So I Tried Ghost of Yōtei

Asmongold booted up Ghost of Yōtei on a PS5, and within the first few minutes, he was already dead—stabbed through the chest by a boss he didn't realize he had to actually beat. "I thought I didn't have to do that," he said, after the opening cutscene dumped him into a fight with no tutorial. The game killed him three times before he figured out that holding L1 blocks and timing a parry is something the game expects you to know before it teaches you. That moment set the tone for the entire session.

The Tutorial Problem

The most striking thing about Asmongold's playthrough is how much of it he spent confused about basic mechanics. The game opens with a dramatic revenge narrative—a woman named Atsu returns to the wilds of Ezo to hunt down the Yotei Six who murdered her family—but immediately throws her into combat without explaining how to block, parry, or dodge. "I literally just am hitting the same button over and over," he said after dying to the first boss. He eventually beat the guy through sheer button-mashing, but the game only taught him how to parry, dodge unblockable attacks, and use his spirit meter after he had already fought and killed that boss.