You can find a whole bunch of cool equipment to wear in Ghost of Tsushima, from the armor of a samurai warrior to the special, sneaky outfit of the Ghost. You’ll also find a bunch of Vanity Gear items to customize Jin’s look, like special headbands, masks, and sword kits. Among the special items you can find are several that are also Easter eggs, referencing developer Sucker Punch’s other games: the Sly Cooper series and the InFamous series.
The first Vanity Gear item that functions as an Easter egg is the Band of the Second Son. This maroon headband is a callback to InFamous: Second Son protagonist Deslin, who wears a maroon wool cap.
Where To Find It: Climb the pagoda at Omi Monastery to find the headband hanging from an arrow. You’ll need to hit Act 2 to access this section of Tsushima.
Crooked Kama Headband
The next Vanity Gear item is the Crooked Kama headband, which calls to mind Sly Cooper’s iconic hook-shaped kama. The blue and white headband isn’t a piece of Sly Cooper‘s costume, but it is a reference to the franchise.
Where To Find It: Climb on top of the pagoda at Jogaku Temple, which you won’t access until Act 3. It’s the tall building nearest to Lake Jogaku, and like the Band of the Second Son, you’ll find this headband hanging there on an arrow.
Sly Tanuki Sword Kit
Even more clearly an Easter egg referencing Sly Cooper is the Sly Tanuki Sword Kit. Not only is it very much a reference to Sly, a raccoon who’s very similar-looking to a tanuki, in name, it also gives you a bit of a Cooper cosplay look. The sword kit gives you a scabbard that looks just like a raccoon tail.
Where To Find It: In Act 3, head to the east coast of Kin and look for a peninsula that juts out over the water, where a Pillar of Honor waits. You’ll have to climb over some rocks and cliffs to reach the spot.
Unlock The Cooper Clan Cosplay Trophy
There’s also an Easter egg Trophy related to Sly Cooper–the Cooper Clan Cosplay hidden Trophy. To unlock it, you’ll have to wear three specific cosmetic items found in Ghost of Tsushima, all of which take a bit of work to find. You can get more info about how to unlock the Trophy with our Cooper Clan Cosplay hidden Trophy guide for specifics. Here’s what you’ll need to equip:
Crooked Kama headband
Sly Tanuki Sword Kit
Gosaku’s Armor (with Ocean’s Guardian armor dye)
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Warning: We’ve ensured that our guides contains minimal spoilers so you can still enjoy the game even if you need help finding and completing all the Mythic Tales. However, if you want to know nothing about the game before playing, stop reading now and consult this walkthrough later when you want to find everything.
There are heaps of story-focused side-activities to do in Ghost of Tsushima. As you explore, you’ll discover what the game calls Tales of Tsushima, which are vignette-style side-missions that further flesh out the world and its inhabitants. But there’s an additional type of side-mission known as Mythic Tales. Completing these extended quests can net you powerful weapons and techniques, further enhancing your ability to take on the Mongol invasion and numerous other threats causing chaos on the island.
There’s a total of six Mythic Tales to complete, and they’re primarily unlocked by completing story and side-missions. Below you can find where each Mythic Tale is located and a walkthrough of how to beat them.
It’s worth noting that there appears to be a predetermined number of missions you need to complete to unlock each Mythic Tale on the map, which proved difficult to track, given our impulse to be comprehensive across all aspects of the game. But as long as you’re regularly completing story missions and other Tales of Tsushima, you should be able to find each Mythic Tale where we’ve detailed below. A good way to double-check is to visit towns after completing any story content to see if any NPCs might clue you in on their location. Regardless, you can find freely stumble upon them whenever just as soon as they’re available.
There are quite a few Mythic Tales in the first region of the game. The first is The Legend of Tadayori, and it should appear on the map after you’ve cleared one of the main story missions during Act 1. The rest should unlock over time as you dive into more story missions and Tales of Tsushima.
The Legend of Tadayori
Location: South of the river at the Rustling Bend
After talking to Yamato, follow the Guiding Wind and head east of Archer’s Rise to find violet flowers leading up to a small hill called the Crown of Violets. Climb to the top and examine the altar at the top to find a painting leading you to the next location. You’re looking for a mountain with a ton of purple flowers–head north to find it in Houren’s Pasture. Make your way to the base of the mountain, Tadayori’s Rest, where a shrine awaits, and you can slip through a hole in the cliff face to find the path inside.
If you’re creative, you can find some other ways into Tadayori’s Rest, but this is the cliff where you can find the hole leading inside.
Head into the middle of Tadayori’s Rest and look it over for supplies and other items, then investigate the altar at the far end. You’ll get pulled into a duel right afterward. Beating Kaeda isn’t particularly hard, as she has only a few unblockable strikes, and you should be able to parry her and win the fight pretty quickly. She’ll give you your next clue: Azamo Bay. Head south toward the town.
Ride south toward Azamo Bay and go up into the mountain just north of it until you see violet flowers. At the peak, you’ll find Mongols have imprisoned Yamato from whom you first got the mission. Kill them, but make sure they can’t execute their hostage. We suggest sneaking up the hills first and assassinating the archers placed on each side and then doubling down on whoever is left.
Look out for Mongols making a beeline for Yamato.
After you talk to Yamato and get the armor of Tadayori, you’ll have to fight off another wave of Mongols. The armor increases your draw and reload speed, while increasing your total Concentration time. Headshots also restore more of your Concentration meter, ensuring that you’re always getting as much time as possible to line up shots. Use these perks to your advantage and take out the approaching attackers at a range if you can. Once again, your primary goal is to stop the Mongols from killing Yamato. Once you’ve killed enough enemies, you’ll end the Tale and secure a moderate Legend increase.
The Heavenly Strike
Location: South of River Falls Bridge (Unlocked only after completing enough missions. For us, it became available after completing The Tale of Sensei Ishikawa)
Chat with Yamato and then follow the Guiding Wind to a bride where you’ll hear someone weeping. Hop down and chat to the woman under the bridge. Head across the river and back topside to find some horse tracks on the dirt path. Follow them until you reach a Mongol camp and kill them all. Once that’s done, speak with the crouching villager and investigate the nearby watchtower to discover that you need to find a white-leafed tree.
Follow the path towards the Plum Blossom Shinto Shrine to the west and climb all the way up until you reach the shrine that gets you the Charm of Kagu-Tsuchi. Once you’ve got that, look to the right to find a mountain with that white-leafed tree you’re searching for. Jump over and then survey the area to find even more white-leafed trees.
Follow the path east, and you’ll hit a Mongol camp where they’re torturing a peasant. Clear the place out and free the unfortunate soul to get another clue about where you’re headed: a beach to the southeast. Continue over to the downed tree near Shigenori’s rest. Cross over to find an area with a bunch of Mongols. Don’t worry; you can take them down pretty easily with stealth since they’re all facing away from you.
Try keeping your distance from Yasuhiro.
Once the coast is clear, you’ll be thrown into a boss fight against a ronin named Yasuhiro. He’s fast, but not too tough to deal with if you pay attention. He’ll try to hit you with Heavenly Strike pretty often, which is unblockable, so dodge clear and get in a couple of hits as he goes past. The rest of his attacks are standard fare, and you can parry them for good damage, or try to stagger him with heavy attacks. The key is not to over-commit and to dodge clear when you need to heal. Keep dodging his attacks and hammering away at him when the opportunity presents itself to stay ahead in the fight. When he takes enough damage, you learn the Heavenly Strike attack; use it to finish him off.
After a brief scene, the Tale will end, and you’ll get the Heavenly Falcon sword kit, plus a moderate boost in Legend.
The Curse of Uchitsune
Location: Hiyoshi Springs (Unlocked only after completing enough missions. For us, it became available after completing the Blood on the Grass)
Listen to Yamato at Hiyoshi Springs and then follow the Guiding Wind to the blue flowers at the Hiyoshi coast. Head east from Hiyoshi Springs to find a cave you can enter–Uchitsune’s Tomb. Inside, you’ll find a painting pointing you to an island covered in blue flowers.
The island with blue flowers depicted in the painting is southeast of Castle Kaneda, so head north up the coastline until you spot it and swim over. You’ll get another painting inside, leading you back toward Hiyoshi Springs to find a mountain with blue flowers. Fast travel back to Hiyoshi Springs and go due west head to find the mountain. Claim the longbow from the shrine you find there.
The key is to get to the general vicinity and then follow the blue flowers.
You’ll then face the mysterious Tengu Demon you’ve been encountering in a boss fight. He’s quick, but only his fast strike attack is especially worrisome. You should be able to parry him without much difficulty and dodge his kick attacks. When he puts his hand on the hilt of his sword, get back and be prepared to dodge, as he’s about to come at you hard. If you’ve got Heavenly Strike, this is a great time to use it for quick damage.
Once the Tengu Demon is down, you’ll get Uchitsune’s Longbow, plus the ability to fire explosive arrows from it. And as expected, you’ll get a moderate Legend increase.
Toyotoma Region — Act 2
The Toyotoma region has only a few Mythic Tales, which are pretty readily accessible from the start of Act 2. You’ll also get some of the most powerful abilities and armor in the game in these particular Tales.
The Unbreakable Gosaku
Location: A short ways southeast of Akashima village. You’re likely to run into it on your way through the area. This Mythic Tale can be found immediately after starting Act 2.
Talk to Yamato, and he’ll tell you about a legendary armor set worn by a farmer named Gosaku. As soon as he finished recounting the tale, it becomes your mission to find Gosaku’s armor. To do so, you’ll need to obtain special keys kept at six different farms on the island. It sounds easy enough, but with the Mongols having taken over all the farms in the area, you’ll need first to liberate them before you can get your hands on any of their keys. The farms you need to free are marked on the map after initiating the Mythic Tale, so you don’t need trouble yourself having to find them all yourself.
An interesting part about this Mythic Tale is that you can stumble upon the keys it asks you to get without having to talk to Yamato. Still, if you want to get to Gosaku’s Armor at the end, you’ll need to chat with him first.
Look to the stairs leading to the stone door after you defeat the Mongols in the area.
Once you’ve painstakingly recovered all the keys, go to the Togo Rice Fields in the southern section of the Toyotoma region. Head east to find the hilltop where Gosaku’s armor is hidden. There are several Mongols guarding the entrance, but you can easily snipe them with your bow if you want to avoid a bigger engagement. Once you’re done with them, enter the hill through the locked door at its base and climb to the top to retrieve the armor. You also get a minor Legend increase for your trouble.
The Six Blades of Kojiro
Location: Umugi Cove after clearing the first section of the story mission there called A Message in Fire.
You’ll find Yamato hanging out around Lady Sanjo’s place on the first floor in Umugi Cove. Talk to him, and he’ll tell you about the six ronin who are hunting you down. Their leader Kojiro intends to kill you himself but he’s trying to lure you out by having his five cronies commit atrocities around the island so they can challenge you to individual duels at designated spots. All this to prepare to make sure you’re worthy of fighting him. Sheesh.
Like The Unbreakable Gosaku, you need to clear through key objectives scattered throughout the map before unlocking the way to the end of the Tale. It’s just that instead of liberating Mongol-occupied territory for keys, you’re fighting in some intense duels. Fortunately, all the dueling spots are marked on the map, so you need only travel to them and get them over with.
While the five ronin you duel each have unique attacks, the actual fights against them don’t demand too much difference in strategy. The key to overcoming each one is keeping your distance, dodging at the right time, and adequately counterattacking. Try not to get greedy when you do retaliate, focusing instead on slashing around two-to-three times before backing off–though if you manage to stagger them successfully, definitely take that time to unleash on them. Heavenly Strike comes in handy here during more desperate moments, and if you have it, the Dance of Wrath is another powerful attack that helps. Though if you haven’t unlocked that yet, be sure to consult our Mythic Tale walkthrough of The Spirit of Yarikawa’s Vengeance below.
Kojiro’s lunge is an attack you’ll want to parry the most.
With all five ronin defeated, return to Umugi Cove to chat with Yamato, who tells you that Kojiro awaits at the Omi monastery northwest of Lucky Genzo’s Inn. When you arrive, follow the Guiding Wind to small mountain near the water, where there’s an opening you can squeeze through.
Inside you’ll find the treacherous Kojiro. Immediately prepare yourself for him because he’s quite aggressive, coming at you with a flurry of attacks. As such, the key is parrying during the attacks you can guard against at the right time. He may be a bit overwhelming at first, but like all ronin, all it comes down to is remaining conservative with your attacks and properly timing your parry against his quick attacks. Once Kojiro is defeated, you get his sweet Kensei Armor and a moderate increase to your Legend.
The Spirit of Yarikawa’s Vengeance
Location: West of Rebel’s Last Stand, and it can be found immediately after starting Act 2.
Find Yamato just west of Rebel’s Stand. When you’ve heard the story, head into Old Yarikawa and look for billowing white smoke, in the northwest section of the town, near the river. Once you read the scroll, you get another hint: the Spirit of Yarikawa is being entreated to attack the Mongols camped along the river. Up ahead, you should see fire and embers highlighting where you need to go. When you get to the camp, release the peasant from the cage to get some more information.
The next shrine is south of Old Yarikawa, near the survivor camp at the bend in the river. Speak to the survivors at the camp to find out more. Now head to the middle of Old Yarikawa, east of the survivor camp, to find another shrine. You’ll hear a battle when you approach it. Head west to catch a glimpse of the Spirit; get on the roof of the nearby house to get inside and investigate.
Look for billowing white smoke like this.
Your next shrine is due north. It’ll send you to the Garden of the Gods, at the south end of Old Yarikawa. While you can talk to some peasants to get information about where to go, look to the smoke and fireflies for a bigger hint. Find the shrine in the garden and grab it.
This triggers a duel with the Spirit of Yarikawa. She’s not too tough, mostly using techniques you’ve probably seen from other ronin. With the skill tree technique to deflect unblockable sword attacks, the Spirit shouldn’t have much of anything you can’t parry, so deflect to make some opportunities. It’s best to try to parry her early in a combo to break up her ability to attack. After a few rounds, you’ll learn the Dance of Wrath to use against her. Unleash it to finish her off and complete the Tale.
Kamigata Region — Act 3
There is a single Mythic Tale in the Kamigata region, and you can easily find it as soon as you unlock access to Jogaku Temple during Act 3.
The Undying Flame
Location: North of Jogaku Temple
Head to the base of Mount Jogaku to hear the story of the Undying Flame from Yamato. Once you do, you can start the ascent–but note that, unlike your other climbs, you’ll have to deal with fighting the cold during this one. That means you’ll need to make your way from bonfire to bonfire in order to warm Jin up, lest he succumbs and freezes to death. Head to the first fire and look across the bridge to plot your course to the next one. The trick here is to always have your next fire in mind before you set out and to double back when you get too cold if it seems like you won’t make it.
The climb up Mount Jogaku also has dogs positioned along the way that’ll attack you. It’s usually best to scope them out and then return to your last fire to deal with them from a distance with arrows. You don’t want them tying you up out in the cold where you can freeze.
Keep going from fire to fire. But don’t hesitate to turn back if you get lost and it gets too cold.
Keep moving until you have to jump a gap with the iron hook. From there, climb up the cliff to the next fire. Ahead are a bunch of dogs, so try to draw them to you before heading out–you’ll need to kill about four of them before the next fire. You won’t be able to see this one clearly until you get to it, either, so follow the path forward and look for a place where you can climb to your next resting point.
After you reach the fire with the samurai, the path continues to the left–head for the rocks ahead with the fallen tree trunk at the top. Climb up and cross the tree, then look for a spot where you can throw the iron hook to the left and cross the gap. You won’t see the fire ahead; you’ll need to reach it and light it before you can warm back up, and you might take some damage in the meantime.
Next, continue forward and climb up to get to a slackline. Follow it to a jump with the iron hook, and then another jump to the left. You’ll need to make two swings to cross the gap fully and light the next fire.
This is the last leg. Run forward and use the iron hook to swing to some handholds in the wall. Climb up, but watch out for the bear who got hold of another unfortunate climber. At this point, jump the gap and just run for it to the dojo up ahead. To learn the Way of the Flame, you’ll have to duel Bettomaru, the samurai you find there.
Watch out for that unbloackable fire!
Bettomaru’s form isn’t too tough during his normal attacks–the worst of it is a fast thrust he likes to pull that might catch you off-guard. When his sword is on fire, it’s a different story, because all his attacks become unblockable and they’ll ignite you if he lands one. He’ll come at you with three- and four-strike combos, with the fourth strike being delayed to mess with your dodge timing. Instead of trying to stay close and dodge all his attacks, you’re better off just rolling away repeatedly to keep your distance. You might have an opening after his fourth strike to try to hit him, but you’re better off just parrying him when his flame goes out.
Midway through the fight, you’ll gain the ability to use the Way of the Flame yourself. When you do, your attacks become unblockable, giving you a chance to give Bettomaru back what he’s been dishing out. Just be careful you don’t get caught by a fast thrust or attacks from his flaming sword, but if you have the opening, go nuts and hammer him until the fight is over. Since this is just training, you only need to knock out about two-thirds of Bettomaru’s health to win the duel and end the sequence.
Before you leave, climb to the second floor, go out the window to reach the roof, and snag a Sashimono Banner. Use the post at the back of the dojo, near the cliff, to quickly descend the mountain and meet up with Yamato. You’ll also get the Purity of War mask and Izanami’s Grief Sword Kit vanity items. Oh, and you probably guess: a moderate increase to your Legend!
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There are lots of collectibles to find in Ghost of Tsushima, as well as locations across the island to uncover in order to increase your strength and unlock new abilities. One of the largest groups of things to find are Inari Shrines. These small shrines are hidden on cliffs, in forests, behind rocks, and in caves, and finding them unlocks more slots for equipping Minor Charms, which give you useful passive perks.
There are 49 Inari Shrines across Tsushima, and locating them not only earns you new Charm slots, but also some of the better Minor Charms in the game, if you’re willing to keep searching. Shrines are always marked by Fox Dens that are marked on your map; meet a fox at its den and it’ll guide you to the shrine. Though finding the dens isn’t too difficult, there are quite a few of them, and they’re easy to miss. Here’s a full rundown of all 49 Fox Den locations–honor them all and you’ll earn the Favor of the Kami Trophy and a special mask for Jin.
There are 22 Fox Dens scattered throughout the first region of Tsushima, Izuhara. You’ll usually find them in fields; the trees tend to be gold, or (once or twice) a different color than the rest of the foliage nearby. At night, look for fireflies floating around in the leaves of the trees, so you can spot them at a distance.
Hiyoshi – 3 Fox Dens
Ariake – 5 Fox Dens
Komoda – 2 Fox Dens
Kashine – 3 Fox Dens
Komatsu – 3 Fox Dens
Tsutsu – 3 Fox Dens
Azamo – 3 Fox Dens
Toyotama
You’ll unlock Toyotama when you hit Act 2, where you’ll find another 17 Fox Dens. The first one you’ll pass is just north of Castle Kaneda.
Akashima – 3 Fox Dens
Yarikawa – 2 Fox Dens
Umugi – 2 Fox Dens
Otsuna – 3 Fox Dens
Kushi – 1 Fox Den
Kubara – 6 Fox Dens
Kamiagata
Act 3 gets you to Kamiagata, the northern region of Tsushima. Your last 10 Inari Shrines are located in the north, but spread across a large area, so they’re a bit tougher to locate.
Kin – 2 Fox Dens
Sago – 3 Fox Dens
Jogaku – 5 Fox Dens
Wolf Of Tsushima Mask
Finding and honoring all 49 Inari Shrines will earn you four total Minor Charm slots, plus several amped-up Minor Charms that are better than the rest of your usual charms. Finally, you get the Wolf of Tsushima Mask, one of the cooler Vanity Items in the game. You also unlock a Trophy for your efforts: the Favor of the Kami Trophy.
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The Office is a phenomenon. It was ranked the most watched show on Netflix in 2018, with 52 million minutes streamed. Fans are still hungry for the Steve Carrell-led comedy and Leslie David Baker, who plays Stanley Hudson, is trying to give them more.
Baker is currently trying to fund a pilot episode for a new spin-off, Uncle Stan, on Kickstarter. It follows the character after he has to relocate to Los Angeles to help his nephew with kids and work. The campaign has a $300,000 goal that hasn’t been reached yet.
“After enjoying his retirement in Florida, carving wood, enjoying the white sand beaches, and dancing to old disco, Uncle Stan (Leslie David Baker) gets a call from his nephew Lucky in Los Angeles asking for help with his two kids and running his motorcycle/flower shop,” the Kickstarter campaign reads.
Baker got the idea after fans kept asking him about Stanley’s future at various Comic-Cons and other fan events.
“People kept asking about the character Stanley,” he said in an interview. “Well, what do you think he’s doing now? Where is he? Is he still living in Florida? What kind of life is he having? What’s retirement like for him? And that made me say, “Hmm, people wanna know about this character ‘and his life ever after.'”
The show takes place seven years into Stanley’s retirement (The Office went off the air in 2013) and will include a “lot of the things that have happened during his retirement,” Baker said. The project doesn’t have a studio behind it yet, but Baker says he’s been contacted by several who are interested.
“One of the things that we will incorporate in the scripts, of course we can’t help, but the pandemic, the political upheaval and unrest that’s going on,” he said. “These are the types of things that can also be included and will be included in scripts.”
A new tech-focused trailer shows the graphically demanding 2007 shooter running on the Nintendo Switch, at a native 720p resolution and capped at 30fps. The gameplay looks smooth, with a lot of action on display showcasing some of the port’s enhancements. You can check it out below.
Given the Switch’s hardware limitations, it would’ve been safe to assume that some of Crysis Remastered’s more demanding features would be left out. And that might still be the case, but the inclusion of dynamic lighting and a voxel-based global illumination effect do a lot to enhance the lush tropical scenes of its setting.
Also, there are sharks. In case you want to super punch one, or something.
Crysis Remastered’s release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC has not been rescheduled, and developer Saber Interactive has not indicated when it intends to show it off for the first time after the poor reception its leaked trailer received. Crysis Remastered will be $30 when it launches on Nintendo Switch on July 23.
This is a mostly spoiler-free review of Netflix’s Cursed: Season 1.
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Normally, one should never judge a show based on its opening credits, but when watching the intro of Cursed, Netflix subscribers might assume it’s an off-shoot of another teen heroine series, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Therein lies one of the biggest struggles the streaming service faced with its foray into Arthurian legend starring 13 Reasons Why’s Katherine Langford: The tone of the series speaks to a Gen Z and Millennial audience that’s perpetually hungry for gritty, female “chosen one” adventures. It’s an audience devoted to Buffy, Sabrina, Katniss Everdeen, and Tris, but, I would argue, has little emotional connection to King Arthur, the Knights of the Roundtable, and all of the various men that wield swords in those tales.
When done well, Arthurian stories have found a place in all genres, between the animated The Sword in the Stone, the comedic musical gem Spamalot, and the BBC’s beloved coming-of-age saga Merlin. By centering this new story on the ever-mysterious Lady of the Lake, Cursed could have been the next great female-centric fantasy adventure, adding something fresh to a vast mystical canon. That is, if it didn’t rely so heavily on poorly executed winks and nudges to the original mythos.
Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler’s Cursed, based on the pair’s original novel, follows Nimue (Langford), a young Fey sorceress, on a tragic mission of destiny. After her entire tribe is brutally murdered by the Red Paladins (pretty much just the Faith Militant from Game of Thrones), she is sent to save her people by delivering a precious sword to the infamous Merlin (Gustaf Skarsgård). (Yes, the audience probably knows the sword is Excalibur, but they’re just going to call it “The Sword of Power” the entire time for a bit of mystique.)
Unfortunately, much of the excitement in the first season—especially a major identity reveal in the finale—relies on a familiarity with the lore in the audience. As one such viewer, I was definitely intrigued by Nimue’s journey, but was disappointed by many of the main players. King Uther (Sebastian Armesto) and Nimue’s “cutthroat” accomplice, Arthur (Devon Terrell), are all slightly dull and underdeveloped throughout the season. Still, while this is far from Skarsgård’s best performance, he’s able to infuse much-needed energy into somewhat trite material and bring a bit more depth to the legendary wizard than you may have seen before.
We’re meant to be entertained by the twists to the mythos—instead of a great would-be king, Arthur is simply an attractive rogue, grasping at straws to gain honor. Merlin is at his lowest, a drunken disgrace, and, perhaps, even a traitor. However, with the show’s mostly one-dimensional performances and lack of nuance, if I were unfamiliar with these characters I suspect I would have been utterly, mind-numbingly bored.
Perhaps this is an egregious overgeneralization. Maybe I’m offbase and most of Cursed’s viewers will be fascinated by medieval lore or at least have dads like mine who discuss Lancelot’s trysts as if they were historical fact akin to his extensive knowledge on World War II and the Battle of Normandy. Either way, Cursed is messy. The show feels overproduced—the colors too bright, the makeup and gruesome effects not quite right. The pacing is clunky at best—at random points throughout the season, there are multiple comic-like illustrated transitions between scenes that feel like a random place holder for lack of a better way to progress to the next point.
These elements suggest a level of camp similar, coincidentally, to Merlin, but with material that takes itself far more seriously. Nimue is repeatedly abused by her own tribe (making it slightly hard as a viewer to care about avenging them), then victimized some more by random scavengers and hunted by the grotesque Paladins. Even with attempted comedic levity in scenes between the hapless King Uther and inebriated Merlin, the series is mostly weighed down in woe.
All this to say, Cursed has some highlights with its characters, like the sweet and funny Pym (Lily Newmark) and the sapphic love story between Igrain (Shalom Brune-Franklin) and a fellow nun—though that relationship ultimately falls into a harmful trope the story could have done without. Still, Cursed’s greatest weakness is that it doesn’t bring anything new to the table, even beyond mythology. Netflix’s latest adaptation is likely doomed to be forgotten much quicker than the characters it sought to magnify.
Revealed at E3 2019, Arkane’s next ambitious first-person adventure is the time-twisty Deathloop, which is now set to be released on PC and PS5 as a console exclusive this holiday.
With a release so close, and the impressive first couple of showcases Arkane and publisher Bethesda have offered for it so far, we spoke to Deathloop Game Director Dinga Bakaba and Art Director Sebastien Mitton about the unique art style and its inspirations, how Deathloop’s time loop design works, and what it means to bring the game to the PS5.
Deathloop will have players living a day over and over as the uncover the mysteries of the adventure’s setting, the island of Black Reef.
And while the loop of starting a run, dying, and restarting from the beginning makes Deathloop sound like a rougelike, Bakaba made clear that a few key choices differentiate it from the popular genre.
“You are piecing together what happened on the island, who you are, and what you are doing here and how you can escape,” he said. “The way it’s a bit different from a roguelike is, imagine that I find an important clue, and I die just after that. Progress is still made. You might lose the gun that you found, but the story has moved forward. [The Protagonist] Colt now knows something and the player both knows something important and they need to act on this thing.”
Sounding reminiscent of last year’s acclaimed The Outer Wilds in that way, Deathloop also distances itself, according to Bakaba, though the team wants to preserve some of the mystery as to why.
“Not trying to say too much, but there is a turning point in the game where the progression becomes even more different than a roguelike,” he teased. “You play that same day over and over, but you don’t necessarily do the same things, you are not necessarily in the same places, you don’t have the same goals.”
The Arkane team wanted to make sure that players didn’t feel restricted by the time loop itself, and Bakaba cautions that players don’t need to worry about feeling limited by Deathloop’s timeline.
“The one thing we wanted to make sure is that it doesn’t mean that the player is literally on the clock in their moment-to-moment gameplay,” he noted. “If you want to play very deliberately, very slowly, and take your time, read every note, look at every painting, the game will not punish you for that.”
Deathloop on PS5
Deathloop marks Arkane’s first PS5 release, coming at the start of the next-generation console’s life. Both Bakaba and Mitton spoke to what it means to take advantage of the new console technology while also developing for PC.
“The first thing that it means for games is just comfort, like higher resolution, higher frame rate, things like HDR, some use of ray tracing, etc.,” Bakaba noted of the next-gen capabilities.
“Just having higher fidelity on screen to make Seb’s team’s work shine in a way that it never did before is really exciting. Of course, I mentioned the frame rate. I think that’s something really important. Until now our games and consoles have always been 30fps. Being able to target 60 for an action game, it’s very exciting.”
Bakaba also noted how the DualSense is allowing for a new level of immersion, which is so important to Arkane’s design philosophy.
“It’s got a lot of nice features with the haptics feedback, the active triggers. We are a first person game. We really value immersion a lot in our games,” he said. “Really feel the weapons in your hand, its reaction, how it reloads, how it reacts to reloading, etc… I think that players will enjoy those functionalities.
“This is something that we are…extremely proud to be part of, it’s something so big. A new generation of console and the launch of them. It’s not every time in a career that you have this opportunity. So, we are really thrilled,” Bakaba noted.
The Saul Bass Inspiration
One of the most striking things about the little we’ve seen of Deathloop so far is its stark, eye-catching art style. Mitton explained how the work of famed artists Saul Bass, responsible for famous posters and title sequences for films like Vertigo, The Shining, and more, played into the design of Deathloop.
“At the beginning [of production], we were not sure [it would be] taking place during the ‘60s. When we were discussing the core ideas, the main pillars of the game, the time period was not there. And at some point I was like, imagine you have an isolated island. And if you want to create a huge contrast and a clash with something, it could be the time period instead of just sci-fi elements,” Mitton explained, noting the various inspirations for the world. “We call it the Saul Bass vibe. He did all the posters for The Shining, Vertigo. And you mix it together to get something that is really Arkane.”
Mitton drilled down into even how designing Deathloop’s power set, which looks reminiscent of Arkane’s past work on Dishonored but still true to the world of this new game.
“One approach was to make the visual effects more badass but still legible. It’s really hard to create a Blink [power] in fact. It looks easy when you see it, but when you work with your team it’s back and forth between game designers, visuals, sound, etc,” Mitton noted. “And the idea was to make something half realistic and half.. a bit comic [book-like] in the way you create the particles.”
Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans will star in The Gray Man, a new thriller movie directed by Joe and Anthony Russo that will carry Netflix’s biggest budget yet.
The movie is based on the Gray Man and Court Gentry book series from author Mark Greaney. The globe-trotting movie focuses on two killers, Gentry (Gosling) and his former companion Lloyd (Evans), as they hunt each other down.
The movie is meant to kickstart a franchise with this first installment written by Joe Russo. Captain America and Avengers writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, also helped out with the script.
Anthony Russo compared the movie to Captain America: The Winter Soldier in an interview with Deadline.
“The movie is a real mano a mano between those two great actors, who represent two different versions of the CIA, in what it can be, and what it can do,” Anthony Russo said. “For those who were fans of Captain America: Winter Soldier, this is us moving into that territory in more of a real world setting. That’s what this movie really means for us.”
Joe Russo said their intention is to go on for multiple installments and to keep the stakes, and probably the budget, very high. This movie is expected to have Netflix’s highest budget yet at around $200 million. For comparison, a movie like The Irishman reportedly cost around $175 million and Extraction was under $100 million.
“The intention is for it to be competitive with any theatrical and the ability to do with with [sic] Gosling and Evans is a dream for us,” Joe Russo said. “The idea is to create a franchise and build out a whole universe, with Ryan at the center of it. We have all committed to the first movie and that’s got to be great to get us to the second movie. These are master assassins and Gosling’s characters gets burned by the CIA and Evans’ character has to hunt him down.
“We think Netflix is the perfect place for this film.”
Joe Russo also said that the movie will hopefully begin production by late 2020 or early 2021, but that’s “COVID dependent.”
As expected, the PS5 controller does look a tad heftier than the DualShock, but not hugely so. Keighley mentioned during the stream that the controller felt slightly heavier, but only slightly.
After a reveal in April, we’ve learned a lot about the new controller’s haptic feedback, adaptive triggers (and a little less about its still-mysterious Create button).
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
