Ghostwire Tokyo preview \u2013 Unique combat in a creepy, stylish Shibuya Bethesda SoftworksThe first two chapters of Ghostwire Tokyo are a promising start to a unique adventure, with a fun approach to combat, a stylish city to explore, and a mystery that left me wanting more. Ghostwire Tokyo opens with a car accident in the streets of Shibuya that\u2019s left Akito, the game\u2019s protagonist, dead. A mysterious fog has spread across Tokyo, causing everyone inside it to disappear, and swarms of creepy Visitors \u2013 led by an occultist in a Hannya mask \u2013 are stealing their spirits. To ward them off, a spirit known as KK takes over Akito\u2019s body, temporarily bringing him back to the world of the living and imbuing him with special powers. It\u2019s an abrupt way to start a game, but an effective one, too, as being thrown straight into the action had me hooked right from the beginning. While the first chapter is essentially one long tutorial, it never feels tedious as the story unfolds in tandem. Akito wants to find his sister, while KK wants to stop whatever\u2019s happening to Tokyo, and they\u2019ll need to (reluctantly) work together to achieve their goals. It\u2019s a nice pairing, with plenty of wisecracks and even some warmth as they get to know each other while exploring the now-ghostly city. Once you\u2019ve made it through the first chapter of the game, it\u2019s out into the (mostly) open world of Shibuya. The usual tropes apply here \u2013 visit shops to purchase items, gather XP to level up your powers, and complete side quests from friendly spirits along the way. All these familiar functions weave in elements of Japanese mythology and tradition that help make Ghostwire Tokyo feel unique, though; The shops are run by floating cats, interacting with Omikuji at Shrines can tell your fortune and grant buffs, and certain doors are locked with hand seals that require you to draw signs with the analog stick to open them. Read More: Horizon Forbidden West review – The developers of Ghostwire Tokyo, Tango Gameworks, have referred to the game as more of a \u201csandbox\u201d than an open world, which is true for the most part. The map isn\u2019t unnecessarily huge, and most of it is blocked off from the start thanks to the fog that covers the city. As you progress through the game, you\u2019ll discover torii gates that need to be cleansed to open up new areas of the map. It feels quite focused, with the fog effectively guiding you to your next objective in the early stages of the story, but there are still opportunities to go off-grid to explore, complete side quests, and save spirits if you want to. I love the prospect of an open world, but often find myself feeling lost in huge maps that lack a clear objective, so for me, this felt like a great balance. Shibuya looks amazing at night, too, with neon signs lining every path and reflections on the rain-soaked streets making the most of ray-tracing on the PS5. It can feel claustrophobic at times \u2013 there are no gorgeous sunsets or vast views into the distance to enjoy \u2013 but that only adds to the spooky atmosphere. It\u2019s not just the bright lights of Tokyo that catch the eye. Flashy combat gestures known as Ethereal Weaving \u2013 which are based on different elements including Wind, Fire, and Water \u2013 are your main weapons in Ghostwire Tokyo, and they\u2019re a constant, explosive spectacle. Tapping R2 releases small blasts of the element you have equipped, while holding R2 performs a powerful charge attack. Deal enough damage to a Visitor, and you\u2019ll be able to rip out their core to stop them permanently. It\u2019s a satisfying approach to combat that plays more like a first-person shooter, and the prospect of unlocking new elements and powering them up is genuinely exciting \u2013 although the lack of a \u2018dodge\u2019 maneuver still feels unusual. While playing around with Ethereal Weaving and blasting away Visitors is a lot of fun, I found that stealth was sometimes the best way forward. One section in the game\u2019s second chapter required me to clear out Shiroyama Shrine so I could cleanse every torii gate and open up a new part of the map, but taking the brute force approach only got me killed after being swarmed by Visitors. On my next attempt, I eliminated them one by one with Quick Purges \u2013 the game\u2019s supernatural version of a stealth takedown \u2013 which made things a lot easier, even if watching Visitors squirm up close to the camera is a little unnerving. Read More: Elden Ring review – As someone who enjoys horror games but also struggles to keep their nerve, I was pleased to find out that Ghostwire Tokyo leans more towards action than horror. There are no jump scares (yet), and it\u2019s never particularly gory, although there are plenty of unsettling moments along the way. The first chapter culminates in a visit to an ominous hospital, with visions of burning figures and the traditional \u2018creepy person standing at the end of a hallway\u2019 trope out in full effect. The Visitors are also haunting to look at, although the game moves at such a quick pace that it\u2019s hard to get truly scared by anything. After just a few hours with Ghostwire Tokyo, I\u2019m impressed. Mostly by the visual delight of Tango Gameworks\u2019 take on Shibuya, but also by the combat, and the fact that the game has such a distinct identity. I\u2019m excited to keep playing and see what the rest of the game has in store. Ghostwire Tokyo is released March 25, 2022, on PS5 and Windows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ghostwire Tokyo preview \u2013 Unique combat in a creepy, stylish Shibuya Bethesda SoftworksThe first two chapters of Ghostwire Tokyo are a promising start to a unique adventure, with a fun approach to combat, a stylish city to explore, and a mystery that left me wanting more. Ghostwire Tokyo opens with a car accident in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}