The most noticeable thing about Ghostwire Tokyo It is the urban character that gives the game its title. The city speaks to us, expresses its consciousness and grandeur, walks hand in hand through the neon-lit streets, among the rubbish heaps thrown on the edges of the streets, in the glorious holy places, the symbol of the distant past, and in the sterile skyscrapers, the emblem of the luxurious presenten. Moving between buildings, entering the complex managed by Yokai felini, visiting apartments decorated in typical Japanese style or sliding from rooftops, admiring the Tokyo skyline and enjoying the city’s smallest cultural and artistic nuance are precisely the activities that give Tango Gameworks a unique charm , in constant balance between realism and folklore (to learn more here, Ghostwire Tokyo Special: Between Japanese Mythology and Folklore).
The absolute spirit that the authors of The Evil Whitin imagined It is far from a flawless product in all aspectsHowever, the sum of its components is greater than the playful gravel that sometimes appears during exploration and battle. Ghostwire Tokyo exudes a completely Japanese atmosphere, filled with humor, psychodrama, social criticism and a hint of horror. And in this mixture of substances and shades lies all its strength.
Yokai-kamp
Yes, Tokyo is uninhabited, but not without dangers. The Yokais who fill its streets are not all in the same danger, but none of them are worth underestimating. There are those who act slowly, creatures that attack from a distance, spirits that strike from above, monsters fight with power and demons, despite their overwhelming size, attack quickly and violently. Different types of brutal actions do not require a special tactical fighting style, but it is advisable to always keep your guard, to avoid blows in time while avoiding being trapped.
To defend ourselves from the abominations of the underworld, we will be able to rely on the forces of the ether, the spiritual energy associated with wind, water and fire. Through the movements of the hands, animated with colossal hypnotic elegance, we will throw initial bullets, long-range blows and crushing grenades from our fingers, in such a way that we weaken enemies to reveal their essence, To extract it afterwards with an equally fiery finisher and send Yokai back to life after this. The choreography of engagement replaces tactics, but that predilection for the fantastic is not necessarily due to its set of flaws: Ghostwire Tokyo aims to set up a game that is smooth without being raw and intuitive without ever establishing itself as too clichéd. Each force has its own amount of magical ammunition, and we will not be able to drop it to the bitter end without first reloading it by eliminating demons during battle. In short, throwing yourself into a battle with your head down does not guarantee a clear victoryand indeed in the advanced stages (and in the most complex challenges) it may be effective to combine the use of ether with the effects of spells, some of which temporarily hinder the progress of opponents or cover their field of vision.
In some cases, the best solution to avoid getting tired may be to act stealthily, avoid direct conflicts, or strike at a distance with the accompanying bow. The opportunities offered by the combat system are certainly not limited, but they are not all equally satisfactory.
A fight against hordes of demons will rarely put you in crisis, and in most cases the feeling of achievement comes from the dynamics of action and surrounding influence, rather than from a completely motivating degree of difficulty. We do not deny that during the second half of the experience, once you unlock all the powers and get the most out of the skill tree, The taste of clashes becomes less palatableTherefore, we believe that a more balanced level of complexity would make the adventure more satisfying.
Explore the city
How Tango Gameworks has taken the exploration of Tokyo She seemed smart enough. With the desire not to suggest a world full of action, or a stretch that is too blurred, the studio under the direction of Shinji Mikami presents a map of small dimensions, not fully accessible at once (here you will find our Exclusive interview with Shinji Mikami).
A fog of supernatural origin has in fact engulfed the city and blocked access to certain areas: in order to move more freely, we must therefore clean the Torii gates, which are scattered throughout the city, located next to the streets and on the roofs of buildings. buildings. In this way, the team suggests that we visit each corner of Tokyo a little at a time, even vertically, and alternate between moving on to the main task by completing a few secondary tasks, which allows us to feel each macro area by heart.
Beautiful city to see and hearAs we told you before Ghostwire Tokyo TestThe visual beauty of the game lies not in the artistic component but in its artistic direction. Six graphics options are available: quality (with beam tracking at 30 fps), performance (with 60 fps), high frame rate and performance, and HFR quality and performance with V-Sync enabled. None of these looks, however, offer a captivating look at the technical avant-garde. On the other hand, what often makes you speechless is the capital’s undoubted charm, which despite being uninhabited, paradoxically seems “alive” and very dense. Thanks also to the subtle artistic and vocal choices, with Yokai music, voices and verses that help to nurture anxiety and excellent dubbing in Japanese and Italian. Finally, the applause goes to DualSense, whose use follows the same philosophy that characterizes almost every aspect of the game: moderate, never offensive or exaggerated, but undoubtedly attractive.
In addition, even with the completely unlocked map, it will not take long to go from one extreme to the other, as designs at all levels are designed to encourage moderate and very intense exploration of triggers. This is made possible by the excellent reconstruction of the city, where each street has its own distinct characteristics, as well as through the skilful use of horror by Tango Gameworks. Although horror is not the primary matrix of Ghostwire Tokyo, There is no shortage of brush strokes to worry about, when threatening shadows fall on the walls as we walk the neighborhoods, or when infernal marches suddenly appear before our eyes, they swallow us up in a parallel dimension from which we can escape only after each opponent is eliminated. The reasoning behind the narrative and exploratory development of Ghostwire Tokyo rightly lies in this balance between content and extension, linearity and freedom, fear and lightness: a balance that can exorcise at least in part up to the current spectrum of repetition, which sometimes goes back to the difficulties with our games.
What can you do in the capital
Since Yokai has invaded the city, there is a lot of work to do. First of all, it is necessary to save the souls who can not “pass” scattered in every corner of Tokyo: to do this we need several katashiro paper dolls that act as containers for alcohol. The more we buy, the more orcs we will be able to combine at once, after which it will be necessary to dump the contents of a special telephone booth that acts as a bridge between our world and life after this.
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The process of restoring these lost souls is the least disguised activity in all production: their number is hundreds of thousands, and the feeling of repetition begins already after a few rescues; Not to mention that transforming souls reward you with a large number of points and experience points, Helps us get up too fast (maybe too much). Fortunately, at the end of the game, an ability is unlocked that can significantly speed up this assembly process. The rhetoric is completely different when it comes to secondary missions: when we clear an area from the fog, new optional missions will always appear on the map, all with (some more, some less) subplots with a fantastic Japanese look.
This means that we will be able to find ourselves in situations that are permeated by deep drama, and others that are permeated by gilardia. Even with a certain qualitative deterioration, The side activities are quick and well calculated, not only because of the very limited duration and thus fortunately not at all claustrophobic, but also because it has a sufficiently varied game mechanics. In a few minutes we will face stages of platforming, ghost hunting, investigative analysis with our superhuman skills, battles in the last Yokai and very strange demands from some queer spirits.
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And along the city we will also encounter cats and dogs, which will be fed and followed towards great rewards; Or we will have the opportunity to go into combinations or buy shares, katashiro, spells or foods for renewal and health. Not to forget that a careful exploration of the capital will reward us with statues or jewelry that are not only imaginative collectibles, but also valuables that some Yokai cats generously pay us. That’s why Ghostwire: Tokyo likes to be smart: without exaggerating, For 15-20 hoursTango Gameworks suggests moderate, now carefree, now effective tasks, but all united by a splash of madness.
Tokyo stories
Tokyo is a wonderful narrator: A container of stories that range from deep social problems to fun everyday. There are many layers of story in Ghostwire, and they are all worth discovering.
First and foremost is the basic story, the story of Akito and KK: the first is a 22-year-old student, the last survivor from Hania’s plan, a man who has taken the souls of the townspeople and kidnapped his sister. The main character, for reasons that you must discover in the context of the action; KK is instead the spirit of a former mysterious hunter, who infiltrates Akito’s body to continue the search for his old rival Hannya. The relationship between the two characters is the very powerful driving force behind this well-written supernatural drama, which constantly oscillates between irony, tragedy, horror and dystopia. Between a well-defined supporting role and valuable visual choices (the result of Tango Gamework’s horror experience), Ghostwire story: Tokyo continues with a sequential rhythm, and then slow down a bit towards the end. The playful tones of the story and the quality of the text are also reflected in the secondary missions, which in a nutshell testify to how fun it is to reveal all the city’s subplots, full of tormented souls, unfinished business and the elimination of phobias and unresolved fears.
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