My interest in Japanese yokai and urban legends began long ago when I first discovered GeGeGe no Kitaro. Whenever I come across a topic-focused media, I have to use it. That’s why Ghostwire: Tokyo very appealing to me and hit all the chords right. After 50 hours exploring every nook and cranny, tracking every supernatural and collectible entity, there’s still something I need to know. Thankfully, Director Kenji Kimura took the time to answer some of my burning questions about Ghostwire: Tokyootherworldly yokai inhabitants, accessibility and use of the DualSense controller.
Annette Polis: Due to the nature of the partnership between Akito and KK, the player only has enough of each character’s backstory to propel this unusual team through the storyline. Is there ever a plan to expand on their past in more detail?
Kenji Kimura: Urban legend in Japan allows listeners to have their own understanding, their own interpretation of the characters involved, and we wanted to make Ghostwire similar in that way. We intentionally created the game so that it can be enjoyed as it is, without providing a lot of background information about Akito and KK. That said, we’re seeing and getting a lot of feedback from fans wanting to know more about Akito and KK, and it would be great if we could figure out how to address that feedback in the future. .
With so many unique creatures in Japanese folklore and urban legends, is there any particular reason that most Visitors encounter during their explorations are humanoid figures, while yokai are devoted to for other types of interactions?
Kimura: Overall, the Visitors are inspired by urban legends and Japanese folklore. Urban legends in Japan tend not to be about monsters jumping out to attack you. They’re about something that moves delicately in the dark, and you approach it to discover that there’s something there, something familiar, but with an unnatural, ghostly sort of way. , about them because they are unusual but lurking in an ordinary setting or landscape. We wanted the game to give players a similar feel and so we chose to make the players overall look more human. On the other hand, yoka is something we grew up with in Japan, seeing and learning about them in manga, anime and books, or hearing about them in stories to explain natural phenomena. So we wanted to respect their image but at the same time, update their image a bit to match the world. Ghostwire.
Which yokai did you prioritize in Ghostwire: Tokyo like characters? How did you work and write about them to make sure they were consistent?
Kimura: We start by choosing the more famous ones. The first one we started with was Kappa, because we felt it was the most famous. There is even a novel by Ryunosuke Akutagawa titled “Kappa,” and the content of that novel is close to what we think of Akito’s experience. In the book, a man chases after a Kappa and ends up lost in another world where values are completely different from the human world. Players will also be able to find that novel in the game’s archive menu.
Way Ghostwire: Tokyo taking advantage of the DualSense controller is awesome. From the variations in the rumble and the way that the sound coming out of the speakers immerses you, it makes you really feel as if the KK is an entity that surrounds you. Was using things with the DualSense controller part of the original design process or something added to the game during later development?
Kimura: It was added during the game’s development, towards mid-development. We worked on creating KK, the fight with subtle textiles and core-grabbing mechanics before the game became a PS5 exclusive. After starting to experiment with the developer kits and the first version of the DualSense controller, we were amazed by the excellent suitability of the DualSense controller functionality to the gaming experience. play that we are trying to create. From there, we really focused on creating a great, immersive experience with the DualSense controller.
I realize that Ghostwire: Tokyo provides accessibility options to change fonts, color balance for color blindness, and adjust motion blur. How important is the team to the combination of these accessibility functions?
Kimura: We want to make the game fun for a wide audience, as many audiences as possible, so that more and more gamers can have fun in the mystical Tokyo we’ve created. But it’s important and high priority to make other parts of the game accessible. We also have team members with mild color blindness and others who are prone to vertigo/camera sickness. With help and support from the team and people at Microsoft, we were able to figure out how to implement those key functionalities.
Part of the design process means things inevitably get cut because they just don’t seem right or there’s not enough time to do them. Is there anything the team really wanted to see in the game that they didn’t make in the final installment? And is there any chance we might see future DLC bring that in Ghostwire: Tokyo?
Kimura: During development, one must take into account the quality of the desired experience along with the amount of time available to create it. There are times when a rotation or a change of direction is needed, but for the release of this game, as a developer, I am very pleased with what we were able to create. I feel like we did the best we could, and there’s nothing I can think of right now that I would consider as something I regret not doing on the final cut. I heard voices from the community though saying we wanted to know more about the characters. I think it would be great if we could do something that would give more insight into the backgrounds of the characters in the future.
Ghostwire: Tokyo Currently available for PlayStation 5 and PC.
