In the preview of Ghostwire Tokyo, developed by Tango Gameworks, we touch on the general features and dynamics of the game, which we entered into its special presentation.
Ghostwire Tokyo is a production that has been developed for a long time and draws attention with its supernatural atmosphere. From the very first announcement trailer, we can say that he has given the isyals that he will have a mysterious story. Although Bethesda, which distributes the game, was purchased by Microsoft, we will see this game exclusively for Playstation 5 on the console side, just like the Deathloop game, due to previous agreements. Tango Gameworks, who previously appeared with The Evil Within games, is behind the game, which will also come to the PC platform. Shinji Mikami, who is the founder of the studio and signed these games, is one of the executive producers, although he is not very active in this project. The director of Ghostwire Tokyo was entrusted to Kenji Kimura.
After a long hiatus, a 10-minute gameplay video was released for the game, which will be released on March 25. However, we attended a special presentation that lasted about 40 minutes, in which he was included in the dynamics shown in this video before. In this presentation organized by Bethesda, much more detailed information was given, as well as a long and pure gameplay video. Now, let’s move on to what we saw about the game, taking into account 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 the key moments in the name of the story were not shown, I can say that our character’s questions and behaviors were actually revealing that he had just fallen into this turmoil.
We manage a character named Akito in the game. Paranormal events occur in Tokyo for a reason we don’t know yet, and we witness spirits wandering in this city where people disappear. In a way, an atmosphere of Tokyo has been created, as if it is located in another dimension but at the same time carries the traces of that extinction. I have to say in advance that Ghostwire Tokyo looks really good as an atmosphere, with abandoned streets, overturned vehicles and spirits running around. I can even say that at this stage, my favorite aspect of the game was this atmosphere.
Akito also has a character that we can call his mentor. I say owner because there is a spirit named KK on the right arm of our character who helps him. As you can see in the videos, the reason why the right arm and eye of the character are different is KK. Uniting with this spirit, which is introduced as a ghost hunter, Akito probably gains his special powers in this way. KK gives us information about both the missions and the supernatural events we encounter. The main purpose of our character is to find out what is behind these events, but most importantly, to save his family. For this, he has to take down the character that we often see in promotional videos and is mentioned as Mastermind in the video.
Of course, in order to fulfill this purpose, we need to defeat the ghosts and spirits that run around Tokyo and cross our path. For this, our character has various abilities. Kuji-kiri hand gestures were inspired by the character’s hand gestures to cast spells. These moves look really interesting while fighting. You can shoot ghosts with your finger like a weapon, and after a certain damage, you see the enemy’s core, or soul essence, appear. Again, you can destroy this core by shooting or you can grab it with your whip-like ability and remove it. You can dismantle the core of more than one ghost at the same time with this whip movement.
Fighting mechanics look interesting with the artistic stance brought by 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 artificial intelligence. I think that might have an effect too. If we encounter much more difficult battles and different abilities in the main game, my opinion may change, but I cannot say that I am very impressed at this stage. You also have the chance to make a finishing hit from behind in the combat system.
By the way, thanks to the whip, you can easily climb to the top of the buildings. There was not much emphasis on this, but I think that this dynamic of dating will probably only be in a way that clings to certain points. Our character got a bow and arrow duo after half of the video. This type of different weapons that probably support the combat system will appear as we progress in the game.
The point I was hoping for at this point was the use of a skill tree for character development. You are allowed to unlock new abilities with the souls you collect. For this, you have to use the telephone booths scattered at certain points 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 that these enemies are trying to collect these souls and you try to prevent them from time to time.
Although Tokyo seems to have passed into an alternative dimension, an “Other World” phenomenon is also included in the game. You go to a different dimension in some missions, usually indoors, where you try to solve platform-based puzzles. Here, when you enter the room, you can see that the room actually turns sideways or vice versa. In the episode we watched, there were two apartment missions and these missions bore me a bit because they were very similar to each other.
Finally, I have to say that I like the visual style and graphics of the game, apart from the atmosphere. A unique touch has been made in both the character designs and the created world. Along with the visual effects that occur 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 gives the impression of a game with question marks as similar missions, artificial intelligence and combat system become commonplace. Along with the story in which the elements of curiosity are fed, it seems that it will be a game that appeals to those who like this kind of games. It is necessary to wait for the game, which will be released on March 25 for PC and PS5, without raising expectations.