When it was released back in 2020, Ghost of Tsushima struck a chord with players with its razor-sharp samurai gameplay and heavenly aesthetics. The open-world experience wasn’t entirely original, but through the strength of the game’s visuals — which filled each frame with vibrancy and texture befitting a fully colored sumi-e ink painting — a fan-favorite franchise was born.
After a seemingly exhaustive wait, the follow-up to Sucker Punch’s samurai opus is almost here. Rather than a direct sequel following the first game’s protagonist Jin Sakai, Ghost of Yōtei takes place over 300 years later, centering on a female warrior named Atsu embroiled in a blood-soaked quest for revenge.
Atsu (played by Erika Ishii) is a very different character than Jin. In fact, Ghost of Yōtei is bringing almost an entirely new tone to players with a narrative that blends vintage samurai cinema from the likes of Akira Kurosawa (whose work once again inspires a black-and-white mode in the game) and spaghetti westerns à la Sergio Leone.
A huge part of the game’s East meets West philosophy is conveyed by the musical score. Rolling Stone recently spoke with Sucker Punch audio director Brad Meyer and Ghost of Yōtei composer Toma Otowa about how the sequel’s soundtrack was designed from the ground up to pay tribute to Kurosawa, westerns, and Japanese folk music. Check out the links below to hear two new tracks from the OST, “The Wilds of Ezo” and “Wanderer,” obtained exclusively by Rolling Stone.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did the team at Sucker Punch try to differentiate the soundtrack for Ghost of Yōtei from the previous game?
Brad Meyer: The main thing that we wanted to carry over — and part of, to us, what makes a Ghost game a Ghost game musically is strong melody. And that was one thing that was critical, but we also knew that this is a game in a different place, a different time. There’s a lot of differences, so we wanted it to also sound unique and have its own identity. The story of Atsu is so different from the story of Jin, and we wanted to make sure that the music helped reflect that.
Editor’s picks
On top of that, this is taking place in Ezo — what we now know as Hokkaido — in the 16th century. At that time, Ezo was not part of Japan; it was kind of the edge of Japan, and it was very much this kind of crazy Wild West frontier. [So] the expansiveness and untamedness of Ezo made us start thinking, “[What] if we do a Wild West through the lens of Japanese instrumentation?”
Toma Otowa: When I heard “[feudal] Japan meets the Wild West,” the first thing that came to my mind was [that] this must have been meant to be. [I] came to the [United] States as a foreign exchange student, and I spent a good amount of time in Oklahoma. Combining the Japanese cultural background that I had [with] the Western culture that I accepted, I think it helped me write and come up with a good combination. You do definitely feel the Wild West, while there’s a strong DNA of a Japanese-rooted background.
What kind of classical Japanese instrumentation was used?
Meyer: A lot of what we did was recording soloists. And so, we had recorded, say, the guitarist, then we recorded our string quartet, and then we recorded lap steel guitar. And I remember when were recording the biwa player, and the biwa and the lap steel playing together. None of us had ever heard that before. I don’t know if those two instruments had ever played together before, and it was just like this magical moment. We didn’t know, at the beginning, [if] this was going to work. [We] don’t want it to feel hokey, or like a pastiche or disrespectful.
Ghost of Tsushima was famously inspired by the work of director Akira Kurosawa. With that Wild West infusion, were there other influences this time around?
Meyer: It’s funny because, on Ghost of Tsushima, we worked with Kurosawa’s estate to ensure that we can this Kurosawa mode. He’s obviously been a big influence on us. This game, to us, probably most closely resembles Yojimbo in a lot of ways. It’s got the revenge tale of Lady Snowblood, perhaps, but there’s so much DNA of Yojimbo. Just a wandering traveler kind of injecting herself into the dramas of wherever she may roam. Obviously, [Kurosawa’s] movies have influenced Western cinema, specifically westerns.
Related Content
When we approached Toma about the score, we didn’t say, “Hey, write us a Japanese Sergio Leone score.” It was very much like “Wild West through the lens of feudal Japan.” At the same time, it is definitely hard to avoid some of the tropes that Leone helped foster and create, because that is what our entire collective consciousness thinks of as a western.
Were there specific Japanese artists or composers that helped inform the score?
Meyer: The first prototype we got of the horse running through our vast expanse of Ezo, we wanted to really kind of feel like, “Hey, is this gonna be fun to just ride your horse across this giant landscape?” And one of our creative directors, Jason Connell, was [like], “Can you find some Japanese folk music? Because I feel like that is what’s going to work here.” And I found this track from this singer songwriter; his name was Kenji Endo, and he as this song called “Curry Rice.” And it was just a song about making curry rice, but it was just this beautiful … just a guy and his guitar, singing very soulfully.
Then Jason found another singer-songwriter, and her name is Hako Yamasaki, and she’s still around, still performing and writing. [We] shared that with Toma and explained, “Hey, we really want to something of this ilk that is simple, sparse, and then using vocals to just wrench the emotion.”
Otowa: I definitely felt that nostalgia in the style of Hako Yamasaki. I think I was maybe one or two or three years old when Hako blossomed in Japan. Tapping into that period of folk music that was popular in Japan was a refreshing experience for me. And to bring that to 2025 with a new take on it [with] an orchestral background — not to bombard just to make it epic — but just to create the subtlety of the atmosphere of this feudal Japan.
Can you describe the track “The Wilds of Ezo?”
Otowa: The first half, I had a clear intention of [creating] this dark world, [it’s] dark at night or late in the evening, or you’re totally alone and wondering in this danger. It’s lonely, quiet, soft, and solitary. And then in the second half, you squeeze your courage and blaze through the Hokkaido fields for your mission, for your purpose.
Meyer: I love the melody in that last half. It just has this kind of heroic feel that matches Atsu riding off to kick some ass.
Conversely, the song “Wanderer” has a very different cadence. Is this tied more closely to Japanese folk music?
Otowa: It was very much in the style of folk music. [Because] Atsu’s journey is so challenging and oftentimes dark or lonely, or really tragic, I think this track [presents] a little bit of the brighter side of the journey. [Even] though the challenges are still present, there’s still beautiful nature, the mountains, trees, animals, and there’s definitely [sacredness] in every element that you see and feel. It also allows you to wander to a little bit of a meditative [side].
Meyer: The other interesting thing about that track is that [it] featured what we used as a trio of Japanese instruments with shamisen, shakuhachi, and kokyū. [The character] Atsu, she’s not a samurai; she’s not trained. She’s very improvisational in what she does and in the way that she fights, and in how she deals with day-to-day things she might come across. We took that to a certain place with [the] music as well. Toma wrote this piece, and then we actually developed improv maps so that the musicians would riff on his melody. They would start playing the melody, and then one would continue the melody, and another would improvise under it.
Otowa: It was just very soulful. And I just want to name everybody …
Trending Stories
Meyer: People should buy the record and read the liner notes [laughs].
Ghost of Yōtei launches on Oct. 2 for PlayStation 5. The game’s original soundtrack will be available to stream starting Sept. 26.
