Sucker Punch Productions' Ghost of Tsushima was one of the best games of 2020, and the last true PS4 exclusive to release before the launch of next-gen consoles. Set in feudal Japan, Ghost of Tsushima told the epic and emotional story of Jin Sakai, a samurai who foregoes his honor in order to save his homeland. Despite having some flaws, Ghost of Tsushima was received remarkably well by critics and fans, so it's no wonder Sony and Sucker Punch want to continue to develop the franchise.
Apart from Ghost of Tsushima's multiplayer expansion, "Legends," which focuses on the darker side of Japanese mythology, there haven't been any official announcements for how Sucker Punch plans to expand the universe. There are some clues, however. Sucker Punch job listings hint at a sequel being in development, and a leaker recently revealed that "Ghost of Ikishima," a standalone expansion, could be coming to PlayStation in the same category as Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
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Based on leaks from Shpeshal_Nick, Ghost of Ikishima is an "expandalone" addition to the Ghost of Tsushima franchise. This could mean two different things; it could be a singleplayer DLC added on to Ghost of Tsushima, or it could be a smaller spin-off title like Miles Morales that functions as its own true game. Because nothing has been announced and Ghost of Ikishima might not even be real, it's impossible to know what form it would take. However, the size of the expansion has been directly compared to Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
The main story of Spider-Man: Miles Morales can be completed in less than ten hours, and can take up to 20 hours for completionists. It's not a huge game, but it can definitely stand on its own, and is more than a simple DLC expansion. Ghost of Ikishima could do a similar thing by featuring a character other than Jin Sakai and giving them their own miniature, but still fully-realized journey. Ideally, that main character would have appeared in Ghost of Tsushima the same way that Miles appeared in Marvel's Spider-Man.
Ghost of Ikishima could be sold separately like Miles Morales was, but huge expansions aren't unheard of either. Witcher 3's two expansions, "Hearts of Stone" and "Blood and Wine," contain hours of gameplay and new content to explore. "Blood and Wine" even adds an entirely new map. That would probably be the case for Ghost of Ikishima, seeing as the obvious Iki Island setting is a short distance away from Tsushima. It would be an ambitious DLC to add to the existing game, but not impossible, and might end up feeling like a hybrid between Miles Morales and The Witcher 3's "Blood and Wine."
Games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy stand apart because they star characters that had supporting roles in the original franchise, and that would make the most sense for Ghost of Ikishima, too. There's one character in particular who not only deserves to have their own game, but also fits with the title.
There are other ways that Ghost of Ikishima could go, but it makes the most sense for the expansion to star Yuna, the thief who saves Jin in the beginning of Ghost of Tsushima and teaches him the skills he needs to become the Ghost. Jin and Yuna forge a close relationship during the story, and even seemed to have romantic affection for each other in some scenes, but that ship never set sail. Instead, Yuna went her own way at the end of Ghost of Tsushima.
Yuna spent most of the story wanting to leave Tsushima and in the end, she does, so it's entirely possible that she ended up nearby on Iki Island. Calling the main character of the expansion the "Ghost of Ikishima" is a pretty loaded title considering what Jin had to do to earn that moniker, but Yuna has the skills and experience to achieve it too. She's a master of stealth combat, and even though she's not a samurai, she can hold her own against multiple enemies.
Because Yuna does have a very different skillset than Jin, Ghost of Ikishima would probably work best as a separate, standalone spin-off that compliments the original story like Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Fans want to see Yuna and Jin reunited in Ghost of Tsushima's probable sequel, so it would make a lot of sense to spend some time with Yuna and then have her rejoin Jin, connecting the expansion and the main story similarly to how Miles will be included in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
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If Ghost of Tsushima follows the same trend as Marvel's Spider-Man in creating a standalone game featuring a different character, it could start a new trend in the video game industry. It would be a welcome one, too, for many reasons. First off, video games in the single-player narrative genre go to great lengths to develop realistic and compelling characters. Giving some of those characters a chance to shine in their own spinoff deepens the player's relationship with them and makes the full-fledged sequel that much more exciting.
Second, having high quality expansions or spin-offs to popular franchises helps a lot when it comes to filling the real-life gap between major franchise entries. Video game technology is better than ever, but development for games like Ghost of Tsushima and Marvel's Spider-Man can take years. For all their massive improvements, next-gen titles seem to be taking even longer.
Developing smaller games in between the major franchise installments can go great lengths toward keeping players excited and interested in the franchise and giving them something to do while the sequel is in development. Miles Morales did that very well, and even more recently, Final Fantasy 7 Remake released its Yuffie DLC that, while not a full game, helped set up and sustain hype for the still unannounced sequel while developing a supporting character. If it's real, Ghost of Ikishima could have a similar effect.
Ghost of Tsushima is available now on PS4.