"It saddened me the day that I had to to kill that and narrow it." Ghost of Yotei has a unique feature that allows players to press a button to travel back in time to see what main character Atsu was doing many years prior. This is available at specific places in the game world, but the original plan at Sucker Punch was to allow players to do this anywhere, any time. Creative director Jason Connell said in a conversation with Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan that this feature was something he was "very excited about" when it was originally pitched years ago. He said the appeal was that players could be at one moment experiencing Atsu's story in the main timeline when things are dark and bleak and she's on her lone wolf quest, and the next they could travel back in time and feel the "warmth of her past" and understand what she's fighting for. "It started off as, 'Let's do that as many places we can, maybe everywhere,'" Connell said. "Like, can we do this as like a, like a stake-in-the-ground game feature?" However, after about a year of working on this, and with the understanding that it would require double the art, Sucker Punch had to scale it back and only have this feature available in certain areas of the game. "So while it's this amazing feature, it saddened me the day that I had to to kill that and narrow it. But in the end, it was the right choice," he said. Connell said the decision to narrow the feature came after feedback from testers and in discussions with colleagues. While Connell said he feels confident it was the right call, it was still "hard" for him. He added that, had the feature been available across the entirety of the game, it ran the risk of feeling like a "gimmick" if Sucker Punch couldn't back it up with enough "meat" to make it worthwhile, narratively speaking. Gilligan, for his part, said the situation could be like the delicate balance of salt on french fries. "It's like salt on your french fries. There's nothing better than just the right amount of salt on your french fries. And then when you overdo it, you're like, 'Ugh, these are too damn salty,'" he said. "These windows into the past create further empathy for a character who eventually goes on to inflict brutal violence. You can feel the weight of her loss in each moment, and this persists throughout the game as you explore more and more of Ezo." Ghost of Yotei launched in early October and has exceeded 3 million sales so far. Latest in Ghost of Yotei PlayStation 5 Sales Draw Even With PS4, And Ghost Of Yotei Has A Big Debut Xbox May Be Dying, But Consoles Games Are Alive And Well, Says Analyst Ghost Of Yotei Is Making You Touch Bird Poop Over And Over Again