Today, Sucker Punch Productions is rolling out Ghost of Tsushima Patch 1.05, which offers some new choices for players. The patch is a chunky 2.781GB, and it adds two new difficulty modes, as well as making a quality of life fix.
The first mode is a Lower Intensity Combat toggle, which can be found in the accessibility menu. This will reduce the difficulty level while attempting to keep the core feel of combat intact. This should make the game more forgiving for players that are just not up for the precision-focused combat. According to the patch notes: “Combat is less intense, giving you more time to react. Stealth settings are more forgiving, and enemies take longer to detect you.”
On the opposite end the spectrum, the update adds Lethal Difficulty, which pretty much translates into the prospect of more tears. This is a full-fledged difficulty mode, and it’s set in the gameplay options. It basically ups the damage both the enemies and Jin dole out, while also making the enemies better at predicting your strikes.
In addition to these two new difficulty options, Sucker Punch has also added font size options for those that were having difficulty reading the game text.
None of this content does much for me, personally, but the game’s skill-heavy swordplay was definitely a hurdle for my partner. She prefers her games to have a bigger emphasis on exploration — hopefully this new patch will allow that for her.
But really, anything that makes a game like Ghost of Tsushima more inviting or inclusive is a welcome change in my book. It not only benefits the developers that work their butts off to make these games, but it also lets people who might otherwise feel marginalized enjoy video games of all stripes. After all, that’s what video games should be all about: inclusive interaction.
You can read the full patch notes on the Sucker Punch website.
