Exclusive interview with the director and producer of Ghostwire: Tokyo, exclusive to PS5 on console!

Published by Bethesda and developed by Tango Gameworks, Ghostwire: Tokyo has been released recently. We also interviewed Kenji Kimura, the director of the game, and Masato Kimura, the producer. In our interview, we made an interview about the end of the game, its general theme, sequel and story.

Let’s point out that some of the questions in the interview may contain spoilers about the game. That’s why there’s a spoiler warning. You can find the written version of the interview below.

Ghostwire: Tokyo Special Interview

Özgür Eroğlu: While playing the game, I thought it could be a horror game for many times. Why did you choose to make an action game rather than a horror game?

Kenji Kimura: This studio doesn’t just make horror games. We make games that we think will create a great experience for people and players around the world and that will be fun. In this game, we were inspired by the local legends of Japan. Creatures in Japanese legends are not creatures that jump and attack you. More sedate and creepy creatures. For example, you are walking down a road and you see something moving in the shadow of the building. When you get closer, you realize that the shadow looks like a human, when you get closer, you see that the shadow is a person without a face, and this is how the story ends. That creature isn’t there to attack you, it’s there to scare you. What happens next is up to the interpretation of the story. It also depends on the listener’s background and what’s on his mind at the moment. Such situations can add a different interpretation to the story. So we wanted the game to be weird and interesting. We wanted to have this kind of entertainment in the game. In this way, we have ensured that it is not just a horror game.

Özgür Eroğlu: The main character dials the phone in an interesting way in the phone booth, does it make any sense or is it just that?

Kenji Kimura: There is a different creature named Ed in the game. Ed hacks all the phone booths and sends the spirits. A special keying method is used to open the phone booth. This is a security measure so that other people cannot open it. We thought it looked cool. We added it because we thought it looked different, strange and interesting.

Özgür Eroğlu: In the game, death is handled in a very different way than in many other games. Does the game reflect your thoughts about death?

Kenji Kimura: I wrote that part of the play, so it represents my thoughts. As you know at the beginning of the game, people disappear, all the remaining characters experience a loss. Apart from the game, we experience similar losses in our real lives. Because we are alive. For example, it may be the loss of a family member, or not necessarily death, but the loss of a loved one from our lives. It’s about how we deal with loss. So I wanted to create a theme about how we deal with loss in these situations.

Özgür Eroğlu: What does Ghostwire: What does he want to tell about life and death with his Tokyo story?

Kenji Kimura: It focuses on the mechanics of the game, the main theme and the spooky and interesting things that we can’t see everything in general. But these interesting things that we cannot see may be very close and important to us. The people we have lost may be close to us even though we do not see them. As I was writing the story, a part of me thought it would be good for the main character to lose someone close to make the actor feel the emotion. In this way, it was something we aimed to make you feel things like regret and sadness.

Özgür Eroğlu: Was the end of the game a happy ending or a sad ending for you?

Kenji Kimura: It was neither. I think it was the best choice the characters could make.

Özgür Eroğlu: Is the story of Ghostwire: Tokyo completed with this game or do you have a story idea about the sequel?

Kenji Kimura: At one point in development, I thought about what we would do if there was a sequel. Here’s what happened: There was a lot of work and we were focused on finishing this game. After that, I didn’t have much time to think about it. We are very happy that we finished the game and did a great job. We’ve done a world job. We are happy with where we are now and with our product. We’re planning to sit down and talk to the development team after our vacation commute. To see if we should make a sequel or try something different for the game. Of course, this is an opportunity that will change depending on the reaction we get from people and the state of the game in the market.

Özgür Eroğlu: That’s all my questions. Thank you very much for the interview opportunity. Hope to see you again.

Kenji Kimura: Thank you. (Laughing) I wasn’t expecting your question about the phone booth. Thanks again. See you soon.