Today we review Ghostwire: Tokyo and find out why this is one of the best first-person thrillers ever released! Let’s dive in…
Tango Gameworks has continued to push the boundaries of the horror genre with Shinji Mikami leading his team into the dark world of all things horrifying. This time around, the team brings us a very unique experience that merges the world of horror, sci fi, and first person action adventure all in one bag.
A Soulful Tale That Makes Us Yearn for More
Ghostwire: Tokyo
Developers: Tango Gameworks, Bethedsa Softworks
Platforms: PlayStation 5 (reviewed on), Windows
Release Date: March 25, 2022Purchase [Affiliate Link]: https://amzn.to/3D0GSdx
Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to preview the game and I talked about the main introduction of the story and what gamers should expect from this game. To give you a brief overview of the story, gamers play as Akita, a man who becomes partially possessed by a former paranormal investigator named KK. After an evil ghostly mastermind named Hannya takes over the city of Tokyo and steals all of its population’s souls, Akita and KK work together to stop him and return everyone to the world of the living.
The story of Ghostwire: Tokyo is full of mystery, paranormal excitement, and some of the best storytelling Tango Gameworks has done. From the very beginning of the game, you feel connected to Akita and the pain he must push himself through while searching for his sister. His world has been completely turned upside down, the population of Tokyo has vanished, and the weight of saving them all rests on his shoulders.
As you traverse through the story, many twists, turns, and challenges kept me on the edge of my seat. With the added side quest you can participate in, the story and time you can spend in this world grows immensely. After putting in roughly 35 hours of gameplay where I completed the main missions (and 99% of all side quests), I still feel like there’s more to do in this game. As you play you can feel the love and care the development team poured into this engrossing story and it only makes me Yearn for more.
The side quests you play are like none I have ever played before. More often than not in games, sidequests feel only somewhat related to the main story being told. Sure, some of them connect and add some great backstory, but the majority don’t feel that way.
Ghostwire, however, treats sidequests with proper gravitas. Literally, every side quest you play in the game furthers the paranormal aspect of this game and deepens your connection to things. From finding a ghost’s lost dog, cleansing corrupted Cherry Blossom Trees, or even helping a spirit play the piano perfect again, these sidequests add tons of depth to the game’s already vast storyline.
I don’t think there has been a game in recent years where I have so thoroughly enjoyed the main story and sidequests equally. It felt like what you were doing actually mattered, like you were really helping these poor trapped souls either be released to the afterlife or be saved from their torment.
Did I Just Play a Perfect Game?
In our preview we talked about the powers Akita gets after being possessed by KK, but I didn’t get to talk much about the skill tree and how to make these powers even more deadly. As you play, you will earn experience points (XP) from completing tasks and while collecting souls with your Katashiro. Once you have collected enough skill points, you can unlock higher levels for your Water, Fire, and Wind Spiritual attacks. You can make these attacks faster, do more damage, and even upgrade attacks for your bow gifted to you by KK.
Outside of your attacks, you can also upgrade your abilities and boy can these abilities help! The first of these abilities I’ll mention is your gliding ability. Yes, you heard that right, with the help of KK you have the ability to guide from building to building with ease. At the beginning it is only for a short time, but as you upgrade, you can glide for a much longer time makes traversal so much easier. Secondly, you have the ability to grapple Tengu (spiritual bird-like humanoids) who are atop many tall buildings.
After upgrading this ability to Amenotori X (the max upgrade) you can then summon Tengu at will just by aiming at the edge of a building. After upgrading both of these abilities, it was so much easier to travel the world and made hunting down side quests, secrets, and spirits to capture a breeze. The skills and abilities of this game feel like a breath of fresh air in both how they’re acquired and their overall usefulness.
Something else I noticed playing the game was just how impressive this world was. I don’t mean just graphically, but gameplay wise as well. I started playing earlier this month and got tight controls, oodles of fast and furious gameplay, and not a single bug or glitch in all that time.
This is what games should be launched like. The game was originally set for a 2021 release, but was delayed until 2022 and you can tell Tango Gameworks and their team took the extra polish opportunity and ran with it. When I say perfect I actually mean this game is perfect. The graphical presentation is stupendous, with every location you find comes another level of beauty and disbelief. Gamers will find themselves awestruck with the eerily gorgeous backdrops of a lifeless Tokyo.
With no hustle and bustle going on in the city, I found myself just search for new locations to drool over and there is plenty. As you cleanse Torii Gates, the soul stealing fog dissipates opening up even more areas of Tokyo for you to explore.
Searching these areas is just as amazing as the rest of the game. Not only can you find side quest, but you can talk to dogs that will show you secrets, find beautiful artwork, and even find outfits for your character to rep from other Bethesda titles!
