Ghost of Yotei Soundtrack Revealed: Every Track in Sony’s Latest Samurai Epic

Ghost of Yotei is finally out, and the first thing that smacks you (besides the postcard views) is the music. It is a deliberate East-meets-West blend that actually matters to the story and the gameplay, not just the vibe. If Ghost of Tsushima was a flute-forward mood, this one is a shamisen-led pilgrimage with some twang baked in.

East meets West, on purpose

The game is set in 1603, when Hokkaido (then Ezo) was treated like a wild frontier. Composer Toma Otowa and Sucker Punch audio director Brad Meyer went after that tension directly. They built a score that puts traditional Japanese instruments like shamisen, shakuhachi, biwa, and kokyu alongside Western colors you do not expect in a samurai-adjacent saga, including lap steel guitar and acoustic strings. They also worked in Ainu instruments — the tonkori and mukkuri — which ground the sound in northern Japan instead of generic period drama. Otowa, who has lived in Japan and the American Midwest, has said that split helped shape the soundtrack’s dual personality. It tracks: it is meditative one minute, frontier-raw the next.

Atsu's theme actually does some work

The score is character-first. Atsu’s theme threads through the whole thing, shifting depending on where the story puts her — sometimes proud, sometimes gutted. The shamisen she carries is not just a prop either. It belonged to her mother, and it doubles as both a compass and a kind of spiritual tether. As creative director Jason Connell explained in an interview, Atsu can learn songs out in the world and use them as navigation tools, pointing you toward collectibles, cosmetics, and secrets. It is a clean, player-facing way to make the music part of how you move through the game.

Yes, there is a lo-fi mode curated with Shinichiro Watanabe

This is the part that sounds like marketing Mad Libs but is real: there is a separate Watanabe Mode built with Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe that turns pieces like Atsu’s theme into chilled-out, lo-fi beats. It is an optional lane, but it fits the game’s slower, reflective stretches surprisingly well.

Release details and full track list

Ghost of Yotei launched on October 2, 2025. The official album, Ghost of Yotei (Original Soundtrack), hit a week earlier on September 26, 2025 via Milan Records under Sony, with 22 tracks totaling a little over an hour. Otowa leads the album, with some featured guests folded in. Full track list below.

1. Ghost of Yōtei — Toma Otowa
2. The Yōtei Six — Toma Otowa
3. Atsu's Theme (feat. Clare Uchima) — Toma Otowa, Clare Uchima
4. The Wilds of Ezo — Toma Otowa
5. Oyuki's Theme — Toma Otowa
6. The Way of the Shamisen — Toma Otowa
7. Wanderer — Toma Otowa
8. Clan Matsumae — Toma Otowa
9. The North — Toma Otowa
10. Mother's Song (feat. Clare Uchima) — Toma Otowa, Clare Uchima
11. Twin Wolves — Toma Otowa
12. Onryō — Toma Otowa
13. Upon the Wind — Toma Otowa
14. The Nine Tails — Toma Otowa
15. Night of the Burning Tree — Toma Otowa
16. Wrath of the Ghost — Toma Otowa
17. Okami — Toma Otowa
18. Ishikari Plain — Toma Otowa
19. Oshima Coast — Toma Otowa
20. The Call of Revenge (feat. Justin Johnson) — Toma Otowa, Justin Johnson
21. Shogun of the North — Toma Otowa
22. Atsu's Theme — Toma Otowa

Bottom line: it is a gorgeous, gutsy score that does more than set tone — it shapes how you explore. If you have spun the album already, which track hit you hardest? I keep bouncing between Mother’s Song and Wrath of the Ghost, which feels on-brand for this game’s whole calm-to-chaos swing.