Sucker Punch Productions created a masterpiece with Jin Sakai's journey across the beautiful island of Tsushima. Many players who complete the emotional narrative campaign immediately look for ways to experience the adventure again without losing their hard-earned progress. Understanding how the replay mechanics work ensures you can enjoy the stunning open world with your favorite armor sets right from the beginning.
How to Unlock and Initiate New Game Plus
To begin a New Game Plus run, you must first complete the final story mission of Jin's main campaign. Once the credits roll, a new option will appear on the main menu allowing you to convert your cleared save data into a fresh journey. The game will automatically place you at the beginning of the open world, bypassing the lengthy opening prologue sequence entirely.
Starting a new run resets your map exploration and story missions, giving you a clean slate to explore. However, you will retain all of your previously unlocked techniques, combat stances, and vanity gear. This allows players to approach early battles with advanced tactics that were unavailable during their initial playthrough.
Carried Over Gear and Progression Elements
Players will be pleased to know that the vast majority of their investments carry over to the new campaign. Your collection of swords, bows, and legendary armor sets remains fully intact inside your inventory. Additionally, all acquired charms and vanity upgrades will be ready to use immediately after arriving in Tsushima.
While your gear remains available, the game introduces a specialized currency known as Ghost Flowers exclusively for this mode. You can earn these unique flowers by completing side objectives and main story missions that you already finished in your first run. A mysterious merchant accepts this currency in exchange for powerful new armor dyes and unique charms.
Increased Difficulty and Gameplay Adjustments
Replaying the game with endgame equipment might feel too easy, which is why the developers introduced a new difficulty tier. The Lethal Plus difficulty setting makes combat incredibly realistic, where enemies are much more aggressive and weapon strikes deal massive damage to both Jin and his foes. This ensures that even veteran samurai face a significant mechanical challenge during their second journey.
For players who prefer focused exploration or subsequent playthroughs, learning how to skip cutscenes in Ghost of Tsushima can significantly speed up the pace of the campaign. Sucker Punch natively integrated a skip prompt for cinematic sequences during a New Game Plus run to streamline the experience. This helps you focus entirely on mastering the refined combat mechanics and defensive parry windows.
Exclusive Rewards and Upgrades Available
The specialized merchant found in the game world offers exceptional gear variants that are entirely exclusive to the replay mode. You can unlock powerful charms that alter gameplay dynamics, such as creating intense environmental effects during combat. New cosmetic options allow you to customize Jin's appearance to resemble legendary warriors from ancient lore.
Furthermore, your weapons and armor sets can be upgraded one step beyond their normal maximum level thresholds. These legendary quality upgrades require rare materials but provide substantial stat increases to health and damage output. Gathering these resources gives completionists a rewarding goal as they liberate the island once again.
