Ghost of Tsushima Shows That More Games Need New Game +
It's happened to most gamers at one point in their lives. They've just finished playing an amazing game and can't stop thinking about it, but rather than fall into the gaming equivalent of a "show hole," they search for a New Game + feature. This exact scenario happened to many players after completing Sucker Punch's PS4 exclusive Ghost of Tsushima, and when fans discovered there was no New Game +, there was massive disappointment. Thankfully, this title was so good that many players opted to just play through the whole game again on a brand new save file, but not every title has that much allure.
Of course, Ghost of Tsushima recently added a New Game + mode alongside Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, allowing players to go through the game's incredible story once again without starting their character's progress over at the beginning. Since then, many players have gone back through and replayed the game yet another time, even with the new Legends mode taking up time as well. Ghost of Tsushima may seem like an exception because it is so universally loved, but every game has fans, and those fans should be able to play through their favorite games again without starting everything over from square one.
The term New Game + dates back to 1995 when Square Enix's Chrono Trigger coined the term. Like future uses of the feature, enacting New Game + on Chrono Trigger allowed players to replay the game with all of their equipment, skills, and stats from their previous playthrough, opening up a whole new wealth of possibilities. In that game, players could challenge the final boss whenever they wanted, and when they defeated him changed the ending. New Game + was a way for players to see many different endings without starting over from scratch every time.
Though Chrono Trigger coined the phrase, New Game + like features have appeared in games well before that. Certain arcade games would restart with slight tweaks to difficulty if players were able to beat them, and later on titles like Super Mario Bros. would present players a more difficult challenge after they beat the game once. One of the most notable instances of this was in Zelda 2, where players could restart the game with all their experience and items. It wasn't called New Game +, but it could well have been the predecessor to that concept.
In Ghost of Tsushima, starting a New Game + save file puts players right back at the beginning of the story again. They stand next to Lord Shimura on the beach and watch as the Mongols begin their devastating invasion. Of note, players keep all the gear, skills, and abilities they've unlocked throughout their first playthrough, meaning they can enjoy the full scope of its combat system. In addition, there are also new collectibles and equipment that can be unlocked to take Jin to even higher levels of power. Naturally, all of this is accompanied by tougher enemies and greater challenges.
The result of this is a completely unique experience, telling the same story from the original game but in a different way. With knowledge of how everything plays out, fans will notice things they didn't notice the first time. Like Ghost of Tsushima's Lethal Mode, Enemies will feel much deadlier, but Jin will as well, and it also offers a unique opportunity to try the game on a higher difficulty than before. Above all else, it provides players a way to replay the game without feeling like they have to start over, making the whole process that much more enjoyable.
Of course, Ghost of Tsushima isn't the only modern game with a New Game + mode, as there are actually many. The recently released PS5 exclusive Demon's Souls comes to mind, as after players beat the main story they'll immediately be transported back to the beginning of the game with all their levels and items intact. Just like in Ghost of Tsushima, enemies get much tougher, but the rewards are scaled accordingly. Players are free to make different choices than they did before, perhaps testing out the darker side of Demon's Souls if they stayed at Pure White World Tendency during their first playthrough.
Another great example of this would be Final Fantasy 7 Remake's Hard mode. It's not explicitly labeled as New Game + but it checks all the boxes and basically is. In Hard Mode, players keep all of the equipment and abilities they've unlocked up to that point, but there is a major handicap in that they can't use items or recover MP in traditional ways. This changes the entire dynamic of the game, as Final Fantasy 7 Remake trains players to use items and then Hard Mode forces them to forgo them in favor of a more careful playstyle.
For every game with an amazing implementation of the New Game + feature, there seems to be one without it. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, for example, provided players with an incredibly faithful retelling of the story of Dragon Ball Z, but left them with almost nothing to do after beating the game. The time machine allows players to replay story missions, but since the levels don't scale they will inevitably one shot everything they come across. The only way to truly replay the story is to start over, and for many that option doesn't sit right. A New Game + mode with enhanced enemies would be a great way to remedy this.
Cyberpunk 2077 is also infamously lacking a New Game + mode. After beating the final story mission, players can reload the save right before they started it and continue exploring Night City, but there's no way to go back through the story missions again. There are certain missable items in Cyberpunk 2077, so allowing players a chance to go back through and get them would be amazing. Unfortunately, that isn't the case at the moment and fans instead have to start an entirely new character.
Ghost of Tsushima is available now on PS5.
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