Ghost of Tsushima
In 1274, a Mongol fleet led by Khotun Khan invades the Japanese island of Tsushima. Local samurai Lord Jin Sakai and his uncle Lord Shimura lead the island’s samurai in an attempt to repel the invaders. However, the battle ends in disaster, with the samurai killed, Shimura captured, and Jin severely wounded and left for dead. He is found and revived by Yuna, a thief, who informs him the island has fallen. Jin storms Khotun's stronghold at Castle Kaneda in an attempt to rescue Shimura, but is defeated by Khotun in combat and thrown off the castle bridge, though he survives.
Realizing he cannot defeat the Mongols alone or with traditional samurai tactics, Jin travels throughout the island to recruit allies and learns guerilla warfare. He recruits Yuna, her blacksmith brother Taka, merchant Kenji, master archer Sadanobu Ishikawa, female samurai Masako Adachi, and his old friend mercenary Ryuzo and his Straw Hat rōnin. As Jin disrupts Mongol activities and liberates villages across the island, the people begin to revere to him as "The Ghost", a samurai spirit risen against the Mongols. Taka crafts a grappling hook for Jin to scale Castle Kaneda’s walls, and Jin strikes with his allies. Destitute and starving, Ryuzo and the Straw Hats betray Jin to collect the bounty issued on him by Khotun. Jin manages to fend them off, free Shimura and retake Castle Kaneda. Despite their victory, Khotun has already left to conquer Castle Shimura alongside Ryuzo.
To retake Castle Shimura, Jin recruits Norio and his warrior monks and the Yarikawa Clan. On Shimura’s behalf, he also recruits local pirate Goro to carry a petition for reinforcements to the Shogun, as well as a request for approval to adopt Jin as his heir. With a new army being assembled, Jin recovers his family's ancestral armor from caretaker Yuriko, who teaches him how to craft poison. Under orders from Shimura, Jin and Taka try to infiltrate a fortress where Ryuzo is located but are ambushed and captured by Khotun. When Jin refuses to surrender, Khotun kills Taka. Jin escapes with Yuna’s help, killing the remaining Straw Hats and burying Taka's body near Yarikawa. The Shogun's reinforcements arrive, and Shimura leads the assembled army in an assault on Castle Shimura, driving the Mongols into the inner keep. However, as the Mongols retreat, they detonate the bridge leading to the inner courtyard, inflicting huge casualties on the advancing samurai.
Knowing that another frontal attack would only result in more losses, Jin decides to infiltrate the keep and poison the Mongols. He succeeds, sneaking poison into the Mongols' airag. He also encounters and kills Ryuzo when he refuses to surrender. However, he again misses Khotun, who has left to campaign further north. Despite the castle being taken with the samurai suffering no further losses, Shimura is furious with Jin, as his action severely violates the samurai code. Knowing the Shogun will have Jin executed for this, Shimura urges him to scapegoat Yuna, but Jin refuses and embraces his persona as "The Ghost". Shimura has him arrested, but he manages to escape when Yuna learns of Khotun's whereabouts. Jin travels north, and learns that the Mongols have learned how to craft his poison, which they intend to use in their assault on the Japanese mainland. Before gathering his allies and assaulting Khotun's final stronghold in Port Izumi, Jin leaves a note for Shimura in his castle asking him to join the effort with the samurai, which he does. Jin infiltrates the port and kills Khotun on his flagship.
With Khotun dead, the Mongol invasion loses its momentum and the tide turns in favor of the samurai. Shimura informs Jin that the Shogun considers him a threat to the island's stability and status quo of obedience of the people to their leaders. He has therefore disbanded Clan Sakai and ordered Shimura to kill Jin. Reminiscing about what they have both lost, Jin and Shimura reluctantly duel each other, with Jin emerging victorious. Jin has the option to either kill Shimura to give him a proper warrior's death, or completely abandon the samurai code and spare his life. Regardless of the decision, Jin becomes the enemy of the Shogun.