Everyone in Japan’s largest city has vanished. All that remains are cats, dogs, and a bunch of spooky ghosts.
Brilliant concept – I mean, who doesn’t love cats and dogs? Being alone in a city full of them doesn’t sound half bad.
But throw some horrifying ghosts in the mix and we’re running for cover.
READ MORE: Review: Should you buy Apple’s cheapest iPhone?
Japanese game developers Tango Gameworks have recreated Tokyo in a new action-adventure video game that sees the spirit world engulf the city, sending players on a mission to find out what’s caused this mass extinction event.
9News’ Julian Price sat down with two of the game’s creators for their only Australian interview, ahead of the game’s release on March 25.
Meet Masato Kimura and Kenji Kimura, developers at Tango Gameworks
Speaking through a Japanese translator, it was difficult to express just how much I’ve enjoyed playing the game so far and how much I’ve admired their work of over the years.
Looking through my computer screen over Zoom, producer Masato Kimura (Resident Evil, The Evil Within) and game director Kenji Kimura (Tekken, Soulcalibur IV) were seated at a round table in front of the most spectacular wall full of concept art for the game.
Ghostwire: Tokyo was initially meant to be a sequel to The Evil Within series, but six years later the game had developed into Ghostwire: Tokyo, producer Kenji Kimura told 9 News.
“Initially it was not set in Japan, it was set somewhere else. However, over time when we were thinking about different ideas, the idea of making the setting be in Japan … everybody started liking that.” he said.
“And then through that process, we started to think about ‘I know how this game could be a little different’,” Masato Kimura said.
“And as that kind of — as those ideas grew and grew and grew, it became clear that it would probably be better to not call it The Evil Within, or not use the name of The Evil Within (and) not make it part of that franchise.”
The Evil Within was prominently a horror game series, and given what we’ve seen in trailers and screenshots from Ghostwire: Tokyo, you’d think it’s in the same vein, but it’s far from it.
Scary-looking ghosts and creatures aside, there’s so much more to this game than meets the eye.
Building the world of Ghostwire: Tokyo
Kenji Kimura said from early on in development the team at Tango Gameworks was set on building a world set in Tokyo.
“We started dissecting what kind of things are cool about Tokyo … one example would be that, you know, it’s a very modern city, but mixed in this city there’s a lot of history,” he said.
“Right next to a very modern, cutting-edge building could be a very old shrine, and it’s that blend and mixture of the history and modernness that makes it kind of cool.
“So we started creating the map, what it would look like, what kind of visuals would really appeal to ourselves and the team. And so we started iterating on the graphics of Tokyo, and then the gameplay team kind of came afterward.”
How close to the real thing is Ghostwire’s version of Tokyo?
Kenji Kimura told 9News their version of Tokyo starts off very true to life, but as you explore the streets players will notice they’ve simply taken all the best and coolest parts of the city and stitched it all together.
“The team walked around Tokyo to kind of list up the cool parts of the city and started with some of the famous sights. But we also started to think about you know what other cool things that are very flavourful of Tokyo, and there are other parts that aren’t in this new city,” he said.
“Like government apartment complexes, and just you know, neighbourhoods that have just normal houses and we decided to create a map that kind of takes all those cool parts and condensed them together.
“In the central part of the map, we do have Shibuya station and when you walk around the station, you’ll see that it is pretty authentic and converts to real life and when you compare it to the layout of the streets, it’s very true to life.
“But as you walk around a little bit further away from the station, you’ll start to see that we took other parts of Tokyo and kind of stitched it together so that it’s easier to access and much more fun to kind of walk around.”
Japanese culture is everywhere you look in Ghostwire: Tokyo, from architecture and animals to cars and street signs.
“It’s pretty much filled to the brim with Japanese culture … we have the shrines and donation boxes that you can put money into and pray,” Kenji Kamura said.
“We have vending machines that you can buy drinks from, we have convenience stores where you can buy you know rice balls to eat. Filled with a lot of Japanese culture in that regard.”
Once they’ve finished building the world, Kenji Kamura said they started developing gameplay.
Ghosts, ghouls, and urban legends
The game is filled with creatures, some friendly and some far from it. Each enemy ghost has its own horror factor but they’re all designed with purpose, says Masato Kimura. What’s down that dark, spooky alleyway?
“We started to gravitate towards the idea of incorporating urban legends as a concept, and so we started thinking about the urban legends that we have,” he said.
“Japan isn’t always just creatures that come out to attack you, the urban legends that we have and are kind of based on just spooky things like walking down the street there’s a spooky like a dark little alley.”
Masato Kimura said they wanted to create creatures that seemed normal at first glance but clearly weren’t on closer inspection.
“So for example, from afar you could see the salaryman in a black suit holding an umbrella,” he said.
“But when you get closer to him, you will notice that he has no face. There’s something really wrong with that.
“But it gets, it’s that moment when you realise that there’s something wrong with it is where that creepiness kind of tingles up your spine. “
Masato Kimura said creepiness was something they wanted to carry across all enemies in the game. But it’s not all doom and gloom in Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Floating cats and Japanese dogs
Cats and dogs are the only things left in the city, besides the creepy ghosts. Dogs have taken over the streets, with cats opening up shop at various convenience stores and market stalls.
While researching the city for the game, Kenji Kamura said they saw a lot of neighbourhood cats and pet dogs. These animals have now become an important part of Ghostwire: Tokyo.
“We noticed that sometimes if you own a dog or a cat you might notice that those dogs, cats, might be looking a certain direction and you know, might be looked like they’re noticing something, and that could be because they have paranormal powers and maybe they can see things that we as humans cannot, or they can sense things that we cannot. We thought we thought that would be something cool to incorporate into the game,” he said.
“When an incident occurs like this, you know, people vanishing, and it’s very likely that dogs, dogs and cats will probably be there to help us out.
Masato Kimura laughed said that was one way of looking at it.
“But it could also just be that Shinji Mikami, the director, just loves dogs and cats,” he laughed.
Missions, spirits and experiences
While exploring, players can expect to come across many spirits trapped between worlds. There’s usually something holding them back from crossing into the next realm.
“The spirits are still remaining in Tokyo for a reason and sometimes that’s because they have some kind of strong emotion or attachment to its location or person or a thing or a dilemma that they have and so they are unable to go to the other world right,” Kenji Kimura said.
“So we can talk to them and find out what their issue is and you can help them in some regard …
“By doing that, sometimes you’ll be able to see some secrets that they were hiding while they were still alive sometimes and sometimes there’ll be something that is extremely heart-warming and you might bring a tear to your eye.”
One particular moment in the game Masato Kimura spoke about involved the Tokyo subway.
“The urban legend says that if you take a train, and after the last train has already gone, then that train might take you to a place that is very unexpected. Like maybe somewhere like the other world,” he said.
“So ‘there are trains that you shall not take’ is kind of like the moral of that story.
“But we have a side quest like that in the game that if you take the train, or if you take the wrong train it might take you to an unexpected place.”
Gameplay tips from the creators
I asked the Kimuras if they had any tips for players jumping into the Ghostwire: Tokyo experience for the first time. Their message? Explore as much as possible.
“In regards to levelling up, the main idea is that you want to find and gather spirits, take them into a phone booth so that you can save them — basically and send those souls outside to save them,” Kenji Kimura said.
“That’s the main way of levelling up. And the team has put a lot of effort into making Ghostwire: Tokyo, and the Tokyo that’s in Ghostwire, a fun sightseeing experience too.
“So if you are walking around, there’s definitely a lot of being missions and side missions to do then that you want to solve the mystery but if you feel like, you know, there’s time and it’s enjoyable to do so then please walk around and enjoy the city.
“You’ll see, you know, dark alleys you’ll see things on rooftops and you’ll see a lot of things that are fit in where they no such spirits might be that you can collect and that by exploring the city, you will be able to level yourself up and to make your character stronger or more powerful.
“Please enter the city and explore.”
Is there more Ghostwire: Tokyo to come?
Can we expect any post-release content for Ghostwire: Tokyo? It’s too early to say, but there’s certainly hope on the horizon.
“If the game does well then you know, there probably be more opportunities to discuss, you know, more ideas of how to expand the game and perhaps meet the franchise and that kind of stuff,” Masato Kimura said.
“But right now we’re still in that happy afterglow of finishing the game.”
Ghostwire: Tokyo has been designed exclusively for the PlayStation 5 by the original director of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami, and the team at gaming studio, Tango Gameworks.
Biggest video games of 2021
View Gallery
It’s also the last PlayStation exclusive we’ll see from Bethesda, before it transfers over to Xbox following the multibillion-dollar sale of the company last year.
Source: 9NEWS