One year on from the release of Ghost of Tsushima, love for the historically-set open-world game continues to pour in from fans across the internet. With the release of the game's Director's Cut on the horizon for the PS5 and PS4 in August, all eyes remain focused on Sucker Punch Productions to see where the franchise goes next.

Aside from a handful of fictional characters like Jin Sakai himself, the studio has remained largely faithful to the real world events that occurred during the Mongol Empire's invasion of Japan during the 13th century. With Iki island set to appear within Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut, there's a timeline of events being followed that could point to future DLC, and even sequel locations.

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During the First Mongol Invasion of Japan in 1274, the invading Yuan armada didn't actually succumb to an ultimate defeat on either of the Japanese islands of Tsushima or Iki. In reality there was no Jin Sakai to stop the thousands strong fleet from continuing to progress eastwards, with little resistance, until it arrived at the island of Kyushu in November of the same year. Naturally, being the grand finale to the region's initial run-in with the Mongol Empire means it would be fitting for Ghost of Tsushima to wrap up here in some form of DLC epilogue.

It's worth keeping in mind though that Kyushu is Japan's third-largest island, and subsequently dwarfs the tiny Tsushima by a considerable margin. In terms of development it would be presumably unreasonable to assume Sucker Punch would create a full scale map of the entire region for DLC. Thanks to the events that transpired during the attack, a more concentrated experience could be built around Hakata Bay. In the real world, the Mongol invasion of the island was concentrated almost exclusively to this landmark and the immediate surrounding region, which would justify that potential DLC map being similarly constrained.

While significant narrative wise, the events that transpired during the Battle of Bun'ei on Hakata Bay would still fit quite nicely within a Ghost of Tsushima DLC epilogue. That's because the battle itself only lasted for a day or so, as the evenly sized 3,000 strong armies clashed in a chaotic skirmish that resulted in little progress being made on either side. In the meantime, roaming Mongols were also said to have scouted out the region, which would conveniently make for some interesting side missions.

Ultimately, though, the Mongol Empire was forced to retreat home following a dramatic storm that sank 200 ships, and killed 13,500 soldiers. Both sides were understandably impacted by this briefest of meetings, on a level that could form an interesting through line to a potential sequel.

Alternatively, the First Battle of Hakata Bay and the island of Kyushu could also work well as a dramatic cold opening to any Ghost of Tsushima 2 that Sucker Punch might want to make. While there's no guarantee that a sequel will continue to feature the Mongols as the primary antagonists, there's more to the story of the invaders that the studio could explore.

Following a seven year interval, Kublai Khan's Mongol army returned to the region in 1281 during what would become aptly known as the Second Invasion of Japan. In a twist of ironic symmetry, that conflict was also ended by a legendary typhoon, that would go on to form an important part of Japan's identity. Together these events seem like two very conveniently established historical bookends, things that Sucker Punch will surely find hard to ignore.

Picking up the action following the original Ghost of Tsushima as an older Jin Sakai, in a new setting, would also work well from a character arc stance following the former Samurai's exile at the end of the first installment. A large aspect of the second invasion centered around the preparation that Japan undertook in anticipation of the returning Mongol Empire. It's therefore not too hard to imagine Jin traveling around the whole island of Kyushu whilst rallying people to the cause once more, considering the experiences he lived through in the first game.

Several islands could theoretically compromise a bigger sandbox within the sequel, with Tsushima, Iki, and Kyushu all featuring heavily in the Mongol's plans the second time around as well. While smaller locations like Shika and Hirodo Island could work as DLC for the original game, it makes more sense for these to be saved and incorporated into a grander playing space in a sequel. Even though the Mongol Empire invaded both of these tiny islands in 1274, their conversion into forts seven years layer would serve up some exciting stealth scenarios for the player to tackle.

Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut launches August 20 for PS4 and PS5.

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