Ghostwire: Tokyo (PC)
It's been awhile since I've played anything by Tango and we all know we want an Evil Within 3 but it just ain't happening and this game is the closest thing. Well, it's an entirely different animal. Parcel that with the fact that I'm just done with open sandbox games and you got a very Uhm Okay average experience. Mercifully, the game actually gates you to follow a somewhat linear experience for practically half the game, but then in chapter 4 it opens up the whole map just like that 2nd island after you kill Vargas in Far Cry 3. While I recognize at that point the game trying to pad itself and taking me for a ride, I'm not that bothered as I guess I enjoy exploring Shibuya and the voice-acting was great I suppose. Whoever is voicing KK I could listen to him all day. I actually thought it was the same as Sebastian Castellanos. Also this is the one time I can accept repetitive assets as you are in a city and it doesn't really look as big as it is. I also appreciate that the streets are not rife with random encounters and once you deal with something it's usually gone for awhile. Many hours in this game are spent just exploring and finding cool shit. Maybe I just miss Tokyo.
This game is actually pretty short. I wish they just stuck to the EW formula and made it a series of levels instead of an open world game. Were they chasing a trend I wonder...? Remember when I said chapter 4 open the map, taking up the content of the first 3 chapters combined? Well Chapter 5 and 6 are just scripted linear levels and then the game just Ends. The impact made by the plot and how it ends is great if you just played nothing but the main stuff. But because it's an open world, the pacing loses its flair.
And one more thing. This is probably the only game where you can absolutely kick the ass of several Japanese Horror game tropes. It knows. It got that EW energy making things as grotesque and bizarre as possible. But you got spirit powers. And you just chant the evil away it's just so refreshing, almost cathartic.
It's not so cliche anymore when it's happening to you.