Ghost of Tsushima contains 49 Inari shrines hidden across Tsushima Island. Reaching each one requires following a fox to a fox shrine, a mechanic borrowed from Shinto tradition where foxes are messengers of Inari, the kami of foxes and fertility.
What most players miss: if you sit at the shrine after praying and wait without moving for approximately 90 seconds, the ambient fox that led you there returns and sits beside Jin. The two remain there together, the game generating no notification, no reward, no prompt to continue.
Sucker Punch built this moment knowing most players would move on immediately. It is a reward exclusively for players who treat the game world as a place rather than a checklist.
The foxes in Ghost of Tsushima are coded with distinct pathfinding behaviours that simulate curiosity. They will detour around obstacles, pause to sniff landmarks, and occasionally stop and look back to confirm Jin is following. This level of behavioural detail was built for a companion mechanic that gives no gameplay benefit and appears in no tutorial.
The attention to detail the developers put into this is insane. Most players will never see it but it makes the world feel so much richer.
This is the kind of discovery that keeps communities alive for years. Well documented.