Hand-to-hand combat – Crafting Ghostwire: Tokyo’s signature Ethereal Weaving

blog.playstation.com:

Following a paranormal disaster plunging Tokyo into a world of real-life urban legends and conspiracies, players take up arms to battle otherworldly Visitors that have taken over the city…literally! In Ghostwire: Tokyo, players combine conventional gear with a special technique called Ethereal Weaving – fusing spiritual energy with the elements of wind, water and fire – to fend off foes and save the city.

Rather than a special weapon or conduit, Ethereal Weaving utilizes just two hands, weaving motions together hypnotically in-game to unleash your power upon Tokyo’s hostile apparitions. 

“The evil spirits that appear in Tokyo are supernatural, non-physical beings, so we tried to think of what the most intuitive way would be to combat them,” explains Kenji Kimura, Game Director for Ghostwire: Tokyo at Tango Gameworks.

“Japan has a long history of warding off bad events such as natural disasters or disease through prayer at shrines and temples. If a child got injured in the neighborhood, their parents would wave their hands over the wound while saying incantation-like words, as if to magically alleviate the pain. It’s this historical reliance on nature and other unseen forces controlled by hand movements that inspired their use in the game.”

The motif of “tradition meets modernity” is a common one in Ghostwire, crafting a vision of a contemporary Tokyo encountering the spiritual world into a unique hybrid that stands on its own, down to its combat skills. 

“Of course, we knew of the ‘kuji-kiri’ or ‘nine symbolic cuts,’ and the gestures used in ninjutsu and other practices,” explains Kimura, “but we weren’t really going for explicit sorcerer or ninja vibes. We wanted to focus on how a person living in a modern Japan with