Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima casts players in the role of Jin Sakai, an honorable samurai slowly abandoning everything he stands for to protect all that he has left. Jin uses every tool at his disposal to drive back the terrifying Mongol invaders and does not hesitate to turn the weapons and tactics of his enemies against them, a detail that's portrayed throughout the game using a clever combination of unlockable techniques and story-based sequences.

One such technique is the Heavenly Strike, a deadly and lightning-fast combat art that Jin learns not from specialized training or by spending skill points, but by facing it in combat and turning it around to defeat his enemy.

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During Ghost of Tsushima, players will encounter special quests called Mythic Tales that reward them with incredibly useful weapons, armor and combat arts upon completion. This allows players to expand their options in combat and gain an edge over the game's increasingly difficult encounters. One such Mythic Tale, "The Heavenly Strike," allows Jin to obtain a powerful, unblockable technique that does bonus damage to staggered enemies and can make quick work of most opponents.

In similar games, Jin would earn the technique by simply finishing the quest and unlocking its use in combat through some training or by completing an on-screen prompt. Instead, Jin faces a rogue samurai by the name of Yasuhira in a duel and comes face-to-face with the technique being used against him. To win, Jin endures several Heavenly Strikes before finally grasping how to use it himself and striking down Yasuhira with a single blow.

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And this is only one of several examples in which players pick up new combat arts and tools organically rather than through skill trees and menu prompts. The inclusion of more engaging progression like picking up the Heavenly Strike in combat or unlocking the shoji assassination (piercing an enemy through a paper door) just by doing it for the first time helps to engross players in the world and convey just how desperate Jin is to succeed.

These moments do a fantastic job of showcasing Jin's character development as well, allowing us to follow his transition from an honor-bound samurai to a killer in the shadows who's unafraid to employ the brutal methods of his enemies against them. One of the central themes of Ghost of Tsushima is the samurai's obsession with honor and whether a victory won without it can be considered a victory at all. While Jin himself struggles to find an answer to that question, moments like the conclusion of "The Heavenly Strike" show that Lord Sakai is willing to do anything it takes to save his home and protect those he holds dear.

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