Ghost of Tsushima, a combat fueled open-world based in 13th century Japan, is developer Sucker Punch's first full-length effort since InFamous Second Son (2014), was inspired by the first Red Dead Redemption and proves itself a visually rich homage to the golden age of samurai cinema.

Set during the Mongol invasion of the island of Tsushima you play as Jin Sakai, a samurai of noble birth and survivor of the enemy's first attack. Beginning as an honourable samurai, Jin is charged with fending off the invasion, forcing him into guerilla tactics, and coercing him to instead follow the path of the Ghost, a change forever altering his relationship with his father figure in a story of violent, familial-political intrigue.

With a console generation's worth of experience behind them, Tsushima is Sucker Punch's graphic masterpiece capturing Japan in code in a three-part map of spectacular vistas, shrines, and fishing villages to be discovered on horseback. Instead of maps and icons, Tsushima declutters the screen with in-world navigation using wind and leaves, golden songbirds, and foxes to guide the player through four kinds of quest: the main story, one-off side quests, mythic quests, and character tales. 

Heightened by a blockbuster backing track reminiscent of the lengthy samurai epics of director Akira Kurosawa (the game can be played in the black-and-white 'Kurosawa' filter for complete effect) combat is stylized and dramatic, with one-on-one duels and one-versus-many sword fights, replete with suspenseful pauses where your enemy commits to attack before leaping into flourishing advances. 

Tsushima has seven to ten skill trees with combat moves focusing on countering, dodge, perfect dodge, dodge-roll, parry, and perfect parry, in character with Jin's morality and progressive struggle with honour. Enemies have a guard meter and health meter to be broken before defeat with Jin's ultimate oppenent, Khotun Khan, a fictional descendant of Ghengis Khan, voiced by Patrick Gallagher. 

With an 84% on Metacritic, Ghost of Tsushima is an action-adventure which fervently remains tied to storylines of classic samurai storytelling offering an escape into Japan's natural beauty.

Ghost of Tsushima is out on 17 July; £54.99.