Ghost of Tsushima’s foxes are one of the coolest parts of that game, so Sucker Punch Productions’ inclusion of ever more foxes in Ghost of Yotei was surely a no-brainer for the development team. Were there foxes in Hokkaido in 1603? Yes. Therefore, a lack of foxes in Atsu’s starring adventure would have been inexcusable. I don’t make the rules.
While players have no doubt spent cumulative hours enjoying relaxing moments with these floofy friends, some residents of modern Hokkaido have taken umbrage with the decision to feature the mechanic at all, fretting over the possible message being sent to fans that it’s OK to pet foxes in the real world, too.
Concerning Echinococcus
Automaton caught the discourse earlier today, and wow, there’s a lot to unpack here. On the one hand, it totally makes sense that Hokkaido natives would be worried. Hokkaido is home to the Ezo red fox – Ezo, you see, is what Hokkaido was known as back in Atsu’s day – and this lupine species’ regional variation commonly suffers from a tapeworm parasite: Echinococcus. If it infects a person, echinococcosis occurs, and that can be fatal.
This wasn’t an issue back in 1603, however. On Twitter, a Japanese scientist actually praised Ghost of Yotei for properly depicting – and this is a translation, to be clear – “the correctness of historical research.” Explaining that echinococcosis was unlikely to have been present in the area until the 1920s, the biologist says that there’s technically nothing wrong with Atsu’s comforting interactions with Ezo red foxes.
Others are less convinced. Not that the biologist is wrong, of course, but that it ultimately doesn’t matter much when the real problem arises from tourists who are unaware that those foxes’ descendants now carry a deadly parasite. “This isn’t ‘no good’ from a historical accuracy perspective,” a fellow Japanese resident replied to the biologist’s analysis, “but if people start imitating it, wouldn’t that be ‘no good’?”
Automaton also notes, and I’m citing them again here because I had no idea, that “in the past few decades, Japan has been making efforts to treat the infected foxes, but as the parasite is still present among the fox population, it is best to keep a safe distance if you ever encounter one on your trip to Hokkaido.” Good to know!
Ghost of Yotei
Systems
4.0/5
Released
October 2, 2025
ESRB
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, Use of Alcohol
Publisher(s)
Sony Interactive Entertainment
AloJapan.com