We previewed the initial stages of Ghostwire Tokyo, the long-awaited action-adventure genre video game developed by Tango Gameworks, a studio founded by Shinji Mikami, father of the survival horror saga Resident Evil and formerly responsible for the development of horror adventures The Evil Within e The Evil Within 2, which will land at the same time on PlayStation 5 and PC in the spring. The title was announced at E3 2019 when its publisher Bethesda had not yet joined Xbox Game Studios.
Everyone will disappear from Tokyo next spring
With this enigmatic phrase, game director Kenji Kimura introduces the events that lead to the strange disappearance of almost the entire population in the Japanese capital. A dense and dangerous fog that envelops the metropolis, pierced by the vivid colors of the LED panels, guides the moves of the protagonist Akito, a Japanese boy who in spite of himself finds himself united, fused, with KK, a professional ghost hunter who has also become one spirit.
Akito discovers that he possesses, and can master, supernatural powers, Ethereal Weaving, wield elemental forces such as fire, water, or wind and use them to confront malevolent ghostly entities. Tormented and very unfriendly creatures, unleashed by the disturbing ed enigmatic figure Hannya, which seem to have replaced the Tokyo population on the streets. Akito is therefore called upon to hunt down Hannya, destroy her ambitions, save the wandering spiritualists of the city and, as if that weren’t enough, save her family as well.
Fantastic creatures, Japanese pop folklore and a touch of surrealism
In addition to the ghostly entities, to the disembodied guiding soul KK, some appear throughout the city Yokay, fantastic creatures, strange and funny cats, raccoons that seem to have sprung from the acrylic brushstrokes of pop artist Takashi Murakami. By capturing them Akito gains power and some will help him in his arduous task. Task that makes use of some objects such as i Katashiro, a paper doll traditionally used in Japan for purification rituals that in the game becomes a tool to absorb the essence of spirits. Katashiro can be purchased in various shops around the city center and must always be stocked. By finding a phone booth and bringing the doll close to the public telephone, the souls it holds will be freed. As Akito explores the city, he comes across and collides with some ghostly entities that are very reminiscent of René Magritte’s Men in the Bowler Hat.
The surrealist touch impressed on Ghostwire Tokyo it is also noticeable in the game sessions where reality overlaps an alternative world, an “other plane”, distorted and chaotic, saturated with objects and full of suggestions, from which an escape route must be found.
Expectations and criticalities
The work of Tango Gameworks is visually beautiful, already in the first minutes of the game you can see the sophisticated work done by the designers and game artists. The desire to combine Japanese folklore with the most modern suggestions of pop art is evident, with a very elegant wink to visual elements rooted in Western culture. At first glance, the gameplay seems fun, using the Ethereal Weaving as a skilled wizard could be very satisfying. There remains the unknown of the plot, the story of Akito, the motivations of the disturbing figure called Hannya and the role of the guiding spirit KK. Self Ghostwire Tokyo has many captivating elements for a large pool of gamers, you need to understand how the level of difficulty will be managed, why Tango Gameworks has proposed demanding works so far. To find out, however, it will be necessary to wait until spring, because when the swallows return, a thick fog will fall over Tokyo.