In our preliminary review of Ghostwire Tokyo, developed by Tango Gameworks, we touch on the general features and dynamics of the game, which we entered into a special presentation.
Ghostwire Tokyo is a production that has been in development for a long time and attracts attention with its supernatural atmosphere. We can say that it had given indications that it would have a mysterious story from the first announcement trailer. Although Bethesda, which distributes the game, was purchased by Microsoft, due to previous agreements, we will see this game exclusively on the console side, just like the Deathloop game, on the Playstation 5. Behind the game, which will also be on the PC platform, is Tango Gameworks, which we have previously seen with The Evil Within games. Shinji Mikami, who is the founder of the studio and signed these games, is not very active in this project, but he is one of the executive producers. The directorship of Ghostwire Tokyo has been entrusted to Kenji Kimura.
A 10-minute gameplay video was released after a long break for the game, which will be released on March 25. However, we previously attended a special presentation that included the dynamics shown in this video and lasted about 40 minutes. This presentation, organized by Bethesda, included much more detailed information, as well as a long and pure gameplay video. Now, let’s move on to what we saw about the game, considering the information at hand and the dynamics we saw in this presentation.
Ghostwire Tokyo preview
First of all, the long presentation shown to us was taken from the first hours of the game. Although key moments in terms of the story were not shown, I can say that our character’s questions and behaviors actually revealed that he had just fallen into this turmoil.
In the game, we control a character named Akito. Paranormal events are happening in Tokyo for reasons we don’t yet know, and we witness spirits roaming around in this city where people have disappeared. A Tokyo atmosphere has been created that is as if it were in another dimension but also carries the traces of that destruction. I have to say upfront that Ghostwire Tokyo looks really nice in terms of atmosphere with abandoned streets, overturned vehicles and spirits running around. In fact, I can say that this atmosphere is my favorite aspect of the game at this stage.
Akito also has a character that we can call a mentor. I say owner because our character has a spirit named KK on his right arm that helps him. As you can see in the videos, the reason why the character’s right arm and eye are different is because of KK. Akito, who is introduced as a ghost hunter, probably gains his special powers this way by uniting with this spirit. KK gives us information about both the missions and the supernatural events we encounter. Our character’s main goal is to learn what is behind these events, but most importantly, to save his family. To do this, he needs to take down the character that we often see in the promotional videos and is referred to as Mastermind in the video.
Of course, to achieve this goal, we need to defeat the ghosts and spirits that run around Tokyo and get in our way. For this, our character has various abilities. The hand movements the character makes to cast spells were inspired by Kuji-kiri hand movements. These movements look really interesting while fighting. We can shoot ghosts with our fingers like a gun and after a certain amount of damage, you see the enemy’s core, or spirit essence, appear. You can also destroy this core by shooting or you can grab it with your whip-like ability and tear it out. You can also tear out the cores of more than one ghost at a time with this whip movement.
The fighting mechanics look interesting with the artistic stance brought by the hand movements, but after a while it started to bore me a little. Especially the ghosts we encountered in the video we watched were not very successful in terms of artificial intelligence. I think this may have an effect. If we encounter much more difficult fights and different abilities in the main game, this opinion may change, but I can’t say I’m very impressed at this stage. You also have the chance to make a finishing blow from behind in the fighting system.
By the way, you can easily climb to the top of buildings thanks to your whip. This was not emphasized much, but I think this climbing dynamic will probably only be in a way that it can hold on to certain points. Our character has a bow and arrow duo after half of the video. We will probably encounter these types of different weapons that support the fighting system as the game progresses.
At this point, my hopes were for a skill tree to be used for character development. You are given the opportunity to unlock new skills with the souls you collect. To do this, you need to use the phone booths scattered around certain parts of the city. You can store the soul pieces you collect here. In the meantime, apart from the ghosts you fight, there are also innocent souls wandering around and you witness these enemies trying to collect these souls and from time to time you try to stop them.
Although Tokyo seems to have entered an alternative dimension, the game also includes an “Other World” concept. Generally, in closed areas, some missions go to a different dimension and you try to solve platform-based puzzles here. When you enter the room, you can actually see that the room is turned sideways or the opposite. In the part we watched, two apartment missions were done and I was a little bored because they were very similar to each other.
Finally, I must say that I liked the visual style and graphics of the game, apart from the atmosphere. A unique touch has been made to both the character designs and the world created. Along with the visual effects that appear during the spell, a riot of colors also appears on the screen.
As a result, Ghostwire Tokyo looks interesting with its unique mechanics and world, but it also gives the impression of a game with question marks as similar missions, artificial intelligence and the combat system begin to become ordinary. With the story that feeds the elements of curiosity, it seems like it will be a game that appeals especially to those who like this type of games. It is necessary to wait for the game, which will be released on March 25 for PC and PS5, without raising expectations too much.