Ghostwire: Tokyo is finally here – Tango Gameworks’ highly-anticipated first-person action-horror title hits shelves today and we’ve been spending a lot of time with it already. In our review, we called it a rough but endearing experience, suffering a bit of bloat and repetition but ultimately full of heart and worth checking out for its Japanese authenticity and gorgeous open-world.
If you’ve decided a trip to a haunted Shibuya is how you’re spending the weekend then we’ve got you covered with a small selection of tips and tricks that we found made our time with the game much smoother.
Ghostwire: Tokyo Tips and Tricks
Fix The Camera ASAP
One of our biggest concerns with Ghostwire: Tokyo was its sluggish core controls that pretty negatively impacted both exploration and combat. Fortunately, we found a balance of tweaked camera options that vastly improved our experience with the game. You can check out the guide for those settings here.
Save Your Magatama
Throughout the game, you’ll be completing quests and missions for various distressed spirits, many of which will reward you with Magatama. This special upgrade currency is extremely valuable as they gate certain high-level skills behind Magatama costs, with the game’s best skill costing you a 7 of the bad boys. While you can spend them for relatively small combat enhancements, we found hoarding them was better because of the greater rewards available to you later.
Unlock The Grapple – Summon Tengu Upgrade
Our advice is to hoard Magatama as much as you can in the early hours of the game, eventually using them to unlock the upgraded Grapple ability. In Ghostwire: Tokyo you’ll be able to grapple up to high vantage points by spirit lassoing a flying Tengu but with the upgraded Grapple you’ll be able to summon a Tengu wherever you please. This invaluable skill is a game changer to exploration, allowing you access to hidden pockets of valuable collectables and some breathtaking views. It costs a pretty penny at 45 Skill Points but that shouldn’t be a problem provided you follow our next tip.
Don’t Sleep On Those Side Missions
Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s best writing and worldbuilding are found in its many, many Side Missions. Typically in an open-world experience like this, you might find yourself ignoring side content for fear of filler experiences but Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s Side Missions are beautifully done little stories that often hide creepy or heartwarming good times (both usually). Not only do Side Missions show off the best of the game’s Japanese culture, but they also offer tangible rewards that go a long way to bolster your Skill Point and Magatama supply so don’t miss them!
Spend Your Meika
Meika, the game’s actual currency, shouldn’t be hoarded. Use it as often as you like to swing by the charming cat-helmed stores and stock up on healing items and dog food (it’ll make sense when you play it). If you’re doing the Side Missions you’ll be flooded with Meika but the game also goes out of its way to litter the world with breakable Meika pots that will give you a decent chunk of change.
Improve Your Spirit Absorbtion Capabilities
In Ghostwire: Tokyo you can save pretty much every lost soul in the Shibyu district if you’re up for the challenge. There are 240,300 spirits to be absorbed and deposited into the titular ghost-wire network via payphone booths but if that number is overwhelming don’t worry, you can make do with just a few thousand souls saved. Each deposit of souls grants more precious XP points and given how expensive some of the better upgrades can be, we recommend kitting yourself out for spirit saving optimisation.
First up, expand your Katashiro collection. These little paper angels are used to store lost spirits, which are found in floating blue clumps around the city. Initially, you’ll only be able to carry a few hundred before you need to find a phone booth to deposit them but luckily you can buy more Katashiro at most stores. Like we said before, spend that Meika and get yourself some bigger spirit pockets. You’ll also want to grab the Michikiri 1, Spirit Absorption – Speed Boost skill in the bottom right of the Abilities tab. This increases the speed at which you nab those blue blobs and is a quality of life improvement we highly recommend. You’re free to grab the level 2 upgrade but we never did and felt the speed of collection was just fine.
