Ghost of Yōtei: Echoes of Sekigahara, the new DLC for Sucker Punch’s popular 2025 samurai game, is out now, sending players to a new region, the Ashoro Foothills. It does well in adding new and much-needed layers to Atsu, but in between all that character work is more of the open-world exploration that Ghost of Yōtei nails. You’ve got fox dens to discover, hot springs to dip into, and new areas full of enemies to clear out. But the best addition is a couple of giant bears who can pack quite the punch.
More bounties become available throughout the DLC’s story, which is about Atsu contending with a gang called the Vipers, villains formerly loyal to the Yōtei Six’s Snake. A few bounties are for the heads of those contending for the Snake’s now-vacant spot in the Yōtei Six. One of them includes the most hilarious boss fight in the whole game, and I barely have to unsheath my katana to beat it.
Echoes of Sekigahara explores the impact the Vipers are having on not just the people of the new region of Ashoro Foothills, but its wildlife too. As such, one of the bounties is for Umakichi the Bear Slayer, a scumbag who has several bears kept in cages. He’ll sic them on his soldiers for “training,” and the boss fight arena is littered with corpses of bears.
Umakichi is a big guy with big weapons, and he doesn’t fight fair; like so many of Yōtei’s baddies, he’s got a gaggle of goons providing him support for the fight. Thankfully, Atsu isn’t alone either. Umakichi’s lackeys are easily cut down by Atsu, and the new heavy weapons she can use help get the job done fast.
As I clear out the rabble, a pair of bears break free and join the fray for Team Atsu. It’s glorious. At one point, a bear launches an enemy right toward me, letting me easily strike him down. Once I clear out the rabble, I’m ready to turn my attention to Umakichi — except I don’t have to do a damn thing.
For the first time in a big fight, Atsu can just sit back and watch, because, hot damn, nothing is more hilarious than watching some jerk called the “bear slayer” get clawed at and tossed around by a couple of bears. “I have wanted to face you for a long time,” Umakichi says at one point… right before the pair of bears bumrush him. I’m sorry, Umakichi, were you talking to me or the bears currently fucking you up?
I mostly stay out of the way, only whacking Umakichi with the new heavy weapons a few times when he gets too close. See, why work when some bears can work for you? They do such a good job killing him that it takes me a few moments to realize Umakichi’s health bar is essentially gone, and the game is waiting for me to deliver the final blow. I take my time, though. There’s no need to interrupt the bears as they get their revenge.
The bear boss fight allows Ashoro Foothills’ wildlife to fight back for a change. A focal point of the Echoes of Sekigahara expansion is how the Vipers’ presence has been unbearable not just for the people of the Foothills, but the animals as well.
One of the very first optional activities you can stumble upon involves one of those golden birds that guide Atsu to various points of interest. Instead, this time, you have to free the bird from a group of Vipers before it can flutter its wings.
The vipers have scattered traps around, too. One fox den activity finds a fox leading Atsu to save one of his buddies, who’s been ensnared and wounded. Later on, Atsu comes across something of a sanctuary for deer on her way to a shrine, meaning at least a handful of animals have found peace away from the grip of the Vipers.
Atsu’s connection with the natural world around her is one of my favorite elements of Ghost of Yōtei, and moments like having bears join in on a boss fight, similar to how Atsu’s wolf companion will join her for standoffs, only further enforce that connection. “Umakichi the Bear Slayer?” Pfft. More like “Umakichi, slayed by bears,” am I right?
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