase aesthetic items such as hats, different colors for your clothes and armor and more.

You’ll be able to find an undiscovered flower in this opening Hot Springs section of the game again, but remember you can always use the Guiding Wind options from the ‘Map’ screen to take you to another undiscovered flower should the need to customize arise.

Visit a Point of Reflection

As you explore the isle of Tsushima, it’s likely that you’ll come across Points of Reflection. These are essentially hot springs where Jin can take a dip and reflect on story beats.

These are shown on your map with a Well or Bucket icon. Alongside giving Jin a chance to freshen himself up and contemplate what’s been going on on his adventure, visiting a Point of Reflection will also increase your max health, which always comes in handy.

This happens every time that you visit a Point of Reflection, so get your head around them to begin with by visiting one early on and then you’ll know exactly what to expect as you progress further through the game.

Compose a Haiku

There’s yet another cool thing that players can do when outside of missions in Ghost of Tsushima. In-fitting with the ancient Japanese setting, the game has a mechanic whereby players can compose a haiku.

These are special areas on your map where you can sit and reflect on Jin’s adventure. After a while, you’ll be given control of Jin’s view and you’ll need to look at different parts of nature in your surroundings that each have their own caption.

You’ll then compose your haiku by stringing together the captions in whatever way you choose to make your own proverb. Doing so unlocks a new headband, which is inspired by your Haiku.

You’ll be able to compose your first Haiku in Ghost of Tsushima in the Golden Forest section which is very close to the tutorial area.

Play Around with Photo Mode

Thanks to Ghost of Tsushima’s simply stunning artistic work, the game almost always looks incredible whether you’re in the middle of combat, or just out in the fields enjoying the serene landscapes.

So it should come as no surprise, then, that Sucker Punch Productions added in a Photo Mode. This means you’ll be free to pause the action at any time and snap a screenshot to cherish the moment. Slicing through a Mongol’s head, snap that. Looking out at the world from atop the tallest mountain? Also snap that.

The Photo Mode isn’t just a carbon copy of what you’ve seen in other titles. You’ll be able to add wind effects, changing the foliage that’s blowing in the wind, or replace it altogether with fireflies instead. You can add filters, change the field of view, angles and so on.

While this isn’t something that’s going to appeal to all players, it is the perfect way to capture your favorite moments of your adventure.

What else would you advise fellow newcomers to do first in Ghost of Tsushima? Share your thoughts down in the comments below.