This is now an ASMR website, sorry
For all of the spectral errand boy trappings ofGhostwire: Tokyo, good gravy, is it a looker. From the hyper-detailed backstreets to giant blazing billboards bouncing off fresh rain puddles, this take on Tokyo is eye-catching enough to ditch the sidequests and simply spend some time strolling around. Even if that stroll is sometimes interrupted by rowdy gangs of yokai.
In Matthew’s earlierpreview, he noted a similarly evocative atmosphere to that of the YouTube channel Virtual Japan, which has featuredone particularly calming walking tourthrough a rain-soaked Tokyo. Ghostwire has walking, and rain, and Tokyo, so when review code came in we thought we’d have a crack at making our own. And here it is, in 4K with maxed-out ray tracing:
Other than how the soothing sounds of rainfall are occasionally punctuated by either bad guy speeches or tengu squawks, I like to think this is a nice, relaxing way to spend six and a half minutes. Maybe with a cup of tea and a biscuit, or a haunted watermelon if you want to stay game-accurate. Also, as the YouTube comments have already pointed out, if you watch closely you can see the raindrops are actually in the shape of the Japanese kanji for rain. A neat touch, one which my withered eyes missed completely across the hours I spent testingGhostwire: Tokyo’s PC performance.
The game is out tomorrow, if you want to wander around the city yourself, with occasional breaks to fight an invasion by demon spirits and people-vanishing fog. Fair warning, though, Matthew wasn’t a fan in hisreview: “What’s here just never clicks fully into place: a beautiful setting, tactile combat, tantalising hints of the beyond, but not enough to populate a city this big, leaving stodge to fill the vacuum.”
