GhostWire: Tokyo - Two Minute Review!
Free from Epic Games October 31th to November 7th 2024
Title: GhostWire: Tokyo
Summary: After strange disappearances hit Tokyo's population, it's up to you to uncover the source and purge the city of a strange, new evil. Armed with your own mysterious abilities, you will face down the occult, unravel conspiracy theories and experience urban legends like never before. Don't fear the unknown. Attack it.
Release Date: Mar 22, 2022
Rating: Rated T for Teen
Developer: Tango Gameworks
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: PS5, PC, Series S/X
Genres: Action Adventure
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Ghostwire Tokyo is a unique supernatural first-person shooter where players explore a somewhat faithful recreation of an area of Tokyo overrun by vengeful spirits, where all the people have been killed, and it’s up to the player to push back a deadly fog and rescue souls trapped within. The game’s open world is large and packed with detail, and has a great tension filled atmosphere, without ever veering into outright horror.
The core gameplay involves clearing streets of spirits and purifying shrines to gradually push the fog back. Collecting the souls by simply interacting with them is also a huge part of the game, and the key way to level up, which unlocks additional abilities from the skill tree. To aid this, you have a scan ability that highlight all enemies and relevant items in a range, as well as the ability to grapple onto flying monsters and hover between buildings. Combat predominantly uses elemental projectiles that are replenished by destroying corrupted objects in the environment. Alternatively, stealth is an option, as well as punches or parries, as well as a powerful bow and consumable talismans that grant buffs or area attacks.
The game isnt perfect however. Combat can feel repetitive, as Despite the rage of abilities, the best approach is often just spamming the gust ability. The enimies too are spongey, and the streets are filled with packs of the same handful of types over and over, which is exacerbated by them respawning at certain points in the game. Collecting souls and items also grows grindy given the sheer numbers, and the skill tree rewards for levelling up are largely padded with stat boosts. Playing with a controller also feels somewhat janky.
Overall, Ghostwire: Tokyo is a memorable experience with an intriguing story, well-crafted set pieces, and side quests. It offers around 12 hours of enjoyable gameplay, provided you don’t get too bogged down in item collecting