Ghostwire: Tokyo Review – Esports INQ

As of this article’s posting, Japan’s borders are still closed to tourists and it remains undecided when they’ll be able to enter the country again. 

In Ghostwire: Tokyo, you step into the shoes of Akito as he navigates the winding streets of Shibuya, minus the millions of people who call the megacity home. In their place is a flurry of supernatural beings who will hurt you, help you, and some who are just straight up vibing.

Official Ghostwire: Tokyo screenshot from Bethesda.

Welcome to Tokyo! This is Tokyo, right?

Ghostwire: Tokyo initially caught my fancy with its incredibly realistic depiction of Tokyo in teasers, trailers, and deep-dives with its developers. Having spent a few virtual kilometers just walking around and taking in the scenery, it isn’t a stretch to say that the game lives up to the hype. Torii gates caught between tradition and modernity, stories upon stories of LED displays, and random electronic dance music in konbinis, this was Tokyo alright.

It’s an open secret at this point but Akito is possessed by a spirit detective who goes by the name KK throughout the game. As you explore city streets and commercial establishments, Akito and KK’s playful banter makes up for the silence left by the disappearance of Tokyo’s residents.

Official Ghostwire: Tokyo screenshot from Bethesda.

There’s plenty of walking to be done in the game and perhaps subverting expectations of a constant thrill ride would allow for a more enjoyable time playing Ghostwire: Tokyo. Exploration is a core part of the gameplay and you’ll actually be able to do it mostly undisturbed. With spectral vision, you get a glimpse of all things supernatural around you, including Visitors who are your most common adversary.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t any jump scares, though. Many happen when you least expect them to and some particularly stand out to remind you that this was indeed a game made by the developers of The Evil Within franchise. This owes a lot to Ghostwire: Tokyo’s immersiveness but I immediately realized that this amount of visual stimulation may pose an issue to a number of players. I don’t even recall the last night I felt nauseous playing a game but I had to take a break after my first few hours of playing Ghostwire: Tokyo. Turning down motion blur and camera deceleration alleviated this to an extent.

Ethereal Ghostbusting

Ghostwire: Tokyo also made waves pre-release because of its eye-catching combat in Ethereal Weaving, and while it does provide a fresh and visually stunning take on first-person shooting, it might feel lacking and one-dimensional to some.

Akito’s combat arsenal is primarily comprised of elemental attacks whose properties resemble the standard weapons you see in first-person shooters. Wind is your fast but low-damage ‘pistol’, Water is your short-ranged, scattershot ‘shotgun’, and Fire is your AOE ‘rocket launcher’. Akito also has an enchanted bow for long-ranged attacks and a few talismans for situational AOE effects. As you progress, elemental attacks can be leveled up to fire faster and deal more damage, but that’s all there is to it. Ghostwire: Tokyo’s runtime is on the shorter side of first-person, open-world games, which might explain why the options available in Akito’s skill tree lack the degree of sophistication many players expect.

Official Ghostwire: Tokyo screenshot from Bethesda.

What doesn’t disappoint, however, is the act of ripping out exposed cores from weakened foes with multiple Doctor Strange-esque hand and magical string animations. I’m sure it’s going to be my downfall sooner or later but I refuse to level up the ability that allows you to take out cores faster because the tension from the buildup to the satisfying crunch at the end is just too good.

While you have plenty of tools for mobility exploring, they don’t quite give you the combat mobility you’d want when facing the supernatural. It’s a good thing Visitors in Ghostwire: Tokyo aren’t overwhelmingly fast in this regard, and while some do have gap-closing abilities, you’ll almost always have enough time to plan your next move.

It’s also worth noting that sneaking up on Visitors to perform a Quick Purge is extremely easy as merely crouching behind them is usually enough to get the job done. Quick Purge is an instant kill so it’s a great way to save elemental ammo.

Supernatural horrors born from real life

Combat in Ghostwire: Tokyo may be on the chill side but I still feel some sort of weird dread while fighting Visitors. There’s just something about a headless high schooler (in a sailor uniform, no less) cartwheeling towards you that evokes some kind of innate fear. 

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that combing through Akito’s Database provides information on the origins of each Visitor. The Slenderman-like, suit-wearing Rain Walker is ‘born from the hearts of those pushed to utter exhaustion by their work’ while the headless, armband-donning Student of Pain is ‘born from the restlessness of young male students faced with hazy futures’.

It isn’t uncommon to depict supernatural horrors as things that emanate from societal problems and interpersonal conflict in Japanese media and Ghostwire: Tokyo does a great job at translating these into eerie foes with unique abilities and creative character design. 

Official Ghostwire: Tokyo screenshot from Bethesda.

As someone whose meager knowledge of Japanese folklore mostly comes from reading Monogatari and Kyokou Suiri, being able to interact with all the yokai, kappa, and tengu was a treat. Your best bet at crossing paths with these creatures is by doing side quests, and while they are interesting narratives in their own right, the lack of emotion you get from the faceless spirits who give you the quests is a rather underwhelming end to a fruitful journey.

Fighting off mobs of Visitors time and time again might feel repetitive later on but Ghostwire: Tokyo arguably makes up for it with the quality of level design when the stakes get high. End-of-chapter climaxes aren’t reduced to generic boss battles; you’ll instead find yourself in very unexpected situations where you rely on a single aspect of gameplay or try to reach a goal without a huge part of your skillset.  

Official Ghostwire: Tokyo screenshot from Bethesda.

Verdict

Ghostwire: Tokyo suffers from the high expectations set by its visually-stunning combat system pre-launch. Put that aside and it’s a beautiful game with a jaw-dropping rendition of a supernatural Tokyo, loaded with enough mystery and calls to Japanese folklore to keep you hooked for the entire playthrough. 

Esports INQ reviewed Ghostwire: Tokyo on PC (Steam) via a review key provided by Bethesda. The game is also available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

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