Ghostwire: Tokyo is a new game from the studio of Resident Evil and The Evil Within creator Shinji Mikami. And its main problem is that until the very release, the developers could not clearly explain what kind of game it is, what it is about and how it is played. The only thing that was clear almost immediately was that it was not horror. At least not entirely. In fact, it turned out that “explaining” Ghostwire is as easy as shelling pears, and it is far from being as strange as it might seem from the trailers.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is a shooter. Only instead of firing from cannons – firing magic from fingers
The protagonist of Ghostwire fights otherworldly creatures using kujikiri signs. He quickly and defiantly folds his fingers in a bizarre way and shoots at enemies with air, water or fire magic. True, there are actually no elemental effects in the mechanics: air is just a conditional pistol, water is a shotgun that hits several enemies at once, and fire is a “heavy weapon” and a grenade launcher if the attack is charged. Well, in Ghostwire, paper talismans act as grenades, which the hero pompously takes out of his pocket, spectacularly twisting in front of astonished enemies.
The game generates a certain buzz from “shooting” – the aesthetics of “shootouts” are unique in it. And there is also a sea of beautiful special effects, and there is some kind of impact from hits. And when the batch happens to be especially sweaty, and you are often forced to shuffle the “weapon”, you can look at the cunning gestures of the hero’s hands – this works powerfully for immersion.
The problem with the Ghostwire: Tokyo combat system is its absolute simplicity and monotony
Behind only a third of the game, and you have already seen everything that the combat system has to offer. You have collected a complete arsenal (it is generally rather meager here), you have seen all the main enemies and all possible situations. Although, what kind of situations can we even talk about when Ghostwire, in principle, does not offer anything other than “lock the player in the arena with a crowd of enemies that come from all sides.”
At the same time, there are no tactics and variability in what is happening, as in the same DOOM Eternal or even the recent Shadow Warrior 3. In Ghostwire, you don’t have to think about which signs to use against which monsters or how to combine them with each other. In general, I almost never switched from air magic – it is absolutely universal always. You switch to other signs only if you run out of “cartridges”. Plus, sometimes there is a chance to stun the crowd or a particularly fat enemy with a talisman. Battles become routine already at the very beginning of the game and do not infuriate only due to their low complexity, visual entertainment and some “exotic” process.
Although several times the game tried to surprise me, briefly taking away all the magic – a little eel on the stealth and shoot from a bow, which you usually don’t have to remember. But it would be better if she didn’t. These are the creepiest episodes. Luckily they run out quickly.
But in Ghostwire: Tokyo, we fight against opponents inspired by urban legends and mythology – this is a significant plus for the atmosphere
In fact, it’s all about inspiration. Even in the first trailers, we were shown “slendermen” with umbrellas, but in the mythology of the game, these are the spirits of people brought to the handle by their work. And this symbolism, slightly reminiscent of “Silent Hill”, applies to all monsters.
The only pity is that the game itself talks only about the symbolism, but not the source of inspiration. For example, we can learn that a woman with huge scissors and a medical mask is a spirit born of rage. But about the legend underlying her image about Kutisake, to a woman with a slit mouth, the game says nothing. Yes, and not very carefully Ghostwire uses these images, all these Kuchisake, Shiromuku and Teru-teru-bozu are just blanks without any unique features. We will destroy them dozens and hundreds of times without blinking an eye.
At some stage, Ghostwire even proceeds to reuse his bestiary and starts setting the same “slendermen” on the player, only pot-bellied and with a hammer. Or recolors Kuchisake’s clothes red and increases her damage. And it’s even strange to see such a poor fantasy from a studio that, in The Evil Within gave out such delusional surrealism in a good way that it was not long to go for the game and cuckoo! In Ghostwire, by the way, there are also such episodes: sometimes it turns into a bad dream for a while, and these are the best moments of the game.
But nevertheless, it is an excursion into Japanese culture that is the main reason to play Ghostwire: Tokyo
Ghostwire has an open world – Tokyo Shibuya. The openworld is arranged like everyone else: with conditional towers, which are the gates of Torii, sides of varying degrees of stupidity and collecting all sorts of rubbish.
But the setting and the crazy detail of the open world draw the game. It is one thing to ride a horse across the fields, and another to explore a rich and exotic metropolis for most of us. And from all sides: from shining neon streets with boutiques, to the “private sector”, compact Japanese apartments, rooftops, traditional temples and dirty doorways. The layering of the map in Ghostwire is much higher than in the same Dying Light 2.
And it turns out that the setting itself forms the impression of the open world no worse than its mechanics. Moreover, everything in Ghostwire is “drawn” amazingly – in detail, and with a touch of spooky atmosphere. Shibuya seemed to be frozen in time, filled with monsters who, in some way, were always there, covered with eternal night, fog and penetrating rain. When you wander around the city, sometimes you get the feeling that you are playing some kind of spin-off of Silent Hill.
In terms of a cultural digression, Ghostwire is such a mixture of Nioh and the Yakuza series. The game allows you to appreciate how tradition and modernity collide and mix in modern Japan. But at the same time, you can read about 50 Japanese delicacies here! It’s a pity you can’t sing in karaoke, this, of course, is an omission.
Speaking of Ghostwire: Tokyo, the last thing I want to talk about the plot, because it is here at the level of consumer anime
A certain villain wanted his wife and daughter to live forever, so he sent a fog to Tokyo, stealing the souls of people and thinning the veil between the worlds. With the help of these souls and the sister of the protagonist, he wants to merge the afterlife and the human world together. Some group of combat scientists tried to stop him, but they all died. However, one of them was able to move into a random kid and endow him with magical superpowers. Now they will save the world. Everything, there is simply nothing more to tell.
There are no sudden turns and subtleties, and the villain generally appears a couple of times throughout the game for a couple of minutes. And in general, apart from the empty protagonist and the voice in his head, there are almost no characters. And all this is very, very pathetic and hysterical. There is even a typical anime rejection of silence in the frame, forcing the main character to constantly grunt, moan and snort.
And in general, the narrative itself in Ghostwire is strange. At the moment when we get into the world of the game, all the most important things have already happened in it, it remains only to kick the villain. At least some details of the backstory, we learn mainly from a man named KK who moved into the main character – how he and his team studied the fog and the afterlife for a long time, how he tried to prevent the villain and failed. It feels like you are watching the last episode of the series, periodically peeping at the synopsis of previous episodes. The experience is interesting, but it does not pull to repeat it.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is a relaxed, moderately exotic and quite beautiful game with excellent ray tracing. She doesn’t take too much time, she doesn’t put grindwalls anywhere. It disappears from the head instantly, but it also doesn’t make you regret the time spent, because it manages to entertain. It is reminiscent of B-shooters from the turn of the 2000s and 10s, like Legendary and Singulrity, and now such games have become lacking.