Ghostwire Tokyo, and why not every game needs to innovate

When Ghostwire: Tokyo released, it seemed like every online social circle I paid attention to panned the game. “It’s open world, formulaic Ubisoft schlock, the gameplay is tedious and un-engaging, and the open world serves no purpose” was the general consensus.

Due to these criticisms, I held off on buying the game, despite its appealing aesthetic.

Only upon purchasing Humble Choice last month did I finally get to playing the game – and I must say, it is an incredibly entertaining expose on Japanese culture, with beautiful vistas, terrifyingly trippy set pieces, a dynamic world, a unique (albeit flawed) combat system, and a story that engages the player to some degree.

To get the PC Master Race stuff out of the way, this game is very well optimized.

Yes, the game does suffer from Ubisoft syndrome; there’s a lot of busywork, and the payoff for said work oftentimes feels trivial. At the end of the day, though, the game’s universe is more than enough to keep it going. Japanese dialog being the preset heightens immersion, and invariably removes any flaws a non-English speaker might have with the voice acting. The world is dense and rich with collectibles that provide a further glimpse into the world, instead of merely being tat that sits in a codex forever. Sure, some of it is absolutely tat (looking at you, capsules and Hachi graffiti), but audio logs, newspapers, community notices, hastily written texts and letters, etc. give you a glimpse into the minds of those who were spirited away due to the antagonist’s malign and selfish ambitions.

In addition to the engaging lore, the world’s design itself is remarkably beautiful. Vibrant colors present themselves across the digital billboards of Shibuya. Iconic and beautiful landmarks are found at the corner of every block. Depending on what happens in the story, the environment and lighting of the open world can change completely, almost transporting the player to a different world. Side-quests, while being rudimentary, provide an engaging insight into the various spiritual abominations and eccentricities present throughout Japanese culture.

The story missions do a great job of utilizing the environment to convey feelings of dread, desolation, and futility. During story sequences, the environments shift in captivating and psychedelic ways. It is awesome seeing the ways in which entities toy with your environment. This function also carries over to the open world as well, to a lesser degree.

And the story itself is engaging enough, with characters and motives that unfold at a consistent pace as the game goes on.

Yes, the game suffers from Ubisoft syndrome. There is a remarkable quantity of useless collectibles – but nobody is making you go after this stuff! If you feel bogged down by the mechanics, then don’t engage in them. Odds are, you’ll be fine. I’ve been playing through the game on Hard, and while I have engaged in a vast amount of the side content, I’m nowhere close to being a completionist, and I still find the game to be very easy. Open world activities give you substantial quantities of XP, but the skill upgrades are largely trivial when it comes to the resilience of the player and the damage they can inflict upon enemies. Certain abilities are effectively essential, but most are just minor enhancements to the player’s skills. As far as I know, the groundbreaking abilities are unlocked through story and basic gameplay alone.

The game demands time from the player, and I can understand why that might be a turn-off to busy people. But not every game has to be playable in short, 30-minute bursts. I don’t know why you would commit to an open-world game if you don’t have the time to play it, anyways. Not every game has to be built around your schedule.

I’ve left out some criticisms, so I’ll briefly encapsulate those here: Rooftop traversal is samey and often (but not always) pulls the player away from the rich world around them. It is weird that so many of the enemies you face bear a resemblance to one another. The plot provides a very convenient justification for the lack of unique NPC’s, and NPC’s altogether. Default mouse settings are absolutely abysmal. If one lacks restraint, the open world activities could certainly become exhausting. The economy sometimes feels too forgiving.

Ultimately, though, I think it’s important for people to realize that not every game has to push boundaries. It’s okay for a game to use familiar systems, and it’s okay to build a unique combat system and world around said systems.

I’ve found myself consistently interested in what’s around the corner. If I’m drained after a long day of work, the game provides mindless fun, and I appreciate that.

If you’ve played Ghostwire: Tokyo, what are your thoughts?

If you’d like me to expand on any statements I’ve made regarding the game, I’ll gladly do so.

Hope you found this account entertaining and/or enlightening.