From Shōgun to Ghost of Tsushima
Using and Challenging Historical Video Games
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6083073 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Adam Clulow (0000-0003-4169-1656, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 395-416 |
| Publication date | 2023-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Japanese Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0095-6848 • E-ISSN: 1549-4721 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/jjs.2023.a903469 |
| OpenAlex | W4385505789 |
| Language | EN |
In 1975, James Clavell's Shōgun rocketed up the bestseller lists. While many historians criticized the novel for distorting the past, others argued that we should recognize its value as a conduit for engagement with Japan. The contemporary equivalent to Shōgun is a 2020 video game called Ghost of Tsushima which has now sold over 10 million copies. This article considers how the creators of Ghost of Tsushima view their responsibility to history. It then discusses the reductive Mongol-versus-samurai binary at the center of the game before shifting to explore the surprising depths of the world created by the developers
Multimedia · Political science · Value (mathematics) · Video game · Artificial Intelligence in Games · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · Digital Humanities and Scholarship · History · Law
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |