A little over a week after release, developer Sucker Punch has introduced a new patch for its open-world samurai game Ghost of Tsushima. In addition to some general bug fixes, the 1.05 update brings some new accessibility options and a harder difficulty mode into the fray.
The accessibility modes come in the form of "Lower Intensity Combat" and some text/subtitles options. Lower intensity combat should be pretty self-explanatory, but it gives players the choice to decrease enemy reaction time and lengthen the window for counters and blocking. It could be construed as an easier option, but it seems you can mix and match this with the pre-existing difficulty modes.
A new "Lethal" difficulty option will do the reverse of that. Enemies will become more aggressive and spot Jin in a shorter amount of time. Your dodging and parry windows will become even stricter, and enemy attacks will do far more damage. On the flip side, Jin's katana will also be deadlier, so those that have mastered combat will be able to finish it quicker. It seems like a true samurai mode that could actually improve the somewhat lacking mechanics.
For subtitles and text, Ghost of Tsushima now provides the option to increase text size and change the color of it. Icons for mission objectives and interactable objects can be blown up to 150% of their normal size. You'll even be able to toggle speaker names during cutscenes, which might help those unfamiliar with Japanese voices.
Overall, this is a positive change for the game. I can't help but wonder why it wasn't available for launch, but that's probably because of some engagement strategy on Sony's part. Sucker Punch isn't charging anybody for these features, so there really isn't much to complain about. This is just some free stuff for people that were late to the party.
I feel like the Lethal difficulty would have maybe helped me get more involved with the game's combat, but it wouldn't have changed its overall design. That doesn't seem to matter too much, as Ghost of Tsushima has already shipped 2.4 million copies and is on track to become another mega-hit for Sony.
Source: Sucker Punch