Ghostwire: Tokyo - The Final Preview

ign.com:

When there’s something strange in the Shibuya neighborhood, who you gonna call? Nope, not those guys. I’m talking about Akito and his supernatural sidekick KK, the superpowered ghostbusting buddies that share the same body like Eddie Brock and a considerably less hostile version of Venom. I recently had hands-on with the first four hours of Ghostwire: Tokyo, in which I got to step into Akito’s shoes and explore a large chunk of its Tokyo-inspired open world, sniff out several spooky side missions, and indulge in numerous showdowns with its malevolent mobs of spectral assailants. It was an eerie and consistently engaging outing, and one that left me intrigued as to what other surprises lie waiting in its rain-slicked city streets.

If you can imagine a Yakuza game in which the pedestrians and perverts have been replaced by ghouls and ghosts then you’d have something close to Ghostwire: Tokyo’s highly detailed take on the Japanese capital. Most of the human population has mysteriously disappeared leaving behind their clothes and discarded shopping bags, but thankfully dogs remain and yes, you can both pat them and feed them to encourage them to lead you to secrets. Otherwise the only residents to be found are spirits that need to be absorbed using Akito’s paper doll, and the ‘Visitors’, faceless (and occasionally headless) paranormal predators that will pursue you relentlessly should you fail to take them out with a sneak attack first.

Thanks to his pal KK riding shotgun in his psyche, Akito has access to a growing number of elemental powers to put these poltergeist punks in their place. Pulling off Akito’s gesture-based attacks is a bit like performing sign language where every sign says, “Dodge this!” Yet although Akito’s