Ghostwire: Tokyo isn’t a horror game, it’s Japanese ‘Ghostbusters’

Ghostwire: Tokyo is launching on March 25 for PlayStation 5 and PC. Publisher Bethesda confirmed that date as part of its gameplay reveal video today that showed the ghost-hunting adventure in action. And “action” is key to understanding this new game from developer Tango Gameworks. This isn’t a tense survival-horror game where you try to outrun powerful enemies like Tango’s Evil Within franchise. Instead, Ghostwire is an open-word Ghostbusters game with a Japanese yokai skin.

In Ghostwire, you play as Akito who shares his body with the powerful spirit KK. This gives you an arsenal of magical powers and abilities to take out hordes of spirits.

Those magical powers come in the form of a mystical bow and arrow and the art of “ethereal weaving,” which is like if Tik Tok dancers could create magical attacks with their weird hand dances. This ether-based offense uses familiar elements like wind, fire, and water.

With these powers, Akito and KK can explore the streets of Tokyo. The game has a Grand Theft Auto-style minimap, which reveals its open-world design. You will seek out points of interest, fight spirits, and unlock new parts of the world.

To ensure that exploration is fast and fun, KK enables Akito to use an ethereal grappling hook. This magical ability enables Akito to hook onto floating yokai to quickly jump onto rooftops. But these spirits can also open up interdimensional portals.

Naturally, you’ll upgrade your character over time, and this will enable you to develop and adapt your combat strategies as you face off against bigger and meaner foes.

And that sounds like the core of Ghostwire: Tokyo. While fans of Tango may have expected something closer to Evil Within, the studio is building an action game with open-world exploration and character progression. And we’ll have to go hands-on to determine if that was a smart departure for the team.