Ghost of Yotei Puts the Ainu Front and Center — Uncovering the Japan You Weren’t Taught in School

Ghost of Yotei is finally here, and yeah, the views are ridiculous again. Sucker Punch brought back the sweeping vistas and clean combat, and they handed the story to a revenge-driven heroine named Atsu. But the thing that actually grabbed me this time isn’t just the pretty picture. Underneath the open world set in 1603 Hokkaido, they went hard on Ainu culture in a way big-budget games basically never do.

Where the game drops you, and why that matters

Unlike Ghost of Tsushima’s Mongol invasion, Ghost of Yotei jumps north to Hokkaido (called Ezo back then) right as the Tokugawa shogunate kicks off. Tokugawa Ieyasu has just locked down power in Edo (modern Tokyo), the mainland is calming down, and Hokkaido is still rugged, sparsely populated, and culturally distinct. That last part is key, because it was home to the Ainu, whose traditions, language, and beliefs were different from the Yamato/Wajin majority.

Who the Ainu are, and how the game uses that

The Ainu have lived for centuries across northern Japan, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. They call their homeland Ainu Mosir, which translates to 'land of the Ainu.' They are Indigenous people with their own language, spirituality, and customs — not Yamato Japanese. Ghost of Yotei leans into that contrast on purpose. You’ll see traditional Ainu houses with central hearths, women’s lip tattoos, and a general texture to the world that isn’t just a costume change. It feels like the devs actually did the homework.

"Love that Ghost Of Yotei has Ainu, I don't think I've ever seen them in any videogame, unless I don't remember"

- Spirit (@SpiritOfBotan), Apr 23, 2025

The inside-baseball part: how Sucker Punch tried to get it right

Co-creative director Nate Fox has said the team felt responsible for getting the cultural details right, and for once that doesn’t read like marketing fluff. They didn’t just watch a bunch of movies; they went out and touched the stuff. Literally.

• Multiple research trips to Japan focused on Hokkaido, not just Tokyo pit stops.
• They worked with Ainu advisers throughout development, including cultural adviser Yukiko Kaizawa, who guided them on the ground.
• They foraged wild vegetables in the mountains and ate with local families to understand daily life, not just festival days.
• They visited the Nibutani Ainu Museum to study traditional homes (cise), tools, artifacts, and structures up close.
• Those experiences fed directly into design choices in-game: a foraging system exists because they learned it firsthand, and the landscape even nods to real places like Mount Yotei.
• The official PlayStation account highlighted that foraging link on June 18, 2025, connecting the mechanic to the team’s trips and studies.

Fictional map, real context

The Hokkaido you roam in Ghost of Yotei is still a fictional sandbox, but you can feel the real-world texture under it. That’s the same energy Ghost of Tsushima had with samurai cinema; now it’s doing that for Ainu heritage. For a lot of players, this might be their first brush with the culture at all — which is wild, but also exactly why this matters.

Big games can do more than dazzle

When a team this big gives the spotlight to a community that’s often left out of the conversation, it does more than just make the world feel fresh. It nudges players toward the histories and voices most games breeze past. If Ghost of Tsushima made people chase down Kurosawa movies, Ghost of Yotei might finally get people talking about Ainu stories.

How’s your time in Hokkaido so far? Spot anything cool the devs tucked in that I missed?