Ghostwire: Tokyo – Spider?s Thread review for PC, Xbox Series X, PS5

As we wrote a few weeks ago, now is a pretty good time to jump into Ghostwire: Tokyo if you missed it when it first came out last year. Not only is it a phenomenal game, it?s now included in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, and it?s also finally out on Xbox Series X and available to Game Pass subscribers.

Even more importantly, to coincide with the Xbox release of the game, Ghostwire: Tokyo has received a pretty major content update, Spider?s Thread, which makes an already great game even better.

The biggest addition this new update brings is right in the name: Spider?s Thread is a new rogue-lite gauntlet mode that puts players? skills to the test. You have to defeat thirty levels in order to beat the new mode, and failing at any point sends you right back to the beginning. On starting over, you get to keep some of the gear you earn, as well as the skills you?ve acquired, and the game periodically gives you access to a store run by the game?s cats (it?s as adorable as it sounds) so you can acquire more gear and goods to help you in your quest.

As you?d expect from a gauntlet mode, Spider?s Thread is pretty tough. While the cat store reduces the difficulty a little, it still gets fairly demanding the further in you get. You have the option of making a beeline for the exit in each new stage, which theoretically means you could try to skip the toughest enemies, but doing so means you also skip the opportunity to grab demon cores and refill some of your powers. As someone for whom the main attraction of Ghostwire: Tokyo was more the exploration than the combat (which was weird for me, since usually I prefer combat over exploration), it was interesting to play the game in a completely different way.

I have to admit, though, it was the smaller aspects of the Spider?s Thread update that really enhanced the game for me. For example, the update added a little icon telling you what food or drink you have equipped and can quickly access if you?re running low on health. Given the plethora of food and drink you find around the city, and the different amounts of health they restore, I found this addition to be a pretty welcome one.

Likewise, some of the story cinematics have a little more content now. Again, while the longer cutscenes don?t change the game that much, they flesh the characters out a little more, which makes the game?s story all the more impactful.

There are two other aspects of the update that deserve mentioning. The first is a side quest called Spirits of the Modern Age, where you have to track down locations of 25 photos and purge the evil from those places. Given how much fun it was in general to explore this ghostly version of Tokyo, it was great to have a reason to explore even more. As for the second, one of the new side quests added to the game is set in a middle school. All I?ll say is that it?s insanely creepy.

Just about my only complaint about going back to Ghostwire: Tokyo was that the game doesn?t look quite as nice on the Steam Deck as it did when I played it on PS5 last year. When it rained, it made everything look a little more washed out, and it made it tougher to tell when you were entering a foggy area that was off-limits. You realize quickly enough when you?re somewhere you?re not supposed to be, but it was still a little disappointing.

Overall, though, I?ll reiterate what I wrote up top: Spider?s Thread makes a great game even better. Ghostwire: Tokyo didn?t get nearly the level of attention it deserved on its initial release last year, and now that the game is free for Game Pass and PS+ subscribers (and generally inexpensive enough to buy on PC), there?s even less reason why it should be slept on. Do yourself a favour and get it now.

Bethesda Softworks provided us with a Ghostwire: Tokyo PC code for review purposes.