Developed by Tango Gameworks who are most known for their previous titles The Evil Within and its sequel, haven't strayed too far from the horror genre with their latest game Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is an open world, first-person, action, supernatural-themed game set in the titular Japanese city and a timed exclusive for PS5 and PC.
Beginning in the instantly recognisable and usually packed Shibuya district, Ghostwire drops you right in the thick of it after a supernatural attack causes the citizens of Tokyo to disappear after being engulfed in a mysterious fog.
The protagonist Akito has been brought back from the brink of death and is then inhabited by the spirit of a supernatural investigator called KK.
The involuntary merging allows him to wield supernatural powers to defend himself from the Visitors, hostile spirits lurking around the city, it also allows him to purify any corruption and save the spirits of the residents of the city.
Soon Akito draws the attention of a powerful and mysterious foe in a Hannya mask who seems to have plans involving Akito's sister.
With your new ghost pall in tow, you set off to purify the city, push back the visitors and save the inhabitants and stop the Hannya mask at all costs.
Graphicly Ghostwire looks great and uses Unreal 4 Engine to depict a very realistic interpretation of the city which only makes it more shocking and intense when you come across otherworldly threats.
The attention to detail in the world, from the advertisements to posters taped to apartment walls, is brilliant. From the ubiquitous vending machines to the trash lying around Tokyo feels as much of a character as anyone else in the game and really steals the show.
The recently abandoned world has the feeling of disaster that makes it creepy to explore with clothes of the recently operated everywhere clashing with the seemingly vibrant neon signs and shops.
The reflections of neon lights in puddles look amazing and just drench the game in and dark sinister atmosphere, with its near-constant oppressive downpour of rain.
Performance is a little more stuttery with Ray Tracing on, and RT offers a subtle increase that while it does offer more depth it isn't as essential as most modern titles.
I was shocked at how great the game looks on lower-end systems and Tango did a pretty good job of making proper, optimized non-Ray Traced lighting.
The best moments of Ghostwire are when the supernatural world bleeds into the real world to create disturbing effects, like the space around you shifting and rewriting itself, to all the walls around you disappearing and abstract Escher like shifts are fantastic if not frequent enough becoming abstract and unpredictable.
The Visitors are the creepy spirit enemies that are lurking around every corner, based on Japanese folklore and with a strong horror look.
Faceless slender man looking salarymen, headless schoolgirls and boys and the glowing eyes of the yellow raincoat kid, however, there isn't as much variety as I would have liked and they do get a little repetitive.
Voice acting is decent if portrayed pretty much exactly as expected, you can play the game in Japanese with English subtitles or dubbed in English too.
The sound design is phenomenal with the rainfall grounding the game while ghostly laughter and screaming in the distance help reinforce the tension.
Due to it being based on real Tokoyo there are lots of nooks and crannies to explore however, there is the occasional invisible wall that really breaks immersion, especially with some apartments and buildings that look like you can enter but you can't.
As you make your way through the haunted city you come across the spirits of those who perished in the initial attack and are targeted by the visitors, you can save them by using a paper doll called a “Katsuhiro” to absorb them.
You gain money and XP once you deliver them to a phonebox or spirit transmission device, once sent you are told they will be turned back into living humans again.
This will encourage you to search everywhere but be careful as the fog is still around and can still harm you, it's not always easy to tell what areas are safe until it's too late.
There are some platform elements that aren't too bad but without a parkour system or slight more fleshed out climbing, and even vertical traversal fell a little stiff.
The conversations between Akito and KK help lighten and balance out what at times can be a bleak and dark game dealing with themes of loss and death, their slow friendship and trust each other develops throughout their adventure.
Hannya Mask comes off as a very typical mysterious anime antagonist, monologuing and while sympathetic he can be very bland despite his striking appearance.
Controls do feel a little slow and sluggish when moving around as well as flying, which does make the game feel slightly more grounded in realism but defiantly less fun.
Levelling up will increase Akitos synergy with his new powers and allow you to gain Spirit skills points that can be spent on unlocking new skills and upgrading others.
It also increases your health, you can also equip stat-boosting clothes that change your appearance but you won't see often.
The map is huge and can seem intimidating at first however, the majority of icons are just shops or very simple fetch quests. The map is also opened to you one piece at a time by locating shires and purifying corrupted Torri gates.
Once cleaned a small area around that gate will have the fog removed allowing you to explore further sections of the map.
There are also very short side quests that usually involve spirits trapped due to some issue keeping them grounded to this world, they involve you investigating an area and finding an item or purifying the area, they are usually very simple and are not really connected to the main story but are a great way to gain items and XP.
There are also points of the game that requires stealth, especially the parts when KK and his abilities are stripped from you.
You can also pet and read the thoughts of dogs as well as offer them food in exchange for them taking you to hidden treasures and the best part are the Yokai cats floating in the shops offer to sell you consumable like ammo and food.
Combat is one of Ghostwire's strong suits. There are no guns in Ghostwire, instead, you use supernatural powers called Etherial weaving, this allows you to shoot different element projectiles from your fingers as well as create a magical barrier to protect yourself.
Using some cool looking hand gestures you can seal, purge or rip the cores from your attackers, and a visually satisfying set of cool hand movements and flashy animations that look like something out of Dr Strange, with neon symbols and kanji dancing in the air.
Each elemental attack behaves differently with water attacks having a wide arc, wind attacks and smaller and more precise while fire attacks are slow and powerful.
Your foes don't have health bars but their damage is indicated on their bodies with holes blasted through them, seeing holes torn into your spectral foes from your attacks is a little disturbing but very cool.
Early on you receive a bow that, while having limited ammo, allows you to attack from longer ranger and snipe dangerous foes from a distance and is handy when you are depowered.
Verdict
The atmosphere and world-building in Ghostwire: Tokyo are easily the strongest elements of the game. It's unique and weird showing fantastic creativity as well as highlighting some of japans most interesting folklore and culture while paying homage to the city itself.
The game looks stunning with its wet, neon-lit streets rendered in superb detail and just buzzing with atmosphere. The Visitors are creepy and fun and while I wish there was a few more in the mix, the ones here are awesome.
Combat, however, is tight with satisfying hand movements, a decent variety of attacks and the satisfying feeling of your attacks ripping through them never gets old.
The action-oriented parts of the game do sometimes clash with the slower more horror elements, while it's never scary it's maintained a low hum of creepiness and tension that makes it a joy to play.
Ghostwire: Tokyo will be released March 25, 2022, for PC and PS5 with an Xbox release coming later.
