If you’ve spent any time exploring the snow-covered open world of Ghost of Yotei, you know melee combat with a katana or tanto is satisfying, but sometimes you need a way to take out distant guards or hunt large game without getting close. If you’ve been searching for how to get gun in Ghost of Yotei, you’re not alone — the weapon is hidden behind a short, unmarked side quest that most players miss during the first 10 hours of the main story. I tested this path twice during my full playthrough, so I can confirm all steps work without breaking main story progression or locking you out of any collectibles. We’ll avoid major story spoilers here, so you can follow along no matter how far you are in the campaign.
Prerequisites You Need to Meet Before Unlocking the Gun
You can’t access the gun quest right at the start of the game, and trying to force it will just lead to wasted time or unnecessary deaths. First, you need to have completed the “The Fall of the Ainu Village” main story mission, the point where you gain full access to the game’s second, frost-covered northern valleys region. This mission unlocks roughly 8 hours into the main campaign, so you don’t have to rush through content to reach it.
You’ll also need to have at least 3 units of iron ore and 1 unit of explosive powder in your inventory, as these are required to modify the gun for cold weather use later on. You can find iron ore in rock deposits along any of the region’s frozen rivers, and explosive powder drops from bandit camp chests or can be bought from the main village vendor for 75 gold each. You don’t need any specific melee weapon upgrades or skill points to start this quest, so don’t worry if you’ve been putting off upgrading your katana to save materials.
Finally, unlock the Old Lumber Camp fast travel point before you start the quest. It’s located right on the edge of the northern region, and using it cuts down travel time to the quest start by almost 20 minutes. If you haven’t found it yet, just follow the main road west from the Ainu village until you see the abandoned camp signs.
Step-by-Step Quest Walkthrough to Get Gun in Ghost of Yotei
Once you’ve met all the prerequisites, the quest itself only takes about 20 minutes to complete, even if you take the stealth path. Follow these steps exactly to avoid missing any hidden triggers:
- First, fast travel to the Old Lumber Camp fast travel point, then head west toward the frozen riverbank. You’ll see a small, smoke-emitting cabin half-buried in snow about 200 meters from the camp entrance. Don’t wander off the path, as there are multiple wolf packs in the area that will attack you on sight.
- Speak to the old hunter inside the cabin. He’ll tell you his prized matchlock gun was stolen by a group of bandits who raided his supply cache the night before, and he’ll ask you to retrieve it for him in exchange for a spare he keeps locked away. You don’t need to pay him anything or complete any extra tasks to accept the quest.
- Track the bandits to their camp on the south side of the nearby mountain. You can either sneak through the back entrance and take out the 3 guards quietly, or fight your way through the front — either way works, but stealth will save you healing items and won’t alert extra roaming bandits in the area.
- Pick up the stolen gun from the chest inside the main bandit tent, then return it to the hunter. He’ll give you the spare matchlock, plus 20 rounds of ammo as a bonus for completing the quest in under 10 minutes, a secret reward most players don’t know about.
- Bring the gun to the blacksmith you met earlier in the main story, and give him the 3 iron ore and 1 explosive powder you collected earlier to modify it so it works in the cold Yotei climate.
I tried skipping the blacksmith step the first time I did this quest, and the gun kept jamming every 2 shots, so don’t skip that part. Modifying the gun at the blacksmith is mandatory if you want to use it reliably during combat or hunting. The blacksmith will also give you a free basic gun cleaning kit when you drop off the materials, which you can use to repair the gun if it gets damaged during blizzards.
Best Ways to Use Your New Gun During Gameplay
Now that you’ve unlocked the gun, you might be wondering how to get the most out of it without wasting rare ammo. First, the gun is best used for long-range stealth takedowns — one shot to the head will take out any standard enemy instantly, even if they’re wearing light armor, and it’s much quieter than you’d expect for a 19th century matchlock. It won’t alert nearby guards if you’re more than 50 meters away when you fire, which makes it perfect for clearing out small bandit camps before you even step foot inside.
It’s also perfect for hunting large game like elk or bears, since you can take them down from a distance without risking getting mauled. You’ll get higher quality hides and meat if you take down large animals with a single headshot, which lets you sell them for more gold at village vendors. But there are downsides too: ammo is really expensive to buy from vendors, and you can only carry 30 rounds at base capacity, so don’t waste it on small enemies you can take out with your katana or bow.
I also recommend saving it for boss fights where the boss has weak points you can hit from far away, it’ll cut your fight time in half. I used it during the final boss fight against the corrupt shogun general, and it took out 2 of his health bars before he even got close enough to swing his sword at me. You can upgrade the gun later to hold more ammo and fire faster, but those upgrades require rare materials you’ll only find in the late-game mountain region.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Unlocking the Gun
After talking to dozens of other players in community groups, I’ve found there are a handful of common mistakes that stop people from unlocking the gun on their first playthrough. First, don’t try to start the quest before you reach the northern region. I’ve seen a lot of players try to go to the lumber camp early, and the area is locked off by a permanent blizzard that will drain your health in 10 seconds flat, so you can’t get to the cabin until the main story unlocks the region.
Second, don’t sell the explosive powder you find early in the game. A lot of new players sell all their rare crafting materials for extra gold during the first few hours, and then they have to spend 2 hours looting bandit camps just to find enough powder to modify the gun. If you already sold yours, you can buy it from the blacksmith in the main Ainu village, but it costs 3 times as much as it would if you’d just saved the one you found in the first bandit camp.
Third, don’t kill the old hunter when you first find his cabin. I know some players like to loot every NPC house they find, but if you kill him, you’ll lock yourself out of the gun quest entirely, and there’s no other way to get a gun in the base game. The hunter also sells rare hunting supplies later in the game, so keeping him alive is worth it even if you don’t care about the gun.
Finally, don’t forget to pick up the ammo recipe from the blacksmith after you modify the gun. It lets you craft your own ammo using lead and powder, so you don’t have to buy it from vendors for 50 gold a round. You can find lead in the same rock deposits where you find iron ore, so you can stock up on materials for ammo while you’re exploring the northern valleys.
Unlocking the gun is one of the most useful upgrades you can get in the early to mid-game, and it makes exploring the harsh northern regions of the map way less frustrating. Once you know how to get gun in Ghost of Yotei, you can skip the hours of wandering around trying to find the hidden quest, and jump straight to using your new ranged weapon to take out enemies and hunt more efficiently. If you run into any issues following the steps, just double check that you’ve completed the required main story mission first, that’s the most common reason players can’t find the hunter’s cabin. Happy exploring, and watch out for those random blizzards!