Ghost of Tsushima: Rescuing Lord Shimura from Castle Kaneda

We are getting close to the end of Act 1, where our main objective is to free our uncle Lord Shimura from Castle Keneda. But before doing that story mission I wanted to upgrade my katana and my armour. I loved the exploration part of the game so it was fun to collect all the supplies. It didn't feel like a chore. But if you do it a lot it gets a bit repetitive.

I stumbled upon a musician who told me a legendary tale of Shigenori's heavenly strike. This was a mythical tale which gave a special item or attribute to you. This one gave me a cool new move that is called the Heavenly strike and it cannot be blocked. But it consumes resolve, so you cannot just spam it again and again.

I liked this mission too, it ended with a boss fight where I had to dodge quickly and counter attack in time. It was an epic fight scene and during that fight Jin learned this new move.

---

There will be spoilers ahead!

We were prepared to rescue Lord Sakai now. A lot of hours have been spent on doing side activities, learning about Bows and swords, freeing the blacksmith who forgot the grappling hook to climb the fort walls. Every preparation was done.

We had Yuna, Lady Masako and Sensei Ishikawa with us. And our childhood friend, Ryuzo promised to join us along with his men. It was all set. Jin would climb the fort walls and open the gates, and all of us would charge and take down enemies and rescue our uncle Lord Shimura.

But Ryuzo was not to be seen, so we didn't wait for him. There were waves and waves of enemies once we managed to open the gate. But there was a big plot twist. Ryuzo betrayed us and joined the Mongol side just because they promised him a good amount of bounty and food. We had to fight him in another epic duel there.

---

We almost killed Ryuzo in the fight, but he managed to escape after alerting Mongol soldiers. I am suspecting he will be coming back later with an even bigger challenge.

---

Khotun Khan, the general/commander of the Mongols was not there in this castle, so there was not enough challenge after the Ryuzo duel. It could have been more challenging for sure but I guess my upgrades made it easy. This marked the end of Act 1 of the story as well.

Khotun Khan went up north to capture Castle Shimura, and we saw that Ryuzo was with him. Both of them are going to pay for what they did to our homeland.

Act 2 unlocked a new section of the map and some of the areas are so damn beautiful.

---

We took down some more outposts with our uncle. That old guy seems to be good at fighting lol.

---

I am slowly starting to admire the main story. The mythic tales make it even more interesting, and the combat is probably the best part of the game. I had my suspicions on the gameplay part of the game but I am liking it a lot lately.

I love the way these Mongols lit up firecrackers to call for reinforcements.

---

A side activity that I enjoy the most is Bamboo cutting. This one helps increase the number of 'resolve' dots you have. You just have to press the button in order to cut the bamboo. But you have to be really quick and they add two extra bamboo after each round. The last round can get challenging and I kinda love this little thing in this game.

---