Ghostwire: Tokyo is still about a week and a half away from release. We’ll have a full review closer to its release date, but in the meantime, we’ve been fortunate enough to spend a bit of time with the PS5 version of the game. Here are our initial impressions:
It’s pretty awesome. No sense beating around the bush: Ghostwire: Tokyo is a lot of fun. It’s got an engaging story, fantastic combat, and a world that manages to feel lived-in even though everyone is, uh, dead.
The monsters are terrifying. Men in suits wandering around with umbrelles, headless schoolgirls, Dementor-style ghosts that attack from above: this world isn’t overflowing with ghosts, but when you come across them, it never fails to be frightening. You’ve got to constantly be on your guard, since you never know when you’re going to stumble across a group of monsters huddled around spirits — and since the point of the game is to collect spirits, it means facing these demons head-on.
The sidequests are integrated in the game pretty well. The whole game is about collecting souls. Not only do you find them scattered all over Tokyo as you go about your usual business, you also find some souls that require a bit of extra work. It’s to Ghostwire: Tokyo’s credit that this never feels like pointless busywork.
You can pet the cats and dogs. Depending on your perspective, this may be the most important thing to know, but I can confirm that our pets will survive whatever horror has befallen this alternate Tokyo. And, yes, you can pet them and give them treats. It’s as great as it sounds.
Tokyo is huge. I don’t know where the line is between “enormous map” and “open-world,” but honestly, it doesn’t matter. Ghostworld: Tokyo gives you plenty to do and plenty to explore. Best of all, as I said up top, even if you’re the only person in the world, so to speak (without giving anything away, you’re also a dead body possessed by a spirit), the world feels alive. Not only is the world full of spirits and scattered possessions, you can also go into a fair number of buildings. Not all of them, and I did come across a few annoying invisible walls, but but you can still enter enough that it makes the world feel inhabitable.
Feeling intrigued? Check back in a few weeks for our full review?
Bethesda Softworks provided us with a Ghostwire: Tokyo PS5 review code.