If you’ve just rolled credits on Ghost of Yotei’s emotional final act, you’re probably not ready to leave its snow-dusted feudal Hokkaido setting behind. You’ve spent 30+ hours upgrading your katana, unlocking rare armor sets, and bonding with the game’s cast of memorable characters, so it makes sense you’d want to carry that progress over to a new run. That’s why so many players are asking is there new game plus in Ghost of Yotei, and whether it’s worth starting a second playthrough. We’ve tested the endgame content ourselves, cross-referenced official patch notes, and pulled insights from thousands of community playthroughs to give you a definitive, no-fluff answer.
Is There New Game Plus in Ghost of Yotei? Official Confirmed Details
The short answer is yes, the game has a fully featured new game plus mode that’s available to all players for free. Sucker Punch first teased the mode a month after the game’s launch, and it rolled out as part of a free title update for both standard and deluxe edition owners. You don’t have to purchase any extra DLC to access it, which is a nice change from other recent AAA games that lock endgame content behind paid upgrades.
NG+ unlocks immediately after you watch the final post-credits cutscene, so you won’t see the option pop up on your save file before you beat the main story. Don’t panic if you don’t see it right after the final boss fight either—you have to sit through the full credit sequence to trigger the unlock prompt. Once it’s active, you’ll see a small NG+ badge next to your completed save file on the main menu.
You can create a separate NG+ save or overwrite your existing base game save, but we recommend keeping the original just in case you want to go back to your first playthrough later. There’s no limit to how many NG+ runs you can start, so you can keep replaying the game as many times as you want to stack bonuses or try out different playstyles.
What Carries Over to Ghost of Yotei New Game Plus?
One of the biggest concerns players have before starting NG+ is losing all the gear and progress they worked so hard to earn on their first run. Luckily, almost all of your unlocks carry over to your new playthrough, with only a few small exceptions tied to story progression. Here’s a full breakdown of what you can expect to keep when you start your NG+ run:
- All fully upgraded weapons, including your katana, tanto, and all ranged tools like the longbow, shortbow, and blowgun
- All unlocked armor sets, cosmetic dyes, and vanity items like masks, headbands, and horse gear
- All skill points you’ve earned, plus any unused technique points to spend on new NG+ exclusive skills
- All collected resources, including iron, linen, wax, and ghost flowers, to upgrade the new NG+ exclusive gear
- All side quest completion progress, collectible counts, and photo mode unlocks like filters and poses
You won’t carry over story-specific quest items, like the amulets you collect during act 2’s main story missions, since those are tied to specific plot beats. That’s a deliberate design choice to make sure the main story still makes logical sense on a replay, even with all your endgame gear.
Any unspent ghost flower currency gets a 20% bonus when you start NG+, so it’s worth holding off on spending those in the final hours of your first playthrough. I saved up 120 ghost flowers before my first NG+ run, and the bonus gave me enough to buy two of the exclusive NG+ armor sets right out of the gate, which made the early game a lot more fun.
Exclusive Features You Only Unlock in Ghost of Yotei NG+
NG+ isn’t just a basic replay of the base game with tougher enemies. Sucker Punch added a ton of exclusive content to make the second playthrough feel fresh, even if you know every twist of the main story by heart. First off, you get access to a brand new difficulty tier called Lethal+, which cranks up the challenge far beyond the base game’s highest Lethal mode. Enemies have 50% more health, their attack animations are 30% faster, and even a single regular sword hit will take off 90% of your health bar if you’re not wearing heavy armor.
There are 3 exclusive armor sets only available in NG+, each built for a specific playstyle. The Wanderer’s Set boosts your parry window by 40% and gives you extra resolve for every successful parry, which is perfect for players who love up-close sword combat. The Shadow’s Set makes you completely silent while moving crouched and gives you a 25% damage boost on stealth kills, ideal for players who prefer a stealthy ghost playstyle. The Ronin’s Set increases all your damage output by 35% but cuts your total health in half, for a high-risk, high-reward playthrough that feels totally different from the base game.
You also get access to 7 new side quests that aren’t available in the base game, which tie up loose ends from the main story. I was surprised by how much depth these quests add—one follows the fate of a small village you helped in act 3, and another reveals more backstory about the game’s main antagonist that didn’t make it into the base game’s cutscenes. You can unlock a new fast travel point at the summit of Mount Yotei after completing one of these quests, which makes exploring the game’s northern snowy region way faster than it is on a first playthrough.
Should You Start NG+ Right After Beating the Main Story?
Whether you should jump straight into NG+ depends on what you want out of your playtime. If you’re a completionist chasing the platinum trophy, you have to run through NG+ at least once to unlock the 4 exclusive NG+ trophies, so it makes sense to start right away. The same goes if you loved the combat and want to test your skills against the tougher Lethal+ difficulty, or if you just want to experience the story again with all your favorite gear.
That said, if you haven’t finished all the base game’s side content yet, you might want to hold off on starting NG+ for a bit. Even on hard difficulty, early game enemies will go down in one hit with your endgame katana, which can make the first few acts feel a little boring if you’re looking for a challenge. You can always switch to Lethal+ to fix that, but if you want to experience the side content at the intended difficulty, it’s better to wrap that up on your base game save first.
If you’re feeling burnt out after the 30+ hour main story, there’s no rush to start NG+. Your NG+ unlock is tied to your save file permanently, so you can take a few weeks off to play other games and come back whenever you’re feeling drawn to the world of Ghost of Yotei again. I waited a month before starting my first NG+ run, and that break made the experience feel a lot more fresh and fun than if I’d jumped in right after rolling credits.
At the end of the day, the answer to is there new game plus in Ghost of Yotei is a resounding yes, and it’s easily one of the most polished NG+ modes released for an open-world game in recent years. It rewards players for the time they put into the base game, adds enough exclusive content to feel worth replaying, and lets you engage with the story and world in a totally new way. Whether you’re a completionist chasing trophies, a combat fan looking for a bigger challenge, or just someone who doesn’t want to leave the game’s beautiful setting behind, the NG+ mode is well worth checking out.