Well, I did it. I’ve completed Ghost of Tsushima, or at least the base game. I now have my 40th Platinum Trophy, but also a dark grey cloud following me around, because I didn’t realize just how bleak finishing the game would be.

Completing all of the tales of Tsushima, both the character-centric arcs and the isolated missions, just threw endless misery at me, with no happy endings in sight at all. I remember finishing the story and feeling somewhat optimistic about Jin’s and the Islands’ future, but tackling the additional side content really distorts my overall feelings toward the game, and I’ve never experienced anything like it.

I think it’s fair to say that these tales continue the rather dour tone of the main story quite well, but at least the story threads leave some room for positivity in the end. The sense of accomplishment, despite the cost it took to achieve for Jin, was well worth the journey. However, going back and “tidying up” the outposts, tales, and other map markers wasn’t as enjoyable as I had built it up to be in my head.

The broader reality is that I can now fully appreciate Ghost of Tsushima as a complete package. Granted, I still have the Iki Island and Legends content to try out, but I’ve 100% completed the base game and can appreciate what Sucker Punch got so right.

Visually, Ghost of Tsushima is the prettiest game from the PS4 era, and on PS5, the little upgrades do a great job of squeezing out that extra bit in terms of performance. I never waited more than about 15 seconds from selecting the game on the home screen to being in the game, controlling Jin.

The sound design is second to none, and even features like the guiding wind, instead of a traditional waypoint system, are so aesthetically apt for the game’s vibe that I didn’t appreciate them enough on my first playthrough.

The combat system is tricky to manage at first, but once you adapt to the different enemy types and which sword stance is best deployed against them, you can make those micro adjustments on the fly, and it feels great to do so.

It feels good to know that I have experienced everything Ghost of Tsushima has to offer from the base game, but getting to this point burnt me out massively on the game, so after just 30 minutes into the Iki expansion, I found myself looking for other games to make progress on.

Other Progress Made During Update #1

I revisited seven other titles after finishing Ghost of Tsushima, largely because I was waiting for inspiration to strike on which game to tackle next properly. I think I’ve finally decided, but I’ll save that reveal for the end of this blog.

The first game I revisited was Astro Bot. Don’t ask me why, but I’m really struggling just to sit down and complete this cutesy platformer. I love Astro and the games they’ve appeared in so far, but Astro Bot starts to feel like a slog whenever I’ve completed a few levels, so I often find myself stepping away to ensure I’m not playing it for any reason other than wanting to.

I’m currently at 44% completion in Astro Bot, and it’s definitely a game I’ll hit 100% on for the base game soon. Afterward, I’m happy to take on some of the DLC content, even if I’ve heard it can be a little frustrating.

The only other standout game I returned to during this window was The Crew: Motorfest. Should I ever get this game to 100%, it will most certainly get its own blog post, but for now, I sit at 41% completion, and I’m loving every moment spent in this Horizon-like racer.

The remaining games I played are Undisputed (46%), Top Spin 2K25 (5%), Snooker Blitz (30%, I was testing out my new PS Portal, more on that soon!), Hot Shots Golf 2 (85%), and Resistance Retribution (24%).

I need to keep reminding myself that while I’ve attached the completion percentage to the trophy percentage for ease, this is not a platinum-chasing experiment. I will revisit games in my backlog to complete the main story and leave it at that.

As for the next game I want to try and hit 100% completion on, it is a close contest between The Last of Us Part I and God of War. Ultimately, I’ve decided to take on God of War, purely because PSN profiles says that the first trophy I got on my current account eight years ago was “The Journey Begins” and I still only sit at 8% completion.

I remember creating my current PSN account because my main account at the time was compromised, and I purchased a new PS4 bundled with a copy of the game after my launch console had failed due to a power supply issue.

It was a nice bonus getting a free game with the console to start off the digital collection for this new account, but shortly after this, I regained access to my OG account and just started replaying a lot of the games I already owned, so I never gave God of War the respect it deserves.

I’ll get round to finishing The Last of Us Part I eventually; there’s a pretty long-winded story as to why I’ve never completed this game, either, but I’ll save that for a dedicated blog.

Completion Stat Update

As we head into God of War, here is where I stand. My completion percentage is up to 23.56%, so still short of even halfway to my goal, but more than 1% up from where I started.

I have 10,594 unearned trophies, which is down considerably but still a scarily high number, especially given how many are now unobtainable. I’m earning trophies at a rate of 1.13 per day, though this is down since I have been out of the country for a week and haven’t been playing anything!

The completed games stat is tricky, as PSN profiles only tracks 100% games across all trophies, not just platinums/base games, so this is still at 30. This may be the number that changes the least, but we hope to pile on a few more completions by the time the next update rolls around.