Ghostwire: Tokyo Reviews
Ghostwire: Tokyo looks stunning throughout, with impressive enemy designs and interesting locations, despite a few issues with its gameplay.
Most potent of all, there is a strain of urban fear running through its design—not of monsters but of the city itself as an isolating entity, rendering you unreachable.
I will repeat: Ghostwire: Tokyo is not a bad game. I was interested enough to stick with it and engage with as much of it as possible. If you have more patience for open-world exploration and tedious collectable-finding than I do, then you might get more out of it. I didn’t go into detail about this, but the story is decent and well-told, and that counts for something. This game is also bursting with visual flavor and interest, the kind of which you won’t find elsewhere.
Open world Tokyo hosts ghost-fighting, soul-collecting and a little too much flimsy busywork in between.
Ghostwire: Tokyo offers a varied arsenal of paranormal powers, and a well-realized deception of the Japanese capital. However, it does fall into some familiar open-world grooves.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is a unique blend of FPS, RPG, and horror with a creative twist on how we approach fighting in an FPS. Despite a few grievances about the length and ambition of the project, it is still a good game, but unfortunately it merely toes the line between good and great, never quite finding its footing. Still, Ghostwire: Tokyo is well worth picking up.
Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire: Tokyo builds a paranormal mystery in a grounded setting but loses some of its shine in its pacing and combat.
The wait was definitely worth it for this one! Overall, Ghostwire: Tokyo impresses me with fun and satisfying gameplay, an intriguing story, and beautiful visuals. I never had any issues with performance or pop-in, everything ran as smooth as a hot sake. The new mode, The Spider’s Thread, presents a fun challenge for those craving more Thread Weaving action that doesn’t get stale, even after multiple rounds (or deaths).
If the idea of yet another 50+ hour open-world game sounds exhausting, then Ghostwire: Tokyo might be for you. Even if you aren’t a fan of horror games, then don’t be dissuaded. While it leans heavily into the iconography and some of its enemy designs can be unsettling, it’s firmly rooted in the action genre and rarely deviates beyond the very occasional jump scare.
Survival horror maestros Tango Gameworks return with an altogether more spiritual adventure
Ghostwire: Tokyo is a shooter unlike anything I’ve ever played before. Its depiction of Japan is frighteningly lifelike in its execution, begging for us to explore its abandoned streets and dimly lit alleyways in search of wayward spirits that all have stories to tell. Whether you’re bounding across rooftops or doing battle in construction sites, it is constantly surprising in ways that few games in recent memory have managed to. It is fresh, exciting, and a demonstration of what a major studio is capable of when they’re given the freedom to tackle a new universe without compromise. It isn’t perfect, but it’s so different, and that should be more than enough for people to take notice.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is an atmospheric and somewhat ambitious game, with a vertical semi-open world gameplay arena dotted with ghoulish nasties and side-quests steeped in folklore, atop a supernatural thriller plot. The game's combat is sluggish initially, but it becomes increasingly satisfying as you unlock more powers. Weaving elemental magic sprinkled with some stealth elements for good measure. Sadly, everything new and fresh Ghostwire: Tokyo brings to the table is hamstrung by the game's awful performance on Xbox, which makes the game a true slog.
Ghostwire: Tokyo may be the best game yet from developer Tango Gameworks. It's a great and meaty action/adventure game featuring an enticing universe, solid combat, and excellent exploration of the wonderfully designed Tokyo.
I didn't know what to expect with Ghostwire: Tokyo at first. It uniquely meshes aspects of horror and action with the deep mythos of Japanese folklore. The game absolutely crushes it in terms of visual and technical performance, utilizing every feature of next-gen on the PlayStation 5. However, its disappointing narrative and repetitive open world features hold it back from being truly amazing.
Ghostwire: Tokyo feels like a step back from what Tango Gameworks has produced in the past. While its combat system is fun in bursts, it becomes repetitive far too quickly. The open world is jam-packed with busywork, and the story doesn't go anywhere interesting either. Excellent PS5 DualSense controller support, haunting elements, and nice visuals aside, Ghostwire: Tokyo will have to go down as a miss.
Shinju Mikami does it again, this time in a new genre. Ghostwire: Tokyo brings inspirations from the horror genre into the open world, finding great success with this combination. Despite its hiccups, Ghostwire: Tokyo is another compelling experience from the mastermind behind Resident Evil.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is a game that fails to live up to its potential, trapped by a lack of ambition and an uninspiring old-school open world. The audiovisual presentation is good, if flawed, but on its own it can't elevate a short and monotonous game. A pity.
Review in Italian | Read full review
As a brand new IP, Ghostwire: Tokyo shows a lot of promise with its strong animation work, solid combat and interesting world design, but it falters along the path to the finish line with a story arc that feels rushed along with an excessive use of typical and tired open world game design tropes.
Where Ghostwire: Tokyo loses some love is in the overall imprecision of its movement and mechanics, and a few elements that seem arbitrary or unexplained. Ghostwire: Tokyo’s combat is engaging and its environments are impressive, but that same combat can also frustrate and the environments are balanced against less impressive character models. As a new IP or franchise, Ghostwire: Tokyo is a great, but rough-around-the-edges step in a really interesting new direction.
Captivating and highly entertaining despite how limited and aggravating the combat can be, Ghostwire: Tokyo is stays appealing thanks to its strong open world and dedication to spirit exorcism.