Ghost of Tsushima guide: How to use the Guiding Wind

Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world game with plenty of places to explore. As you journey through the island and clear the fog of war that obscures everything, you’ll eventually run across several question marks on your map that lead to new discoveries.

You’ll also discover quests spread across several places throughout your homeland. Getting to these places is easy, but Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t use a traditional navigation system.

While you’ll be able to set waypoints, Ghost of Tsushima’s design handles navigation differently. When you have a waypoint set, there are no visual indicators or paths overlaid on the ground. The only user interface element you get is the name of your destination and its distance from you. So how do you find all of the game’s locations and collectibles? By using the Guiding Wind as a visual aid.

Image: Sucker Punch/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

By swiping up on your controller’s touchpad, wind, debris, leaves, pollen, and other particles will blow toward your destination. It’s a visual treat and a novel way to implement a mechanic seen in other games, but with an application that’s more fitting to Ghost of Tsushima’s stripped down game design and naturalistic aesthetic.

Since this method of navigation is nontraditional, this guide will show you how to use the Guiding Wind to get you to all your critical missions and also how to find collectibles throughout Ghost of Tsushima’s world.

How to use the Guiding Wind

To use the Guiding Wind, first you need to track a target.

If you’re tracking a location on your map, such as a mission marker or question mark, hover over the icon on your map screen, then press the X button to track that location. Once you do, a sparkling line with mark the direct path between your character’s current location and the waypoint.

Image: Sucker Punch/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Outside of the map, swipe up on your controller’s touchpad, and you’ll see the wind visibly blowing in the direction of your marked location, text for which is displayed on the top left of your screen. The name of the marked target and its distance from you is the only user interface element that appears when using the Guiding Wind for navigation. When trying to get to your destination, you’ll primarily rely on the wind and debris.

The visual flourish is interesting but may be frustrating for some players who prefer something more direct. Thankfully you can swipe up as much as you like on the touchpad to consistently make the wind kick up to guide you to where you need to go. Even if you’re not swiping, periodically, smaller gusts of wind will blow in the direction of your target location to keep you on track.

Getting new Guiding Wind targets

You can also use Guiding Wind to find collectibles.

First you need to unlock each collectible as a target by spending Technique Points in the Techniques > Samurai > Exploration menu. From there, choose a target to unlock from the Exploration section. Spending a Technique Point will allow you to track that new target. You can also get other Guiding Wind targets when wearing your Traveler’s Attire armor.

Image: Sucker Punch/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

To select new Guiding Wind targets, go to the Map screen and press right on your D-pad to see which options are available to you. Once selected, Guiding Wind will lead you to the closest target you’ve selected.

However, when looking at the map screen, you may notice that the Guiding Wind does not draw a clear line from your character to your next target like it does when leading to story missions or waypoint locations. Instead, you’ll see a faint trail barely pointing in the direction you need to go.

You also won’t see how far you are from the closest collectible, so make ample use of the visual clues the Guiding Wind offers. Swipe up constantly on the touchpad to ensure you’re heading in the right direction.