Digitalchumps had the opportunity to get in on some early access of Ghostwire: Tokyo from Bethesda. It was a cool event, though a bit brief, but we acquired some great information about the PlayStation exclusive. Without further unnecessary blabbing, let’s get right into things.
BATSHIT Crazy
What we know about the story
Around 100,000 people have vanished without a trace in Tokyo. People’s clothes lie everywhere in the streets. It’s eerily creepy to see the severe lack of commotion on the streets of the biggest city in the world. It’s like the ‘next day’ in the film Night of the Comet. Big cities shouldn’t be that quiet. Anyway, the only survivor appears to be our hero Akito, who wakes with a glowing mist over his right eye and a talkative voice in his head giving him instructions to go find a being that knows what happened (and could be the catalyst). The only beings outside of Akito are faceless suited demons that feed on the souls that haven’t quite left, and a varying degree of disgusting and disjointed nightmares that plague the city streets. Akito’s job is to hunt down the main antagonist that caused this mayhem, or at least who knows what is going on and put trapped souls to rest along the way by taking out creatures that feed on them. Either way, it’s nightmare fuel for certain.
That’s a lot to take in for a story and I’m certain even more to uncover as the game unfolds. The best way to describe the demo and experience is if Dishonored had a baby with Silent Hill, then adopted Yakuza as a stepchild, that’s pretty much what you get with Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Yakuza-sized fun, sans the goofy dialogue
The amount of space our hero, Akito, walked around during the demo was quite detailed and amazing. From a shimmering neon street sign-riddled Tokyo to creepy Shinto shrines that hid terrible nightmares full of headless school kids; there was enough landscape to traverse to feel the depth of the environments. That’s impressive considering the short amount of time we got with the game. Ghostwire felt like Yakuza-sized real estate. To sell the silent and unsettling streets were the ray tracing, which brought reflections and realism to the scenario. It also reinforced the depth and size of the environments. All the graphics seemed proper to put the player firmly in Tokyo. It’s all well-placed in terms of creating scope and an immersive gameplay experience.
Dishonored honorably done
While the space is nice, as it’s quite useful to have elbow room, the reason there is space is because of how the Ghostwire: Tokyo is played. The game is first-person and requires jumping and figuring out the best way to get to the end goal. Sometimes that is by completely avoiding beings that you can’t take down by using stealth, and sometimes you just must take down the bad beings because they’re standing in your way. No way is the wrong way when it comes to working this game, or it is perceived that way by what we say, so it gives off that Dishonored flavor regarding navigating your way around. In addition, the game also features a lot of multi-tiered places, so you’ll scale up locations and not just reside in a flat environment. Now, we didn’t get enough of the gameplay to show off too much of this, but there was enough to garnish the Dishonored notion.
Dying on this Silent Hill
The most jarring part of the demo was the creatures that Akito ran into throughout. First, the creatures we saw the most were faceless suited beings that would attack Akito as soon as they noticed him. The fact that they had no face and were jittery didn’t seem like it was enough for the developers, as they added elements like a burnt umbrella and other weird shit to make the battles incredibly uncomfortable from a horror standpoint. When headless kids showed up in some of the parks…sweet baby jeebus. The enemy characters were incredibly detailed, as they were horrifically creative. Their purpose was to make the entire experience unsettling and from what I witnessed, they accomplished this without a hitch in their giddy-up. While we didn’t see many big bosses, the trailer that started out the demo and ended it gave a taste of how far things will go in Ghostwire: Tokyo to make you feel trapped in a horror show.
Quests and mechanics
Quests with branches
The game has a fair share of quests to go on. While it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be Skyrim-esque scope for quests in terms of number, it is leaning towards branching narratives with the quests it does offer up. In Ghostwire: Tokyo, you can choose to help people who have died and who need to be put to rest, while also allowing you to simply choose to ignore them. That’s intriguing considering the ‘down the road’ consequences that you may run into. The choices in the game, as we were told, are branching choices, which means your story and game are affected by whichever route you choose to go. For example, if you help someone’s loved one get put to rest, then somewhere during the game a certain part will be easier for you. You might get some extra help. If you choose not to help that soul, then you might lose future help you might have had and might inadvertently make the game tougher in the long run. There are some positives to helping people, as well as negatives, so be choosey, but don’t ignore completely, rather think through the circumstance and quest. It’s going to be a horse of a time trying to figure out what’s best.
Outside of quests, there is a main quest, surprisingly (I know, right?), but we didn’t get any specific details on how that goes and who is involved outside of the synopsis that was gathered from the presentation. Honestly, even if I did know, I probably wouldn’t tell you much other than the story synopsis. This game looks like one you want to be surprised or intrigued (or both) by as the story unfolds.
Mechanical and animals
The main crux of the game is to put souls to rest and to get rid of bad beings that are crawling all over Tokyo’s landscape. Also, you do cleansing. Lots of cleansing. Anyway, to get rid of bad beings, you use the power that Akito has acquired. This involves using hand symbols (literally moving Akito’s hands to pull off a move) and pulling the cores out of enemies to kill them. When you pull the cores out, the enemies disintegrate into a TRON-like effect. You can perform this from up close or you can do battles from afar. To do this up close, you must be an expert in stealth, though it seems like the game is flexible on that execution.
Other mechanics in the game that we saw during the demo included:
– Forming symbols with Akito to cleanse locations and open them.
– Using a grappling hook of sorts to hang onto spirits that can fly (that was unsettling).
– Gathering souls and releasing/transferring them via a telephone booth. That’s probably the strangest shit you read today.
– Exorcising spirits to release other friendlier spirits.
The latter of that list was disturbing. The demo had us meet a demon that was screaming at us about how he had finally trapped a young girl’s spirit and wouldn’t be giving her back. He was in a dimly lit room, he had red eyes, and was an oddly formed figure. To save the girl, the demon had to be exorcised through hand movements, which released the little girl from his grasp. It was sad and just disturbing as hell. Your imagination on the topic of ‘why’ will probably lead you to a dark place. (SHUDDER) Anyway, it certainly worked for the gameplay and ambiance. These were just some of the mechanics in Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Animals everywhere
Outside of demons, hand motions, and soul telephony, Ghostwire: Tokyo also features cats and dogs. The cats are Yokai, who are everywhere in the game, even in convenience stores. They try to help you any way they can, plus they seem to be symbols of safe spaces for the player. They’re funny and pleasant, as far as we know from the demo.
There are also dogs in the game who act as demon snitches. They will go with you around Tokyo and help you spot unsuspecting enemies. They seem to be loyal, and why wouldn’t they be? They’re dogs. They’re far less relaxed than the Yokai, but willing to save your butt when the time comes. Big surprise. Anyway, they’re a good side feature in an otherwise unique experience.
Coming soon?
While there wasn’t a mention of a date during the event, we have a feeling we’re going to see more and more of Ghostwire: Tokyo in the coming weeks/months. Right now, after that event, the game looks amazing, wild, and scary as hell. I’m hoping it pans out as such.
Until then, stay tuned.
