Ghostwire: Tokyo’s shift to action-based gameplay might be the best course of action for the new horror IP, giving it an identity all its own.
Almost three years after its big reveal at E3 2019, Tango Gameworks finally revealed gameplay for its next big open-world action game, Ghostwire: Tokyo. Fans were surprised to learn that the game is a big departure from The Evil Within series as a magic-based action game rather than a traditional survival-horror title.
While many were thrown off by this as they had come to expect more familiar titles from a studio founded by the creator of Resident Evil, it’s far too early to write off Ghostwire: Tokyo. In fact, blending the horror genre with action gameplay might just be what sets the game apart.
How Action Sets Ghostwire: Tokyo Apart
After a major fall-off during the PS3/Xbox 360 generation, the survival horror genre has made a comeback with major franchises like Resident Evil and Tango’s own The Evil Within putting it back on the map. The revival has been so big that major publishers like EA have green-lit revivals of dormant franchises like Dead Space. Smaller projects like Tormented Souls and The Medium have also found success, as have re-releases such as Fatal Frame: The Maiden of Black Water.
As much as it would make sense for The Evil Within development team led by Shinji Mikami to work on a new survival-horror title, Tango does not have to limit itself to one genre. When The Evil Within launched in 2014 there were very few titles keeping the same design philosophy, as the Capcom and EA series had taken divisive action-based turns with Resident Evil 6 and Dead Space 3. At the time, the only games carrying the survival-horror torch were the ill-fated Silent Hill and the cult-classic Alien: Isolation. Nowadays, the landscape of horror is completely different.
With the choice to make Ghostwire: Tokyo an action title, Tango Gameworks adds another franchise to its belt. Expanding the game’s genre outside its comfort zone allows the studio to build upon the groundwork laid by The Evil Within 2‘s semi-open world level design, creating a fully realized recreation of a supernatural-infested Tokyo. Ghostwire: Tokyo started out as an initial concept for The Evil Within 3, implying that the reason it became its own project is that the full open-world structure didn’t suit the isolated and resource-dependent nature of The Evil Within.
This change of world design, along with the experimentation of new first-person combat abilities, allow Tango Gameworks to grow its experience as a studio outside the constraints of the horror genre, and will likely bleed into whatever the studio plans to do down the road – including a likely Evil Within 3.
Ghostwire: Tokyo’s Horror DNA
For horror fans anticipating Ghostwire: Tokyo, the game seems just as engrained in Japanese horror as Tango’s previous work. Ghostwire: Tokyo seems to be evolving Tango’s exploration of the genre, as the game finds itself exploring Japanese folklore and urban legends through yokai and spirits. In all the footage shown of the game so far, there have been many enemies inspired by Japanese stories such as Kuchisake-onna and Rokurokubi.
With this, Ghostwire: Tokyo joins a small sub-genre of horror games inspired by folklore and legends with the likes of the Fatal Frame series, comparable to franchises such as Ju-On: The Grudge, Ringu, and the works of Junji Ito. Not only is this a genre of Japanese horror that is rarely exposed to mainstream audiences, but it is also one that has rarely been represented in video games outside more niche franchises. In this regard, Ghostwire: Tokyo has the opportunity to bring a less explored side of Japanese horror to the masses, while also growing Tango’s expertise with the craft.
While GhostWire: Tokyo may not be focusing on scares as much as Tango’s past work, that doesn’t mean the game won’t have a horror atmosphere and take advantage of its themes and setting. This could also lead to experimentation with horror in Tango’s later work if Ghostwire succeeds.
Ghostwire: Tokyo will release for PC and PlayStation 5 on March 25, 2022.
