During the early development of the action-adventure game Ghost of Yōtei, Sucker Punch Productions actively experimented with various concepts that ultimately did not make it into the final version. At the Game Developers Conference, project leads Nate Fox and Jason Connell revealed that one such idea was a comprehensive climbing system, drawing heavy inspiration from the mechanics found in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
A small team of developers even created a functional prototype of this system, intending it to become a core gameplay mechanic. However, through testing, it became clear that the climbing feature did not align with the central identity of the protagonist – a wandering ronin. Jason Connell explained that the team continuously evaluated whether a mechanic enhanced the player’s experience as a ronin, and if the answer was negative, the concept was set aside.
Nate Fox, who personally advocated for a system allowing players to scale almost any surface, also pointed out that such a feature presented significant challenges for open-world design. Permitting players to climb everywhere without providing adequate rewards or interesting discoveries could quickly diminish interest in the mechanic and disrupt the intended flow of exploration.