A large part of the game is liberating settlements of various sizes which have been captured by the enemy. Traversal is always intuitive, though slightly floaty, and there is a good balance between moments of peace and Mongol patrols that need your attention. The other two types of collectible, records and artefacts, aren't as compelling to find, but they still provide some solid background story / information and prove that Sucker Punch have done their research.
What's especially nice is that each of them reward you with something that has a tangible impact on either gameplay (charms can be used to augment certain behind-the-scenes statistics, for example) or Jin's appearance, meaning that finding them never feels like a chore. Be it fox dens, Inari shrines, bamboo strikes, pillars of honour, Sashimono banners, Torii shrines or haiku spots (my favourite collectible type), there are plenty of things to find as you ride around. Between main missions, you're left on your own - with your trusty steed, that is - to roam around Tsushima and discover what it has to offer. Exploration is perhaps what you spend most time doing.
There are plenty of options and if you're seen you can usually just engage the enemy in a more traditional manner (though some missions do require stealth to succeed). You can hide among tall grass or use high ground to your advantage, use your bows to pick off foes or get up close and slip your tanto in-between their ribs, throw a wind chime as a distraction or cause panic with your poison. Still, it's challenging enough to be rewarding when you remain undetected. The stealth is a bit more basic than the out-in-the-open combat it's primarily line-of-sight based stuff. The combat in general is really fun and is potentially the highlight of the game. These mastery-testing one-on-one battles are actually some of the most intense in the game, partly due to their difficulty and partly due to the fact that they're often directly fuelled by the story. The title's duelling mechanic, which pops up ever so often when you face a more substantial enemy than your standard Mongol soldier, puts the focus firmly back on skill-based swordplay (your secondary weapons can't be used) and does a good job of emulating the showdowns seen in samurai media. As the game progresses, the fighting evolves to include multiple enemy types, sword stances, ranged weapons, ammo types and special abilities, all of which have distinct effects and enable you to adjust the way you want to take on your foes. You have to consider your blows and be ready to dodge or parry at a moment's notice. The combat is highly satisfying and totally avoids feeling like a 'button mash' sort of thing. The gameplay is basically a mixture of combat, stealth and exploration. The Japanese voice acting is very good and, though the character's mouths don't line up with the non-English dialogue (which is getting 'fixed' in the upcoming director's cut), the title almost feels designed to have been played using it right from the start it's no botched dub, that's for sure. For added immersion, I recommend you play through the title in Japanese with subtitles. It feels remarkably authentic, despite the fact that it obviously takes some liberties when it comes to accuracy (the katana wasn't invented until well after the plot's events, for example), and is possibly the best representation of East Asian culture I've seen in a western game. It feels like a proper samurai story, clearly inspired by Japanese Jidaigeki (period drama) and Chanbara (sword fighting) films (and, in particular, the work of Akira Kurosawa). Basically, this means that nothing seems like busy work and that you'll actually want to participate in the non-mandatory stuff because it all adds up to a more complete, cohesive and thematically rich experience. It ties itself into the fundamental design of the game in an incredibly intrinsic way, which means that everything you do - from the main missions to the side content - actually feels as though it's moving towards a single, inevitable stopping point. It's really engaging, enjoyable and, at times, emotional, too. The narrative deals with resonant themes of honour, sacrifice and family. That tale focuses on Jin, one of the few remaining samurai after an initial battle on the beach, as he fights to regain his strength and, using tactics he normally would never consider and allies who previously might've spat in his face, reclaim his island. It's essentially historical fiction, spinning off from an authentic starting point to tell its own tale. 'Ghost Of Tsushima (2020)' is an open-world adventure game set during the Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274.