Not just a blend of familiar genres and open-world tropes, Ghostwire: Tokyo is a fascinating dive into Japanese culture, providing players with an action thriller focusing less on horror and more about being enveloped in the fog of a haunted, historic city.
Ghostwire: Tokyo has remained elusive since its slick, stylish E3 2019 debut.
In the three years that have followed, the handful of moments where Tango Gameworks’ first non-The Evil Within game has appeared did little to lift the veil. This is from the studio founded by Shinji Mikami, the name behind Resident Evil. It looks steeped in Japanese folklore and horror. And the main character… shoots magic out of his hands?
The mystery surrounding Ghostwire: Tokyo finally faded this week as we’ve had access to the full game. And while the events culminating in the first two chapters of the game are the only ones that can be discussed, I’m happy to say out the gate that Ghostwire: Tokyo is immensely surprising, defying any expectations I might have formulated.
Tokyo is under siege by a mysterious fog that has caused every human in its bustling streets to disappear; evidenced by roads and homes littered with clumps of clothes as if their owners simply turned into invisible dust. Seemingly the only human left “alive” is Akito, whose body has been taken over by the spirit detective turned spectral anomaly known as KK. In the place of Tokyo’s populace, strange “Visitors” arrive in the form of ghastly creatures like faceless men in business suits holding umbrellas, headless schoolchildren wanting to spin-kick you, and terrifying women with massive scissors.
In shock and seemingly brought back from the dead, Akito is less concerned about the mass vanishings and more pressed to find his sister who is at the hospital due to an implied accident involving fire. Akito and KK begrudgingly partner up, with KK acting almost as a parasite, indicated by a shadowy mist emitting from Akito’s right eye.
Serving as both tutorial and tone setting, the opening chapter of Ghostwire: Tokyo establishes the game’s stakes and pace. Tokyo is a city bathed in the vibrancy of culture and technology. Streets are packed with residential buildings, shops, food stands, and advertisements. Ghostwire: Tokyo strikes a dissonant chord by completely emptying these streets of life.
What remains is a haunted landscape where vehicles and mopeds are unmanned. The television screens and flashy posters showing off new products glow and play to no one. A red moon looms overhead. While lost in an eternal night, the darkened streets still echo the lights of life.
There’s an eerie feeling about walking around Tokyo with Akito trying to avoid being attacked by the Vistors. During much of the first two chapters, the relationship between him and KK borders on hostile. Akito is struggling to accept his fate and his shortcomings against this otherworldly force. KK is almost nothing more than an appendage and a voice in Akito’s head, a somewhat older man wishing he was in charge rather than this “boy” in his early twenties.
Regardless of the dynamic between the two, the player is invested in the fate of both because of the dueling narratives. We want Akito reunited with his sister and we want to dispel the darkness taking over Tokyo that KK seems to have knowledge of. Those goals intertwine when Akito reaches his sister’s room at the hospital and he is attacked by strange figures wearing a demonic Hannya masks. Leaving Akito for dead (again), the assailants take off with his sister to seemingly perform an unknown ritual.
Surprisingly, given the pedigree of Tango Gameworks, I’ve been surprised at the lack of outright horror elements in Ghostwire: Tokyo. And after The Evil Within‘s emphasis on surviving against grotesque terror, I think this might be a refreshing change of pace.
I’ve come to appreciate Ghostwire: Tokyo more as an action thriller with some horror peppered in to make the dread loom a slight bit heavier. The gameplay lends itself well to action sensibilities and is perhaps the aspect of the game players won’t fully embrace until they get their hands on it.
Ethereal Weaving is Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s primary form of combat. Being inhabited by KK, Akito is infused with otherworldly energy that enables him to combat with Visitors by expelling energy and forming patterns with his hands. Initially, players have the power to shoot gusts of green wind energy at Visitors. Later the power of fire and water can be used.
After some time with the game’s first-person combat, I began to wrap my head around the archetypes these Ethereal Weaving powers represented. The wind attack acts as a kind of all-purpose “gun” that can be upgraded to fire faster and does an average amount of damage. Players can charge it up to unleash two gusts and unlock the ability to fire off up to four. The fire attack acts as a kind of sniper bolt, capable of piercing multiple enemies but, when charged, lobs a fire bomb that hits enemies within a radius. The water attack is best used up close as, like a shotgun, it can blast multiple enemies at once with high damage.
The general feeling of pressing L2 to focus fire and engage a mild lock-on and then rapidly press R2 to shoot energy out of Akito’s hands is initially odd. Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s combat and general style of gameplay is not far removed from a chunkier shooter like Bethesda’s own Doom, as opposed to Call of Duty. It also has a lot in common with Elder Scrolls‘ melee and spellcasting combat but Dying Light 2 could also be used as the most recent contemporary.
That comfort level allowed me to appreciate Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s action right out of the gate, only to become completely absorbed after more mechanics began to be introduced, providing a more layered experience.
Players may be surprised at the amount of kinetic action going on in the game. Visitors are constantly moving towards Akito or using their abilities to attack him. The most common Slender Man-looking Visitor is capable of throwing objects and rushing Akito for a melee attack. The schoolchildren will close in fast, even when they use their sleepy karate to attack. The other most common Visitor is a female with an obscured face that shoots out slow moving projectiles that track Akito and actually protect Visitors from Ethereal Weaving attacks.
A large portion of the fights that I’ve engaged in during my time with Ghostwire: Tokyo take place right in the streets and alleys of the city. Despite being a busy metropolis, there’s not a lot of real estate for players to work with. And I think that sense of claustrophobia works in the game’s favor to create tension during combat. Players need to constantly be on the move to create space between themselves and the Visitors because they will gang up rather than take turns. If things get too hairy, Akito can block attacks with L1 and timing it perfectly will negate damage.
For context, I’ve been playing Ghostwire: Tokyo on Hard, not on the most extreme difficulty which looks to strip XP rewards from players. The game isn’t immensely difficult overall but has proven to be challenging and rewarding. During many skirmishes I’ve drained my ammunition through careless shots and strong foes. Players recover charges for their Ethereal Weaving powers by hitting floating objects that have a greasy shimmer to them, or by ripping out the cores of a Visitor. As a Visitor takes more damage, its core becomes exposed, indicated by glowing yellow energy from their chest. Right before dying, the core becomes exposed and players can rip it out by holding L2.
Let me just take this moment to say that removing a Visitor’s core is one of the most satisfying and badass actions I’ve done in a game in recent years. When exposed, players can throw out what I assume is the titular Ghostwire and lasso the core, watching as Akito threads his fingers against the golden wire. A crunchy sound reverberates while the controller vibrates and the trigger tightens as time slows down and then–BOOM–the Visitor explodes.
It never got old and is almost worth the price of admission.
Soon into the game, players are also rewarded with a bow that can be used to silently take down enemies with a well-placed shot. Because fights can be deadly, there is an element of stealth to Ghostwire: Tokyo that should be considered. Players can increase their quiver size to make the bow a viable tool to thin out the herd of Visitors and one-shot the ghosts floating in the sky that can absolutely destroy Akito. Headshots with the bow usually result in a Visitor going down instantly but there is little room for error, which I appreciated.
During this preview period, however, the bow hasn’t been as viable as it will be at release. A patch will come out that increases the damage the bow does while also distributing more arrow pickups around Tokyo. For me, the latter fix will help greatly because arrows were the rarest resource on the map. Buying arrows at a shop was the only way to guarantee a supply and for some missions, the amount of Visitors I wanted to take down trumped a fully stocked quiver with no additional pickups.
Fighting against otherworldly monsters is immensely satisfying and fresh so far but what about exploring Tokyo? Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s size and pace were concerns for me early on because I wasn’t sure how all its elements would come together in the final product. Based on what I can discuss, this is looking to be a fairly meaty experience with hopefully not a lot of repetition, even in its open-world trappings.
Tokyo feels like a fairly large map and part of that is because players can explore both the streets and the rooftops. Players will see and hear flying Tengu squawking from high up that can be grappled on to. From these heights, Akito also has the ability to temporarily float, enabling travel between buildings. And thankfully there is no fall damage.
While the game’s map can look extremely busy with countless icons, more erroneous indicators like shops can be filtered out to give a clean picture of all there is to do. Jizo statues dot the streets that increase the max amount of Ethereal Weaving attacks players can have. Yokai can be captured that reward Magatama to unlock new ability pathways. Treasures can be found to give to a Nekotama for rewards.
Players are also meant to keep an eye out for floating spirits that can be absorbed using a piece of paper called a Katashiro. Players can increase their stock of Katashiro but are meant to deposit the spirits at a phone booth where KK’s friend Ed will award you with money and XP. Yes it sounds weird but makes complete sense in the context of the game.
Everything players do in the world of Ghostwire: Tokyo is meant to help the progression of Akito’s strength. Skill points are used to expand his abilities and even in these first two chapters, I struggled to make choices because everything felt equally desirable. Players can decrease the time it takes to destroy a Visitor core or absorb spirits; increase their quiver size and decrease the bow’s draw time; do more damage to Visitors that have fallen down; or something as simple as being able to hold more consumables. I love the fact that not only does Akito’s max health go up every new level but every time he heals contributes a small gain towards max health.
There has been a palpable sense of reward with every new activity or discovery in Ghostwire: Tokyo. Yet I am a bit hesitant about the game’s side quests. Though I’m immensely curious as to where the story will take players after the dramatic events of the second chapter, some players may not find the side content as intoxicating.
Most of the side missions I have played so far involve talking to a spirit who has a problem and going into a building where some mild exploration is done that results in an arena fight with a few waves of Visitors. Gameplay-wise, they haven’t done anything out of left field and I wonder if later side missions will do the same.
However, I can’t deny the appeal to doing everything in Ghostwire: Tokyo as the game’s aesthetic, sense of style, and devotion towards Japanese culture shine through. The game isn’t just about Tokyo, it’s about the folklore and history of Japan. These side missions offer a glimpse into Japanese culture and its enemies are rooted in hundreds of years worth of storytelling. I imagine that Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s representation will put it among the greats like Nioh, Yakuza, and Persona.
When it rains, kanji or katakana–I’m not sure which–fall like raindrops of Japanese matrix code. Tanuki can be discovered causing mischief in the world. Tori gates are cleansed that unlock prayers and offerings I’ve seen represented in films before. Of course, the voice acting is superb and I haven’t once thought to listen to the English VO, otherwise I would miss out on the power behind KK’s voice, especially when his voice is expressed as soft vibrations in the DualSense.
Tokyo may feel haunted, gloomy, and dark but Tango Gameworks has given a glowing amount of detail to the world. While the animals for some reason look a few generations behind graphically, the sprawling city is highly detailed and loads quickly. It may not be a graphical showpiece for the PlayStation 5 but there are several impressive moments I’ve encountered.
When I wrapped up the second chapter of Ghostwire: Tokyo, I had been playing for almost 10 hours. I never felt overwhelmed, bored, or that I was playing a by-the-numbers game. I completely understand if some players are exhausted by the wealth of open-world games available in the last two months, especially with Horizon: Forbidden West and Elden Ring.
Ghostwire: Tokyo currently doesn’t compare to a lot of what is on the market. Many of its separate elements are strikingly familiar to games that have come before or have just released. But none seem to be combining them like this. Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s wild powers result in stylish action that is supplemented by tense and unsettling moments. While its mission structure may wear thin, I have no doubt that Tango Gameworks’ devotion to their culture is going to result in one of the richest portrayals of Japan in gaming.
