Ghostwire: Tokyo

Developer Tango Gameworks Publisher Bethesda Format PC, PS5 Origin Japan Release October

When the godfather of survival horror says he’s in love with an idea, you know to sit up – or cower behind a pillow. While his bloodied Resi fingerprints are visible all over The Evil Within, Tango founder Shinji Mikami told documentary makers Archipel that for him the appeal of Ghostwire: Tokyo was in stepping back to support an original vision from his younger staff: “It was love at first sight and it didn’t come from me. I just want to bring it out there.”

The world in question is Tokyo’s Shibuya, where 99 per cent of the population has vanished. Great news for PS5 stock, less so for the ghostbuster purging angry spirits from the district’s landmarks. Instead of using traditional weapons you summon spiritual shunts and binds with Kuji-kiri hand motions, making this effectively a firstperson gesturer. Softening up ghosts to expose their rippable cores feels like a blend of Doom and Luigi’s Mansion, starring the lank-haired frighteners who’ve been out of work since the fifth Fatal Frame.

Despite drawing on Japanese folklore and contemporary urban legends, this isn’t the straight horror you might expect from the house of Mikami. Director Kenji Kimura calls it an action adventure, with those combat tricks – including elemental magics alongside telekinetic punts – also used to explore and solve puzzles. And far from the dank slaughterhouses of its previous work, Tango’s empty streets channel some of the humdrum charm of Yakuza, albeit with deceased salarymen to send packing. Fighting invisible entities to return life to town centres? It’s 2021 in a nutshell.