Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima has been in the works for a while now, but it looks like it may just encompass the sum total of Sony’s first-party efforts over the last couple of years: Gigantic sandboxes, gorgeous scenery and enough action to keep you invested for months. We’ve had a few trailers during the course of its development, we’ve seen some of the story powering this slice of feudal Japan and we’ve had a mere taste of the gameplay so far.

Come hell or high water, rain or world-devastating pandemics, one thing is for certain: Nothing can stop video games! On the eve of a new console generation, Sony still has two big cards to play in its hand as its final first-party offerings for the PlayStation 4 are looking to send that console off in the grandest fashion possible: The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima.

The era of the PlayStation 4 exclusive draws to an end this year, as Sony prepares to bring the curtain down with steel and honour. It seems only fitting then that Sucker Punch, the studio responsible for one of Sony’s earliest exclusive hits InFAMOUS: Second Son, should get the nod to end the party with a bang because Ghost of Tsushima is looking tight.

No matter your taste, there’s something for everyone with a calendar that is packed with quality. From full-scale zombie destruction to fantasy of a final remake flavour and that one other game that rhymes with Fiber Spunk 2077, the year ahead looks like one that will rock you like a hurricane.

Sony is skipping a 2018 showcase of various upcoming games, for reasons. The primary one? They just don’t have enough content to show off and justify the annual extravaganza.

It's the idea of giving players an open-world game that is worth exploring that is at the forefront of Sucker Punch’s efforts in Ghost of Tsushima, as the studio wants to balance the more action-heavy sequences of their latest project with a chance to soak in some digital beauty.

Two blokes hurling chunks of sharpened steel at each other’s faces? There’s nothing romantic about that. It’s something that you get a taste of in Ghost of Tsushima, whose first gameplay demo at E3 this year was a dirty dance of blood and heads being sent flying.

Everyone was expecting a tight samurai game in Sucker Punch's gameplay reveal of Ghost of Tsushima, but the developer delivered even more with a demo that smacked of influences from legendary director Akira Kurosawa and looked simply sublime in action.

Sony decided to shake things up in terms of their E3 2018 press conference format, and it didn't really hit the right notes. Thankfully their stellar first-party showings did all the heavy lifting for them.

We finally get a look at Sucker Punch's open world samurai epic in action, and it looks good.

I’m excited, I’m revving to go and I’m more than willing to endure a literal 24 hours worth of air travel just to get to E3 this year. Why? Because some of the finest games in the land will be on show there. Games that will define the greatest interactive medium ever made, push them in new directions ad just be a bloody hoot to play. Here’s a list of ten such games, that the Critical Hit massive is eager to experience.

Ghost of Tsushima is clearly the kind of game that has had and still will have years of development pumped into it. In fact, it’s that lengthy and secret development time which had many a Sucker Punch fan worried about the future of the famed developer. After 2014’s inFAMOUS: Second Son, you couldn’t even squeeze a mouse fart out of the company, as they toiled away on Ghost of Tsushima. Was this a case of Sony playing its cards close to its chest and delaying the announcement of the game for as long as possible as they sought the perfect time to unveil it?