If you’re the type of player who chases 100% completion for every open-world game you pick up, you’ve probably already started mapping out how to get all trophies Ghost of Yotei has to offer. I’ve spent the last three weeks running through every side quest, hidden collectible, and optional boss fight to track down every single achievement, and I’m breaking down everything you need to know to avoid missing any trophies on your first playthrough. You don’t have to spend 10 extra hours replaying chapters to unlock missed rewards, as long as you follow the simple tips and order laid out in this guide. I messed up my first run by skipping a handful of early missable trophies, so I know exactly what pitfalls to warn you about.
All Trophies in Ghost of Yotei: Breakdown by Rarity and Type
When you’re working through all trophies Ghost of Yotei has, you’ll notice they fall into four clear categories, with 48 total achievements to unlock before you can earn the platinum. There are 32 bronze, 12 silver, 3 gold, and 1 platinum trophy up for grabs, and only a small portion require extra work outside of regular play. 22 of the trophies are story-related, meaning you’ll unlock them automatically as you progress through the main campaign, no extra steps required.
7 of these trophies are missable, meaning you can’t go back for them after you finish the final main story mission if you skip the required steps. That’s the biggest pain point for most completionists, because missing just one will force you to start an entirely new playthrough to get the platinum. The rest of the trophies are tied to combat, collectibles, and side content, all of which you can go back to complete even after you finish the main story.
You don’t have to 100% every single piece of side content to get all trophies either. You only need to complete companion side quest lines, not every random fetch quest you find posted on village notice boards. That cuts down a lot of unnecessary grind for players who don’t want to spend 50+ hours on a single playthrough.
Critical Missable Trophies to Prioritize Early
These 7 missable trophies are the only ones you need to prioritize before you finish the final main story mission “Reclaim the Peak”. I’ve listed each one with its unlock requirement and cutoff point so you don’t make the same mistakes I did on my first run:
- Honor the Fallen: Leave a flower offering at every village memorial destroyed during the initial Khan invasion. You can only access these memorials before you complete the “Retake the Southern Coast” main mission, as the villages are rebuilt afterward and the memorials are removed.
- Silent Hunter: Take down 10 enemy patrols without being detected, using only takedowns and your bow, while you are still in the prologue zone. Once you leave the prologue, you can’t return to this low-level patrol area to complete this.
- Master of the Hot Springs: Sit in all 8 hidden hot springs across the map before you finish the “Frozen Peak” main mission. One of the springs is buried under an avalanche after that mission, so it becomes inaccessible.
- Friend to the Foxes: Feed every fox den in the northern forest before you complete the side quest “Clear the Timber Camp”. The loggers that move in after that quest chase all the foxes away, so the dens stop spawning.
- Poetry in Motion: Compose a haiku at every scenic overlook during the autumn season. The season shifts to winter after the third act starts, and the overlooks change so the haiku interactions disappear.
- Generous Soul: Give 20 healing items to NPCs you meet on the road during side quests. After you finish the main story, most wandering NPCs leave the map, so you won’t have enough people to give items to.
- Secret Keeper: Find all 12 hidden lore notes scattered across enemy forts before you clear all forts from the map. Once a fort is cleared, the notes are removed during the cleanup process.
I made the mistake of clearing all forts first during my first playthrough, and I lost the chance to get Secret Keeper without restarting. Don’t make that same error — grab the lore notes as soon as you enter a fort, before you take down the base commander. You can track which missable trophies you’ve already earned in the in-game achievements menu, under the “missable” filter that unlocks after you finish the prologue. That makes it easy to check off each one as you go, instead of trying to remember what you have left.
Fast Unlock Tips for Common Grind Trophies
If you’re targeting all trophies Ghost of Yotei offers, the grind trophies are the ones that will take up most of your extra playtime. These are the achievements that require you to get a certain number of kills with each weapon, find all collectibles, or upgrade all your gear. You don’t have to spend hours grinding these though, if you use the right shortcuts.
The best spot to grind combat kills is the northernmost enemy camp near the Frozen Lake — enemies respawn every 10 minutes if you fast travel away and come back, and they’re grouped close together so you can take out 15-20 per run. This works for every combat-related trophy, including bow kills, parry kills, and stealth takedowns. I knocked out all my remaining combat grind in less than an hour using this spot.
For collectible trophies, you can use the in-game traveler’s token to mark nearby collectibles on your map, which cuts your search time in half. You get traveler’s tokens for completing side quests, so you’ll have more than enough if you do even half the side content. You don’t have to hunt for every single collectible blind, the game gives you a tool to make it easier if you know to use it.
You don’t need to play on hard difficulty to unlock any trophies, so if you’re just here for the 100% completion, you can play on easy mode to make the combat grinds go much faster. I tested this myself, and I unlocked all combat trophies on easy without any issues, so don’t force yourself to play on a harder difficulty if you don’t want to. For upgrade trophies, wait until you reach the third act to grind for rare materials. The merchants in the third act sell rare upgrade materials for gold, so you can just buy what you need instead of hunting for it in the wild.
Common Mistakes That Delay Trophy Unlocks
Even if you have a full list of trophy requirements, it’s easy to make small mistakes that add hours to your completion time. The first mistake I see most players make is rushing through the main story without checking in on side quest lines. 12 of the trophies are tied to specific companion side quests, so you have to complete all of the blacksmith, hunter, and storyteller quest lines to unlock those. I skipped the blacksmith’s side quest line on my first run, and I missed the “Master Forger” trophy because of it.
Another common mistake is not checking your trophy progress regularly. It’s easy to think you’ve completed a requirement when you’re one off, so check the menu every few hours to make sure you’re on track. Some trophies have hidden requirements that aren’t listed in the in-game description, for example the “Perfect Parry” trophy requires you to parry 20 attacks in a row without taking any damage, not just 20 total parries. That’s a common mistake that makes a lot of players grind for hours for no reason.
Don’t sell rare quest items either, even if you think you don’t need them. A handful of trophies require you to have specific unique items in your inventory, and if you sell them you’ll have to go back and find them again, or restart your playthrough if they’re missable. You can store extra items in your stashes at any safe house, so there’s no reason to sell anything that isn’t a common crafting material or extra duplicate weapon.
At the end of the day, getting all trophies Ghost of Yotei has to offer doesn’t have to be a frustrating grind, as long as you plan ahead for the missable ones and follow simple tips to cut down on grinding time. I finished my 100% run in just under 35 hours, which is way faster than most open-world games of this size, so even if you only have a few hours a week to play, you can get the platinum trophy in a month or less. Just remember to check your progress regularly, prioritize the missable trophies early, and don’t be afraid to use easy mode if you just want to enjoy the story while you unlock all your rewards.