I’ve been gaming long enough to know that when Sony starts a trend, they rarely fumble it. After God of War Ragnarök knocked it out of the park with the Valhalla DLC, I was already grinning ear to ear when The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered brought us the No Return mode. Now, as whispers about Ghost of Tsushima 2 grow louder in 2026, I can’t help but imagine what would happen if Sucker Punch took a swing at the roguelike genre. Honestly? Jin Sakai’s world seems built for it even more than Ellie and Abby’s.
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No Return is a bit of an odd duck in the roguelike pond, and that’s what makes it special. Most roguelikes lean hard into breakneck speed and flashy chaos, but The Last of Us Part 2 is all about slow-burn tension, stealthy crouches behind cover, and the kind of survival-horror resource juggling that makes your palms sweat. Mashing those two worlds together felt surprisingly fresh—like mixing whiskey with green tea, strange at first but strangely addictive. I loved hopping between characters like Joel, Tommy, Jesse, or even Mel, each with their own little tweaks. Still, let’s be real: they all handle pretty similarly when it comes down to it. The grounded realism of that universe keeps the variety on a short leash.
Ghost of Tsushima is a whole different beast. It’s a samurai opera drenched in blood, honor, and just a pinch of mysticism. A roguelike in this setting could blast the doors wide open. Imagine starting a run as Khotun Khan, a hulking brute who turns every clash into a bone-crunching spectacle, then switching over to Sensei Ishikawa and raining death from a distance with a bow. The archetypes write themselves: swift assassins, sword saints, explosive ronin, maybe even corrupted monks who channel dark spirits. That kind of playstyle diversity would be an instant upgrade over No Return’s more subdued differences. I’d kill to see distinct melee stances and ghost weapons slot neatly into randomized upgrade trees, letting me cobble together busted builds that feel like a proper power trip.
Sucker Punch has already dipped its toes into the supernatural pool. The Legends multiplayer mode threw yokai and otherworldly abilities into the mix, while the Iki Island expansion used psychedelic eagle visions to mess with Jin’s mind. A roguelike mode could lean hard into that weirdness without flinching. Picture this: you chug some murky hallucinogen at the start of a run and suddenly you’re fighting flaming tengu with a katana that launches spectral waves. Progression could warp reality further—perks that let you vanish in a swirl of petals, summon a spirit bear, or slow time after a perfect parry. The grounded gunplay of The Last of Us can’t even dream of that level of glorious nonsense.
What really gets my hype train rolling is the narrative potential. God of War Ragnarök’s Valhalla proved that a roguelike DLC can carry genuine emotional weight, not just be a dusty arcade mode tacked on for kicks. Ghost of Tsushima 2 could follow suit, maybe using hallucinogenic rituals from Iki Island as the story hook for an endless, dreamlike loop. You’d revisit old memories or nightmares, peeling back layers of a character’s psyche while slashing through ever-shifting combat arenas. The Last of Us Part 2’s rigid realism boxed No Return out of such storytelling tricks, but Sucker Punch could totally have its cake and eat it too—heartfelt storytelling bundled with whip-fast action.
Of course, I’m just a player dreaming while scrolling through my PlayStation dashboard. There’s no guarantee Sony will keep sprinkling roguelike modes onto every big exclusive. But if the trend continues, Ghost of Tsushima 2 is sitting on a powder keg of possibilities. The rich cast, fluid combat, and that beautiful touch of the bizarre could create a loop that I’d happily lose entire weekends to. No Return was a blast, no doubt, but it often felt like a square peg in a round hole—a survival-horror core wrestling with a genre that lives on momentum. Jin’s saga, though? It’s already a perfect dance of precision and spectacle. Throw in the roguelike spice, and you’ve got a recipe I’m dying to taste.