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If you've been wondering just what is Ghostwire Tokyo in the first place, you're not the only one. This strange first-person martial arts shooter was originally announced back in 2019, and though it received plenty of attention since, there's still an air of mystery surrounding the project.
The central premise of Ghostwire Tokyo is that it's a mystical first-person adventure where the entire population of Tokyo just up and disappeared. At the same time, the immense metropolis got overrun by ghastly threats from classic Japanese folklore. A hell of a setting, if you ask us!
What is Ghostwire Tokyo?
Despite its esoteric and exciting features, classic Japanese folklore doesn't get nearly as much attention as it probably should in video games. To be sure, much the same could be said about Slavic folklore, or any other type of classic mythology, other than Norse, Egyptian, and Greek. Ghostwire Tokyo aims to begin righting this wrong, thankfully.
As previously established, the game is a mesh of ancient supernatural tropes and high-end modernity. After a supernatural catastrophe, the entire Tokyo is almost completely devoid of human life. In its stead, a vast number of monstrous creatures now roam the city - vicious and violent, of course.
It's in the middle of this mess that the game's protagonist wakes up. Naturally, they find themselves blessed with the ability to cast powerful spells when push comes to shove. Though little is known about the protagonist, we do know that he's got a personal stake in ridding Tokyo of the infestation.
Who is making the game?
A game's premise means nothing if there's no talent to back it up. Thankfully, Ghostwire Tokyo's got nothing if not a talented team of developers working on it. You see, the game is being developed by none other than Tango Gameworks. Yes, the Tango Gameworks of Evil Within fame, and with Shinji Mikami at the helm.
For those who might not have ample experience with the video game industry, Mikami's name may well mean nothing. Keep in mind, though, that he was responsible for Resident Evil, Vanquish, and Shadows of the Damned. All phenomenal games with varying levels of popularity over the years.
More recently, Evil Within and Evil Within 2 were some of our horror game highlights during the Halloween season of 2021. Hell, the game even made its way to our top 100 PC games list, no less. As you can probably tell, we hold Tango Gameworks in pretty high regard here at 2Game. That alone would've made us excited for Ghostwire Tokyo. But, there's more!
How does the gameplay work?
Ghostwire Tokyo's main schtick is that it's not shy about its uniqueness. In effect, this is a first-person shooter, albeit one that leans more heavily towards atmospheric exploration and detective work, in some cases. It's not going to be DOOM with ghosts. That said, it is worth pointing out that one of the combat designers of DOOM itself - Shinichirō Hara - is indeed helping Tango Gameworks deliver on that front.
From what we've seen so far, Ghostwire may be a semi-sandbox experience. Along the lines of Evil Within 2, perhaps. Most environments look at least somewhat open-ended, for one. At the same time, the narrative hook is set and staged, so we're not getting a Skyrim-level open-world, either.
The gist of what is Ghostwire Tokyo in moment-to-moment gameplay lies in its core antagonists - the ghosts. Players will need to contend with them, simply enough. To do so, they'll need to use a special type of magic derived from Kuji-Kiri. In-between encounters, we expect traversal to be a major consideration. And, hey, you can pet the dogs, too!
What is combat like?
As we said, combat is going to be a major element of gameplay in Ghostwire Tokyo. The game's rendition of traditional Japanese spellcasting is here intertwined with the art of Kuji-Kiri. In other words, Tango Gameworks aims to meld martial arts with spellcasting. An idea that we can only enthusiastically agree with.
The ghosts - Visitors - are to be dealt with, and with extreme prejudice. There seems to be an extremely wide variety of kinetic spells players will use to whittle them down. Once low on "health", however, Visitors' will also need to be finished off using snazzy takedown moves. Developers haven't shared anything in regard to spell customization or some such, though we expect there to be plenty of fun stuff to fiddle around with.
"Unlike guns, our gestures allow us to put a lot more movement and personality into the player action as the player’s hands are organic extensions of the character," said Hara. "In GhostWire, you’re casting magic with martial arts movements."
Aside from the spells, though, it's Visitors who seem to be the stars of the show. They come from classic Japanese folklore, or are simply inspired and informed by it. We expect the game's pre-release hype campaign to touch upon these beasties to great extent. Sadly, we'll need to wait a bit longer to hear what they're all about.
Closing Thoughts
As of today, Ghostwire Tokyo (on PC) is supposed to be coming out sometime in 2022. The ongoing pandemic may well have affected the development somehow, but with no pushbacks to speak of, Bethesda is yet to announce anything on that front. We're optimistic that everything is going according to plan, then!
The developers' previous output - namely, The Evil Within - is all the proof we need to be excited about the prospect of playing Ghostwire Tokyo. Remember - EW2 had a first-person mode release post-launch. Odds are that they are applying the lessons they learned there to Ghostwire Tokyo, too.
Besides, it's not like we get an FPS where "karate meets magic" every day. Overall, it's hard not to be looking forward to this project. Even if only to see if it's going to break any major molds.
Stay tuned for lots more on Ghostwire Tokyo in the coming days and weeks! News is just around the corner, we bet!
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