Last week we saw the Ghostwire: Tokyo preview, shortly before yesterday’s reveal trailer in which, for the first time, the game’s gameplay is detailed. That is to say that for us it was the first direct contact with the gaming world, in which we could see a little more the glossy aesthetics, the neon lights and the monsters inspired by Japanese folklore that the title Tango Gameworks gives us had taught in the first images. What is certain is that it has not been accepted at all: in addition to a very likeable and charismatic emissary, the game seems to have a very certain and very particular jugability.
Before the presentation, the current game director, Kenji Kimura, dedicated a few words to us, via a pre-recorded video, from the streets of Tokyo. Location is not a ballad: one of the most attention-grabbing things about the game is the great care with which it is devoted to rebuilding the city in the game. improve points of difference and commonalities; for someone who doesn’t have it, like me, the environment is a reproduction that seems to take care of every detail down to the millimeter. Kimura introduced us to the game’s protagonist: Akito, a young Japanese man who accidentally merges with KK, a fantasy hunter with notable experience who transforms into a spirit after the tragic event that caused his disappearance from the Japanese town’s population. . .
The demo we saw at the event lasted about twenty minutes and we were shown what the game’s initial compasses would look like. The general dynamic of the game is exploration of the Tokyo property in search of answers to this mysterious event, and the use of the supernatural powers that developed after the merger to confront different spirits, demons and demonic figures of this place. Those who know a little about the history of the yokai will be recognized in several ways: a vendor who is a Nekomata, a Tengu who helps us fly through the tejados, or even a Hannya who poses as the main antagonist of the game. In terms of design, both yokai and evil spirits – which the game calls “visitors” – are a delicacy to behold: respecting their classic images, to make them recognizable, but adding contemporary elements to each of them, which makes it perfect. in the game scene.
The protagonist, as we said, has the power: an “ethereal weaving”, in English – tejido etéreo, in Castilian? – which is used to exorcise the distinct evil forces that stand in its way. A kind of magic spells which are controlled with the hands and which serve to exterminate the “essence” of the demons and thus to destroy them. Here are some additional techniques: a kind of remote control, the ability to channel energy with the L2 and R2 buttons to purify specific areas of the map or maintain a katashiro, a paper ceremonial object, to absorb spirits. During the demo, the protagonist follows a bow which, also containing magical powers, can be used to perform and defeat enemies. The general dynamic is to attack enemies until they remain vulnerable, then take out your core with the tougher ones to make it disappear; a combat system that, with a bit of variation, seems versatile enough to create a lot of different encounters.
That is to say, despite the fact that there were battles, most of the demo was all about exploration. As he said, we are looking for leads and trying to figure out what happened, and for that we are going to travel to different places in Tokyo. The city looks extraordinarily well modeled, but in a concrete moment we enter a living room of a building that is now deserted, and the amount of detail that is in the objects, furniture and rooms of this opener in results.
To uncover some flaws, this may indicate that the difference in character definition varied quite a bit between cutscenes and in-game scenes. The protagonist, so photographic that it is almost impossible to watch CGI parts, shows a much more “normal” style in the images of the game. In any case, I think the great virtue of the technical apartado that we are shown is the consequence of the scene and the atmosphere: many journalists who attended the event recorded the Kamurocho of the Yakuza saga for us, and with a good reason. The thing that makes us most want to try the final version is the fact that, despite the story having a pretty serious starting point, it doesn’t feel like all that drama in the Ghostwire universe: Tokyo. The fighters are visually spectacular, and some interactions with the fantasy hunter and demons are somewhat chemical, including a bit of magic, they say in the best sense.
The demo left us, that is, with the rewards of exploring with detention the structure of the open world. We have many mission markers and secondary activities but we do not have the opportunity to delve into them. But failing to know exactly how its structure will work, the whole seems, a priori, quite convincing: a game with a very particular premise and an almost disturbing attention to detail that can attract the attention of the general public, but which especially interesting for those familiar with Japanese culture and mythology.
