Ghostwire: Tokyo
PREVIEW
Though developer Tango Gameworks
made the dark and scary The Evil Within
series, Ghostwire isn’t trying to terrify you
in the same way. This early look set my
mind at relative ease. I’m not sure that’s
entirely a good thing for those who might
be searching for a disturbing horror
experience, but for me a neon-
drenched action game with a ghostly
garnish is far more exciting.
You play Akito, a man on a
mission to save Tokyo, and by
extension, your family. The city’s
population has been transformed into
spirits, and are slowly being lost to the
void. The game nonchalantly mentions
this is about 200,000 souls to save, at
least. Luckily you don’t have to save Tokyo
on your own, because you’ve got ghost
hunter KK living in your head. He’s your
guide and companion through this mess,
and helps properly equip you for this
hellish adventure.
You have a litany of tools at your
disposal for dealing with dark spectral
forces. Your main weapon is cool dancey
hand magic. Doctor Strange eat your
heart out. It’s called Ethereal Weaving, and
can be used to blast at your foes,damaging them until a core is revealed.
Then you can whip the core out of the
monster with a tendril of magic, exorcising
the demon or ‘visitor’.
Ethereal Weaving can also be used as a
traversal tool. Though you will be spending
a lot of time on the ground, the rooftops
are also an essential part of the story.
Hooking onto bird-like spirits called Tengu
will catapult you upwards and get you to
all-new vantage points.
Additionally, you wield KK’s spirit bow.
As a massive nerd for real-life archery, a
phantom bow is kind of hilarious to me as
a concept, but in-game it’s a solid
long-range option to work with. With these
tools you sneak and scuffle your way
through Tokyo, seeking out Torii gates to
cleanse, revealing more of the map and
loosening the hold of the bad guy, Hannya.
His motivation seems to be that he thinks
spirits are better off in the ether, and that’s
where Akito and KK disagree with him.GHOSTED
The most interesting section of the
preview was a timed event where Akito
became trapped in a building-sized spirit
box. The block of flats became
surrounded by a wall which
threatened to close and demolish the
structure with him inside it. To
escape death, Akito had but a few
minutes to find and destroy several orbs
maintaining the spell. As this happens, the
indoor environment of the building
became a geometric nightmare. Doctor
Strange came to mind once again as he
sprinted across the ceiling of a stranger’s
home and scrambled through landscape
doorways. The effect is really nifty, and
successfully evokes its own kind of
tension, no less exciting for being more
superheroic than spooky.
For me the environment, enemies, and
action all look excellent. I have my
reservations about having to upload the
souls you save throughout the game, and
the now common map unlocking
mechanic. I’m also curious as to whether
there’ll be enough variety to the city itself.
But overall, I’m feeling very positive
about the upcoming release of Ghostwire:
To k yo, if partly because its stores are now
operated by spirit cats who will call you a
“humeown”. Excellent work.
Imogen MellorH
orror isn’t my thing. A game about
ghosts isn’t especially appealing to me- let alone one with headless spirit
children. However, a hands-off demo of
Ghostwire: Tokyo changed my mind. It’s more like a
Japanese ghost-hunting Watch Dogs 2 than a city
wide PT, and it looks brilliant.
Less The Evil Within, more Watch
Dogs 2 with ghostsGHOSTWIRE:
TOKYO
YOU HAVE A LITANY OF TOOLS
FOR DEALING WITH THESE
SPECTRAL FORCESRELEASE
March 25, 2022DEVELOPER
Tango GameworksPUBLISHER
BethesdaLINK
beth.games/34jtNPCNEED TO KNOWNEW
INFOI wish ghosts
knew the meaning
of personal space.