Ghostwire: Tokyo review: a charming yet frustrating supernatural shooter

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a game that isn’t afraid to ask the big questions: What happens after we die? Does the body actually serve as a prison that holds our essence? Is it possible to find toilet paper in a second roll for the ghost? This will allow them to go to heaven while the next ghost goes to the bathroom.

While this game is unique, the most interesting elements of it are frequently drowned out in its execution.

Akito is a young, normal man who is caught between life and death by a motorbike accident. But then, a ghost named KK steals his body. Since Akito isn’t quite done with his body, the two are forced into an uneasy alliance — bodymates, if you will.

KK’s arrival is well timed, as Tokyo has just been blanketed by a mysterious fog that separates human souls from their bodies, leaving their ghostly apparitions to float between skyscrapers and through rooftop gardens.

Akito’s spectral partner may be focused on the terrible fog but he has other motives. His sister Mari, who is defenseless and in hospital, is his target. Because of the malign demons roaming the streets, he has to reach her. Cooperating with KK will help.

Image: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks

Akito receives the power to create elemental magic by KK in exchange for eating meat. They are somewhat similar to traditional first-person shooting archetypes. You can fire wind quickly with your finger, water casts a larger, shotgun-like radius, and fire spells create an explosive blast that has wide-ranging effects.

However Ghostwire: Tokyo may be metaphorically in line with a typical first-person shooter, it doesn’t feel much like one. The controls feel slow and skitty to the point that I had to swap controllers as I suspected something was wrong. Jacking camera acceleration and deceleration to the max helps, but it’s no silver bullet.

There’s also a much shallower pool of offensive abilities than you might expect in a modern shooter. What is the depth of this pool? All the powers are already in your head. These three powers are the ones I have just mentioned. That’s it. You can charge each of those three for a stronger version, and you get a bow that’s useful for the rare (yet annoying) sequences where you’re separated from KK’s power. You can also rip out an enemy’s core when it’s near the brink of death. But after you’ve gotten all these skills in the opening couple hours of the game, you’ve pretty much seen it all.

With few new tricks on offer after the opening segment, Akito’s hunt for Mira soon feels like a slog. The enemies provide a little variety, but the techniques you’ll use to defeat them aren’t all that different. After blocking their attacks, shoot them.

This core combat loop can feel a little off. Charged attacks don’t use additional ammo, so you’ll always want to charge, if possible. To stop an attack, you will often have to interrupt your charge. A block, even a perfectly timed one, doesn’t flow naturally into a counterattack. It makes every enemy attack an interruption, rather than a threat or opportunity. This prevents the battles from flowing into a happy flow.

Image: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks

Systems built around core combat are similarly fragmented. Talismans that can help turn a fight in your favor are consumable, but so expensive that I wasn’t inclined to use them. The healing items I use are plentiful and never go out. (I never even came close.) You can create your own grapple points by just randomly dropping into the upgrade trees. This is an incredibly powerful and game-breaking ability.

Despite all of these substantive flaws though, I can’t deny I often found myself charmed by Ghostwire: Tokyo —Most often, I would leave the path of critical importance to assist wayward spirits with their unfinished business.

These side quests aren’t that compelling from a mechanical perspective, but many are intriguing little vignettes. Although the aforementioned mission to use the toilet is most unlikely, I have seen many others. They range from absurd and ridiculous, humorous and mundane, and even banal.

These personal stories function well in part because many of these stories — as well as much of the rest of the game — are deeply rooted in Japanese culture and folklore. For example: You increase your spell ammo by uncovering “Jizo statues.” I wasn’t initially familiar with the term, which led me to the lovely and sad history behind these figures. These statues are said to provide protection for travelers as well as helping the spirit of children who have died.

Image: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks

All archetypes in Japanese society are also enemies. They were all driven, at one time or another, to demonhood by dissatisfaction about their lives on earth. Here’s the description of the headless young guys in school uniforms called “Students of Pain”:

“The Visitor is a type born of frustration in young male students facing uncertain futures. They unleash the full brunt of their frustration upon anyone unlucky enough to cross paths with them.”

(This describes most of the interactions I’ve had with regular, living high school boys, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Heck, the default is subtitled Japanese dialogue, though English voice-over is available, if that’s your thing. The Japanese voices were on the entire video, but I kept them on because it helped me to immerse myself in the world. The fact that there is so much to explore in the world makes it easier. Ghostwire: TokyoBeautifully rendered and lit with attention to detail, it makes streets and houses feel alive despite everyone being dead.

Ghostwire: Tokyo won’t convert you into an expert in Japanese culture, obviously, but feeling like I had received tiny chunks of insight into that world and Shinto religion as I played really elevated side quests above the typical “help, my basement is full of rats” fare.

Image: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks

If there’s a central theme that connects these various threads, it’s one of living life for the present, and the folly of holding onto anger and guilt. Although the story is sometimes touching, it fails to have enough impact.

Firstly, there isn’t enough oxygen given to the relationship between Akito and Mari, so there’s very little narrative fuel propelling you through the story. There is an overstuffed sequence in the game’s final chapter that makes a go of developing this relationship, but it’s … too much, too late. Mari was brought up, and I felt embarrassed that my sister had been imprisoned somewhere in between the realms of the living or the dead. I won’t spoil KK’s core motivations here, but suffice it to say: They are equally lacking in narrative propulsion.

Perhaps my most sincere words of kindness are about Ghostwire: Tokyo is that it’s an endearing experience. There’s a lot of care on display, from the cultural detail in the sweet side stories to the rendering of the rain-swept world itself. However, the charm is diluted by sluggish design and frustrating design choices. This may make for a charming setting but Ghostwire: TokyoIt is hard to recommend it to anyone, even the most dedicated student of Japanese culture.

Ghostwire: Tokyo On March 25, the game will release on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Bethesda Softworks provided a prerelease code for the game. The review was done on PS5. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Find out more. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.