Ghost of Tsushima, the recently released PS4 exclusive, relies heavily on sound to guide players and flesh out its 13th century Japanese setting. As you might expect, getting the sound just right took a lot of work and tools--and the sound is even more important than you might realize while playing.

Over at A Sound Effect, the game's audio director Rev. Dr. Bradley D. Meyer and its senior sound designer Josh Lord have delved into the game's sound design, and how they captured the sounds of the era. They also explained how sound is used to guide the player through the open world.

Meyer reveals that the sound of the wind, which guides players, is even more intricate than it might seem. "We built a system where the sound travels on three splines pointing towards the player’s current objective, one centered over the player and one on either side spaced about 5 meters away," he says. "These wind gusts are all reactive to the current environment the player is in. So if you’re skirting a grassland on one side and a bamboo forest on the other, the wind will sound like tall grass rustling on your one side and clacking bamboo on the other. This directionality helps players key into where they should be headed as they traverse the island."