Sony Interactive Entertainment and Sucker Punch Productions’ upcoming action-adventure game, Ghost of Yotei, will take advantage of the PS5 hardware by loading millions of assets and rendering high fidelity draw distances.
In an interview with AUTOMATON Japan, Joanna Wang, art director at Sucker Punch Productions, explained how the PS5 hardware shaped the look and feel of the studio’s upcoming title, Ghost of Yotei. One of the biggest benefits of the generational leap, she said, was the ability to render distant views of Hokkaido with unprecedented fidelity.
“Early on, we realized we needed to improve draw distance,” Wang revealed. “To portray the vastness of the Hokkaido map, we needed to render distant views with high fidelity and accurate depth of space.” Thanks to the PS5’s hardware capabilities, Sucker Punch can now load millions of assets, with tens of thousands visible at once, while populating the scene with hundreds of thousands of real-time particles, drifting snow, blowing leaves, fog, and ash, across near and far distances. Other visual upgrades include improved starry skies, auroras, grass rendering, and terrain deformation, like snow realistically falling from tree branches, which further enhance the world’s sense of presence.
The PS5’s DualSense controller also plays a role in immersion. Wang described how haptics and the built-in speaker make the experience more tactile, with sword clashes felt in the player’s hands and the sound of a shamisen resonating from the speaker.
Wang also shared insight into Sucker Punch’s art direction philosophy. “Every asset we create has to fit within our rendering system and color palette,” she said. To achieve their signature “painterly look,” the team uses denoising techniques to remove distracting visual noise and carefully limits color variety to focus attention. For instance, fields of grass may be accented with only white flowers to create contrast and guide the player’s eye.
One of Wang’s proudest moments came while playtesting a mission where protagonist Atsu climbs Mount Yotei. “When I reached the top, I looked out and saw clouds drifting below my feet. It felt massive,” she said. “It was a perfect harmony of art, technology, rendering, and effects.”
Ghost of Yotei is set for release on October 2, 2025, exclusively for PS5.
