Ghostwire: Tokyo
Genre: Action | World Exploration | Fighting | Mild horror
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Introduction
This is the perfect game for anime enthusiasts.
The game begins with a great "animesque" cinematic, introducing the main character, the other main character, the reason why you are playing and the antagonists.
The gist is pretty simple but kinda creative (hadn't seen something like it, ever before): the city of Shibuya is besieged by supernatural creatures and everyone but you is gone.
On top of this catastrophe, your sister is in a coma at the hospital and if that was not enough, the main character "dies" at the very beginning of the game (do not worry, i did not mark this as a spoiler simply because it is literally the first thing that happens in the cutscene and is part of the game, further ahead, i will mark potential spoilers with a black bar you can hover over with your mouse to see the contents of it) but is then "resuscitated" by the second main character.
Story
The game offers you a main storyline and various other secondary storylines and side missions some of which CANNOT BE COMPLETED AFTER NEARING THE END OF THE GAME (the game warns you about them, in case you want to complete particular side stories before going for the end of the game).
You are not required to complete side quests and side storylines (i say storylines but they are more like "extra lore"), though completing side quests gives you upgrade materials to make your journey to the end of the game quite easier; though i have not completed any of the side missions aside from one i had accidentally started and three of them which would have gone to waste if i hadn't done them before the end of the game (i wanted to see what they were about since the game warned me about them) and despite all that, i was able to complete the game on the hardest game difficulty with relative ease (Hard, not Tatari).
Basic gameplay mechanics
The game has a progression system that uses EXP/XP points that allow you to level up and gain skill points
which you can spend on a skill tree to become almost exponentially stronger with each upgrade.You can gain EXP by pretty much just playing the game, you do not need to go out of your way to grind for exp, as it is easily obtainable; you can get EXP by killing enemies, filling paper dolls, doing side quests, doing normal quests, you name it.
Graphics
The graphics are simply stunning.
When i say the graphics are crazy good, i do not mean that they are photorealistic or anything like that (even though they are pretty realistic), but it strikes a great balance between fiction and real life, without being uncannily photorealistic, keeping a focus on the game feeling like an anime more than anything.
I have played the game with nearly maxed out graphics at the max framerate available to me (the in-game menu let me set it to 74FPS at max on a 75Hz monitor), and i gotta say, it did give my graphics card (RTX 2060 Super) a run for it's money as it gave me a smooth gameplay experience at about 70ish FPS which would then drop during any fight that had more than 4 enemies at once, especially projectile-type enemies; in that case, the frames dropped drastically, sometimes dipping all the way to 44FPS with some rarer 27FPS hiccups.
That being said, the game does allow you to turn on raytracing, however, i have not tried it, simply because the graphics i was at were more than enough, though from some videos i have seen about the RTX, it doesen't seem to add too much to the game aside from reflections in puddles and near water.
I do appreciate that when it rains, your character's hands and clothing get visibly wet, even in first person (you can see your hands and arms getting wet and become all shiny).
For this one, i am putting the "graphics" paragraph before the "gameplay" one simply because the "gameplay" has a lot of things to say about it and the graphics one is more straight forward
Sound Design
The sound design for this game is GOOD, but not just good; it's GOOD GOOD.
The sound it makes when you rip the core out of the enemies is probably the most satisfying in the entire game, to the point where i had preferred not upgrading that part of the skill tree for a while just so i could hear the TWAUNK sound it makes when you pull it out.
The sound of rain, ethereal beings, souls crying for help, souls talking about their lives, enemies moaning in despair... everything blends so well, to the point where sometimes i'd just stop and listen, sometimes even listening to the enemies out of curiosity.
Gameplay
This paragraph may contain some light spoilers for those who haven't even touched the game yet so i have covered some parts with a black censor bar you can hover over to dissipate and see what's hidden below; try it on this censored text good job :).
The gameplay loop is kinda simple: rescue souls, kill enemies, complete missions and purify Tori portals to unlock other parts of the map.
Now, what i said is pretty much a summary of what the game felt to me; of course, it is not bad and i am not trying to throw shade at the simple gameplay loop.
Aside from that "main" gameplay loop, you can also take a break from just killing anything that moves and explore the city, which is made easier once you unlock the flight/gliding ability.
While exploring the city, you may encounter cats and dogs which you can pet and/or read the minds of (and later feed) to receive small to great rewards.
Enemies
The first enemy you are introduced to is the "Visitor", which, like most of the other enemies is essentially just a ghost/spectre/apparition.
The game does tell you where these ghosts appear from, what creates them and how they manifest, though, i will not put it here, there's no point in me doing that.
To be honest, when i was introduced to the Visitor, i thought it was straight up just a copy of the Slenderman with it's long skinny arms, average stature, nearly featurless face, pale skin and a (usually) black/white suit with a tie.
The other enemy you are quickly introduced to is the "Paper Doll" (which should not be confused with the Katashiro Paper Dolls), which are not really your standard ranged enemy which throws something at you every now and then, no; this particular enemy has a somewhat wide variety of attacks it can do, the main one being an area denial type of attack, which covers a small space with red spheres which damage you on contact.
The Paper Doll's other attacks are a big explosive sphere which when charged up seeks the player and then explodes on contact into many more explosive spheres; and an healing sphere which heals damaged enemies.
Of course, i am not gonna list every enemy here, there's probably a wiki for that somewhere on the internet if you search for it (or you could just see the enemies in the in-game's journal/notebook).
Weapons
This game does not give you any pistols, shotguns, assault rifles or whatever; you are instead given spiritual abilities that allow you to control three elements: wind, water and fire.
The game calls your "weapons" "tethering techniques" which basically let you do a few hand gestures that seem to be inspired by "kuji kiri" to kinda just summon energy and use said energy to attack.
For example, Wind Tethering allows you to create wind spheres which you can throw at the enemy real fast, or you can charge the attack and throw more wind attacks at the enemies in rapid succession, you can also use an alternate firing type once you reach a certain level to clamp your hands together in the shape of a pistol and unleash a barrage of wind spikes on the enemies.
Basically, Wind Tethering acts as your pistol or assault rifle, while Water Tethering acts as your shotgun and Fire Tethering acts as your rocket launcher, grenade launcher or heavy weapon in general.
Of course, since these are not guns, you do not have magazines to reload them, instead, you will be prompted to break corrupted items around the world to recharge your tethering energy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this game felt really great to play, the ambient and atmosphere was amazing, seeing the clothes of the people who disappeared on the ground or seeing the city being pristine while also being empty was great and just eerie enough to not be straight up horror.
I found myself just looking around and listening to sounds for a good 10 to 20 minutes every time i fired up the game, which i finished in a few hours, but that's just because i skipped a good chunk of content by not doing the side missions.
One of my biggest nitpicks is the movement and sometimes the fighting: the movement feels clunky or scatty at times especially when climbing walls, fences and such; the camera just awkwardly jumps up as you kinda teleport up a few inches when climbing.
I found myself using the air dash to move around as it felt better and faster than actually running which, i swear, when i run i feel like i am still just walking except im waving my arms around.
As for the combat, things usually go smooth and well, though sometimes, the game liked switching my elements without me really asking for it, so i would prepare to charge up a fire attack and suddenly, i hit them with just a weak non-charged wind attack which, has lost me a few fights at times, or at best, lost me some time in fights.
The game also doesen't really incentivize you to switch your elements as often as you would switch your weapons in Doom Eternal or ULTRAKILL to do some good combos.
I pretty much ended up just using my wind attacks for a good chunk of the light enemies, especially those out of range and then spamming charged attacks with Fire and Water Tethering for heavier enemies.
The enemy variety is also pretty scarce, with most enemies simply being a recolor of a previously encountered one.
I hate to admit it but, when i got to the end, i had to watch a video on how to enter the final boss fight because, i could not see the button i had to press; literally EVERY ELEVATOR IN THE GAME has a prompt that's like "press E to do said thing" along with a visual indicator that you can interact with it that appears when your FOV is even slightly pointed towards the button; but THIS SPECIFIC ELEVATOR required you to stare dead center at the button which was the same color of the wall, so of course i had a brain fart thinking i accidentally softlocked myself.
All in all, i think this is one of those games you should buy when it is on sale or when it is given away for free (i got the game for free as an offer online) and if you like anime (in particular "JUJUTSU KAISEN") this is the absolute best game i can currently recommend for you.