Ghostwire: Tokyo — A Modern Interpretation of Japanese Folklore… Sort of

It’s a first-person shooter, but with fingers instead of guns

I swear this project will be the death of me. Of course, I’m talking about Ocean of Giants, as managing a team, even if it’s just three people, can be tiresome entirely. My one true hope is that this project will pay off in some way. But in the meantime, I played this game which was… ok, I guess?

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a game that I’ve been keeping in the back of my head for a while because it seemed cool yet at the same time it seemed like it could be doing more (dunno why… just a hunch). In its anticipation, I thought the game would be some kind of adventure game where you have to collect clues in order to reveal demons. In retrospect, I don’t know why I thought these features were going to be in the game. I suppose I have unrealistic expectations of games, but this one turned out to be less spectacular than usual. I mean, it was ok for the first two levels, but as I continued to delve deeper into the game, it seemed like… well I already said about, but the game could be using more.

The game starts out weirdly. Aside from the obvious setting of Japan, you take the role of a college student possessed by this weird dude in his 40s. Nothing too special here, and it doesn’t get any more special because you wake up in the middle of Shibuya to find out that everyone is dead for some reason, and you have no idea why. All the while, you’re being attacked by these demons which are not exactly Yokai (traditional Japanese demons), but at the same time, the monster looks like they came straight out of an internet meme. Let me tell you more about this experience…

A college student against a bunch of Slenderman lookalikes and headless schoolgirls

I start the game under the supposed prenotion that this is some kind of Ghostbusters-esque game, but with yokai and instead of proton packs you use beads and magatama and all the other mumbo jumbo used to deal with yokai (the point is: I thought it was about yokai). There were some yokai, but not the way I expected it to. There were familiar yokai like the tengu, winged demons with long noses, and the kappa, a mischievous water demon that looks like a turtle. However, more often than not, I found myself fighting creatures that don’t seem like any kind of yokai. They just looked like a bunch of Slenderman cosplayers and headless schoolgirls. There were also a bunch of other demon wannabees, but I still couldn’t tell what was going on with the game.

I won’t spoil it too much (or at all), but the game starts off with little context as to what’s going on, and that is everybody dissipating into nothingness. You are a college student who is fighting someone trying to take over your body, basic story mumbo jumbo that I am all too familiar with. But how’s the gameplay?

So, forget whatever the story’s about. I truly thought this game had some intricacy to its gameplay, probably something detective-like. Instead, what I got was a first-person shooter where you use your fingers instead of guns. So, it’s your typical first-person shooter, but you don’t have guns, and instead, you use hand seals to perform elemental magic. I couldn’t find anything that’s too spectacular with the game. If anything, the game’s good for when you’re really bored and want to discover new stuff for no reason whatsoever. That’s what I did and I came across this game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good game, but not special or distinct in any way (definitely not the kind of way I expected it to go).

Did you expect yokai?

I didn’t have the best impressions of the game. It’s not a bad game by any means, just one that doesn’t seem too spectacular to invest too much time in. I suppose I expected too much. But what did you expect? Did you have a better impression of the game?

In Conclusion…

I clearly expected too much from the game when I’m more distracted with things that do not concern playing video games, mainly the current project at hand that I’m dealing with. Anyway, Ghostwire: Tokyo is a good game, just one that you should only invest time in if you’re really bored, as I said. Alas, I’m not in high school anymore so I don’t have all the time in the world. If I was, I suppose it would be easier to get to end of it… but I’m not and I have to settle for the time that I do have… which is this.

In any case, if you had a better impression of the game, then be sure to tell me what I missed. I probably won’t get to the end of it but if you can, then tell me later what happened.

I expected something and got something completely else… same thing that happens every day.