We like Bethesda games in general. Tango Gameworks’ The Evil Within series, which was founded in 2010 by Shinji Mikami, the developer of classics such as Resident Evil, God Hand, Dino Crisis and Vanquish and is now under the umbrella of Xbox Game Studios, is among them. When the studio announced Ghostwire: Tokyo in 2019 and we watched the first teasers, to tell the truth, we were a little in between. Although we do not have anything to do with Japanese culture, the fear element that makes its weight felt in many areas from mythology to daily life and too much attachment to spiritual beings can be a bit boring.
Maybe this has something to do with our exposure to Japanese horror movies from the 90s full of vengeful spirits and evil spirits. As a result, we don’t prefer to play too many Japanese-themed games, but we still wanted to give Ghostwire: Tokyo a chance for The Evil Within’s sake. After all, we also know that we have many readers who are fascinated by Japanese culture, and we will be impartial.
Spirits are all around, but this isn’t a horror game
Development of Ghostwire: Tokyo actually started as a new episode of The Evil Within and later became a standalone converted to IP. Although the game is full of spirits (Yokai), it should be noted from the beginning that Ghostwire: Tokyo is not a horror game, unlike The Evil Within. There’s no “jumpscare” anywhere in the game, although the tension builds up during certain missions. In this new IP from Tango Gameworks, we think it was a conscious decision made so that gamers could explore the game world, which obviously worked hard and looked great, without too much stress. Truth be told, exploration may be the best part of Ghostwire: Tokyo. What about the story?
My body, my decision!
The game begins in the city of Shibuya, which is under the influence of a mysterious fog, at the crossroads of the four roads with the famous pedestrian crossings with human traffic. There was a terrible traffic accident and the person lying on the ground under everyone’s bewilderment is, as you can imagine, our hero Akito. Meanwhile, we witness that a spirit of unknown origin is looking for a body in the crowd before it disappears. This soul, called KK, chooses our character, which he thinks is dead, because he cannot use living bodies, and thus, the awesome duo comes together like the Japanese version of Venom, which we will witness throughout the entire game.
As the fog spreads, it destroys the people inside and only clothes and belongings remain. Our hero Akito is not affected by this fog thanks to KK. Additionally, we gain some interesting abilities so that we can successfully fend off the first wave of terrifying spirits coming out of the fog. Afterwards, we dive into the streets of Shibuya City to solve the events and save Tokyo.
The story isn’t bad, although it’s not very detailed. However, we can say that the side missions definitely get in front of the main story. Some of these stories are very good. We are trying to free the souls who are stuck because of various regrets and some things they could not complete in this world. These are the details that diversify the repetitive structure of the game.
It can be called open world as far as the fog allows
After the linear intro, where we go to the hospital to see our sister, you can more or less freely roam in this unique desolate version of the Japanese capital. . Although the game is open world, you must first clear the Torii gates to remove the fog that does not allow you to progress. These gates can also be used as fast travel points. Some foggy areas on the map can only be cleared after progressing through the story. The game’s level design is really impressive as the filmmakers took full advantage of Tokyo’s vertical architecture and you have a lot of fun trying to figure out how to climb a certain building or access an apparently closed alley, and the reward at the end is well worth it.
In general, when we do not fight spirits throughout the game; We’re trying to find collectibles that we can sell for a substantial fee to find food, water, and cat-like in-game vendors, Nekomata Yokai, to recover mist-transformed soul clusters, collect meikas, the game’s currency, restore HP, and gain temporary buffs. .
Go after special Yokai for special abilities
Since the game is mainly based on Yokai mythology, we also encounter various spirits unique to different parts of the city. For example, Ittan-Momen like to hang out on top of buildings, Kappas are always near water, Zashiki-warashi is inside houses, and Kodama is near ancient trees. Capturing a Yokai allows you to draw their power into Magatama beads.
While it’s a bit tedious to have the same capture ritual for most types of Yokai except Kodama and Kappa, collecting Magatama is a must to unlock some of the most powerful abilities. That’s why we recommend that you do it. Especially the ability to summon Tengu, which allows you to easily climb to the top of tall buildings, can be very useful.
Ethereal Weaving, inspired by Kuji-kiri technique
Ghostwire fights are a form of Ethereal Weaving that we are gradually developing, inspired by Kuji-kiri’s real-life technique. done through technique. We can use the elements of Wind, Water and Fire. The only physical weapon we have is again a ghostly bow. You can also get a few useful talismans throughout the game that can stun visitors or make their inner cores more vulnerable. Unfortunately, the game does not have a dodge mechanic to avoid attacks. The only solution is to run back and forth.
There are moments when we have to leave KK in the later parts of the story. In this case, you only have the ghost bow. On the other hand, since the game has a good mechanic that can also be used in stealth, my advice would be to sneak up on Yokai from behind as much as possible and catch them by surprise. You can easily get rid of almost all but the Flying and the strongest Visitors this way. You can even use some talismans to create cloaking bushes or make some sounds to distract Visitors.
Overall, I’d say the combat mechanics are smooth, albeit not entirely impressive. But anyway, Ghostwire: Tokyo has been an action-adventure game where exploration is more prominent than combat. It’s definitely not a difficult game and it seems like it could have been better if we could see more Bosses.
The graphics are dazzling
Xbox owners will have to wait, as the game will remain exclusive to PC and PS for 1 year as per the agreement of Bethesda and Sony. That’s why we tried the game on PC for now. I have to say that the streets of Tokyo look stunning under neon lights, thanks to ray tracing technology. Ghostwire: Tokyo does a good job in terms of performance as it supports DLSS on the Nvidia side, FSR on the AMD side and TSR feature of the Unreal engine. On our system with Ryzen 7 4800H and RTX 2060, we played in FullHD with maximum values without the slightest performance problem.
Conclusion
Overall, Tango Gameworks has created a new world that is open to expansion, with a seamless blend of modern setting and Japanese mythology. It is an action-adventure game where you can hunt different Yokai accompanied by the perfect Tokyo view, the main story is not very deep, but it is flavored with interesting side missions and you can finish it for 15-20 hours without getting bored. Especially if you are interested in Japanese culture, you should definitely evaluate it.
80
Developer Tango Gameworks
Producer Bethesda
Genre Action/FPS
Platform PC/PS5/PS4
Web https://bethesda.net/en /game/ghostwire-tokyo
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