The mastery of lighting in Ghost of Yotei

Hello again, community! Today I want to share a little more of what I’ve captured while playing Ghost of Yotei. Unlike the previous post, this one won’t be a sequence of images belonging to a mission or in-game activity; today is about moments in places with landscapes that have captivated me and that I think are extremely well-made by the game’s developers.

One of the things I like most about Ghost of Yotei is the lighting management. As you play, the time changes, the day advances, and consequently, the illumination shifts. The sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, and the light reflects very well on the game's various surfaces, providing wonderful contrasts and colors.

A detail I think is important to mention is that you don't need to wait for a specific time of day in the game to get a certain "natural" lighting. Thanks to Photo Mode, you can adjust the time of day and thus achieve the sun's ray incidence from the angle you’re looking for. As you can see in these two images, they show the same flowers with different lighting.

All the images I’m sharing with you today belong to the first area of the game, known as the Yotei Plains. The variety of colors you can find in these plains is impressive, which is best seen with the flowers. I thought these colors were fictional, but after a bit of research, I discovered that they are real flowers like the Equinox Flowers, Hydrangeas, or the famous Sakura.

But it’s not all plains; there are high spots where you can get great views as well. The highest mountain is Mount Yotei. You can access its summit via a shrine path, and as you climb, you can admire the plains at the volcano's foot. Its summit is icy and the volcano is inactive, giving it the appearance of a large crater.

There are other surrounding mountains that also offer great views. You can only climb these mountains because there are shrine paths, so they are not an entirely free part of the exploration. The trails to climb them can be tough, and perhaps some people might be discouraged from taking them—much like reality. However, a view from the heights is always spectacular, and they are very well-represented in this game.

But I really enjoyed the views I got when descending to the coast. Even though the sea looks a bit stormy, the sun's reflection on the water, the rock formations, and the "natural" stone arch—which suggests erosion by the sea—give the place an epic look. In fact, one of the most interesting battles of the storyline takes place there.

_{All media taken with the PS5 capture system}