Ghost of Yotei Devs Experimented with Zelda: Breath of the Wild-Style Rock Climbing, But Found “Rock Climbing Is Not a Core Aspect of Being a Wandering Ronin

[wasabi]

In developing Ghost of Yotei, co-directors Nate Fox and Jason Connell revealed that a climbing mechanic inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild almost made it into the game—but ultimately got cut. They prototyped a “climb on anything” system with stamina bars, even testing it in a Ghost of Tsushima-style framework, and Fox admits, “It was going to be magnificent.”

The problem? It didn’t align with the ronin fantasy they wanted to capture. Giving players unrestricted climbing in a world with many walls that weren’t meant to be scaled led to a situation where exploration felt unrewarding, training players to ignore climbing altogether.

So instead, the team reverted to a more guided climbing system, similar to Ghost of Tsushima, ensuring players received meaningful rewards for exploration. Fox and Connell emphasized the value of cutting features that don’t fit, admitting they “should have known ahead of time” that freeform climbing wasn’t core to the wandering ronin experience.