Ghost Line: Tokyo Trial Experience: Battle of Evil Spirits in Unmanned Shibuya

I'm really looking forward to the phrase "Ghost Line: Tokyo". I've said it countless times. Entering March, I finally had the opportunity to try out the first two chapters of this new game in advance. The content of this trial game can be considered as presenting all aspects of the game, including plot, exploration, battles, etc.

The opening plot of the game corresponds to the concept trailer when this game was first released. A mysterious mist suddenly spread on the streets of Shibuya, Tokyo, and all those affected by the mist disappeared in place, leaving only their clothes scattered on the ground. At the same time, various evil spirits began to appear and roamed the streets of Shibuya at night.

This riot has caused many traffic accidents, and the protagonist Iyue Xiaoren is one of the victims. He was possessed by a mysterious character "KK" on the brink of death, which saved his life and gave him the magical power to shoot spells from his palm.

Xiaoren's sister Mari has been receiving treatment in the hospital due to being burned in a past fire accident. In order to confirm the safety of his younger sister, Xiaoren defeated the evil spirits along the way and arrived at the hospital, only to find a group of people wearing Prajna masks who kidnapped her. So, Xiaoren embarked on the journey of saving his sister.

Explore the eerie Shibuya

Ghost Line: Tokyo is based on the real-life Tokyo Shibuya, creating a relatively open and eerie atmosphere on a large map for players to explore.

Walking on the streets of Shibuya in the game, you will see lights shining everywhere, and recordings of convenience stores and Bai Qingge stores soliciting customers are playing as usual, but there are no living people, and the eerie atmosphere is difficult to express in words.

bustling commercial street is brightly lit but empty, with only clothes left on the ground

The reason why it is not called an "open world" is because there are many indoor scenes in the game that require a black screen transition to enter, and it is not a completely open design. The level of openness in the first two chapters of the game is quite limited, because the setting is that fog is harmful, and players will continuously suffer damage when entering it. Therefore, the player's range of activity is actually the area without fog.

To clear the fog, it is necessary to purify the Great Shrine in the area. This design is somewhat similar to the "tower climbing layout" of most open world games. After purifying the shrine, the fog in the area dissipates and players can freely move around. At the same time, they will also unlock stores, side quests, and other content in the area.

Purification Shrine

At present, the content distribution of this game on the big map is relatively restrained, with many icons appearing, but most of them are just icons for shops, stalls, indoor scene entrances, etc., and there will not be 100000 question marks waiting for you to clean up like some open world games. It is not ruled out that the official version may have more content.

Although there is an open map, the trial version has many tasks that are not performed on the open map. After a black screen transition, entering indoors is usually a designed maze level. The twisted and eerie space presented by these levels is really eerie, and it is obvious that Tango Games has applied the experience accumulated in the Evil Spirit Possession series to this game.

The side quests in the trial version don't have many surprises in terms of gameplay, but the combination of the story itself with Japanese folk stories and urban legends is more interesting, such as the Zufu Boy, River Boy, and the Flower in the Toilet. If you already like this type of story, it will have a different flavor to play.

Urban Legend Concentration Full

It is worth mentioning that Xiaoren's supernatural power allows him to shuttle through the map in special ways, such as using spiritual power lines to pull the heavenly dog from the ground to fly up to six or seven floors of the roof, or jumping up from the top of a tall building and gliding down with supernatural power.

Use Tengou One Click to Climb to the Roof

The map of Ghost Line: Tokyo adopts a three-dimensional design, and many scenes have a large depth. In the trial version, there is a large comprehensive shopping mall called "Shibuya Kagerie" for exploration. The scene is based on the design of Shibuya's landmark building "Shibuya Kagerie" in real life. The building has many floating platforms on the outside, which is perfect for Xiaoren to "jump and enjoy" in it.

Left: Shibuya Kagerie in the game Right: Shibuya Kagerie in reality

Combined with the extremely high building density in Shibuya District, players can completely stay on the rooftop for a long time without landing. From Xiaoren's skill tree, it seems that there are skills that can summon Tengu out of thin air in the future, but unfortunately, I was unable to unlock this skill temporarily in the trial version. Can you easily access the roof with just one click after unlocking the skill?

On the way to exploring Shibuya, we can see some cats and dogs. In addition to being able to masturbate, we can also take out food to feed. After eating the food we feed, the dog sometimes takes us to special locations, and sometimes directly digs out game currency from the ground to give us. I haven't found any food to feed the cat yet.

Masking the Dog

We will also see light blue spirits on the streets of Shibuya, which are actually those disappearing living beings, transformed into wandering souls by fog and scattered throughout the map. Xiaoren can use a prop called "Xingdai" to absorb these souls, and then use a "soul teleportation device" disguised as a public phone to deliver them to KK's companions, so that these souls can be resurrected outside the Shibuya Barrier.

uses shapeshifting to absorb spiritual bodies

Of course, the evil spirits will not allow us to easily rescue these wandering souls.

Jieyin Shoots Explosive Evil Spirit

The enemies in Ghost Line: Tokyo are referred to as "visitors", drawing inspiration from traditional Japanese folklore and urban legends while also incorporating elements of modern urban life.

For example, the most common enemy in the game, "Shadow Mage," combines the folk story of "Faceless" with the common urban social animal population, setting it as "visitors born from the exhausted soul squeezed by work.".

Social animal complaints

In addition, there are also bullied fat houses, abused children, and reception posts forced to greet people with smiles every day, all giving birth to different evil spirits.

But in terms of gameplay, the types of enemies seen in the trial version are slightly fewer, and many enemies are variants of the same type, making the battle a bit monotonous. I hope there will be more different types of enemies in the official version.

Enemies in the same series as

Speaking of combat, it's time to introduce the protagonist's abilities. After being possessed by KK, Xiaoren can use an ability called "ethereal combat technique", which can condense spiritual power from the palm of his hand and release spells. I have to say, those hand movements look really cool.

The combat gameplay of this game is essentially first person shooting. The protagonist uses magic to shoot at the visitor, exposing their inner "spiritual core". They then use spiritual power lines or their bare hands to remove and destroy (execute) the core to defeat the enemy.

attack, then withdraw the spiritual core

In the first two chapters of the game, players will gradually unlock the three attribute attacks of ethereal combat skills as the plot progresses. The Seal of the Wind is a basic attack capable of high-speed continuous firing; The Water Seal can cause large-scale damage at close range; The Seal of Fire is a long-range high firepower attack. Analogous to common shooting games, they are roughly assault rifles, shotguns, and rocket launchers.

Releasing ethereal combat skills requires the consumption of "spiritual power", but it is more like "ammunition" than "mana value". The upper limit of spiritual power stored in different attributes of seals varies. The "Assault Rifle" Wind Seal has an initial 30 rounds, while the "Rocket Launcher" Fire Seal has an initial only 5 rounds. Defeating enemies or destroying "ethereal crystals" in the scene can replenish certain ammunition.

Of course, the ammunition limit can be expanded

All three types of imprints can be enhanced through energy storage to produce additional effects. For example, the energy stored in the Seal of Wind can consume only a small amount of spiritual power to shoot multiple attacks, while the energy stored in the Seal of Fire can greatly increase the explosion range.

In addition, charging attacks can make it easier for enemies to expose their spiritual cores or fall to the ground, making it easier for them to enter a state of execution. Therefore, I rarely attack directly without charging during gameplay.

However, not all enemies will wait for us to fully charge up and cast spells. Some enemies will use long-range attacks, while others will approach us with agile movements and launch melee attacks. Xiaoren does not have particularly flexible evasion methods. At this point, we can use another ability of Xiaoren: blocking.

Blocking enemy attacks can offset some of the damage, but if a perfect block can be triggered at the last moment before the attack hits, the character will not receive any damage and can still push away the enemy.

Perfect Block

From my own experience, aerial combat skills are the main means of combat, but in reality, Xiaoren can also use equipment and props for combat.

The unlocked equipment items in the trial version include the Pok é mon Bow and the Imperial Seal. Among them, the Pok é mon Bow deals high damage with a long range and can be used as a sniper rifle to attack enemies from afar; Yuzha is a consumable item, equivalent to a grenade, with different types. In the trial version, I experienced numb zha, which can control enemies within a certain range.

Paralysis Zha

However, it seems that I have not yet found the correct way to use the bow and yuzha in frontal combat. Especially the Breaking Magic Bow, it seems more suitable for use while stealth.

Yes, not all enemies in this game can only be resolved through direct confrontation, and players can also execute enemies by stealth before they become aware. In addition to using the Pok é mon Bow to remotely blow your head, squat down and quietly touch the enemy's back to directly eliminate them.

stealth assassination

The second chapter of the game will unlock the ability called "Absolute Resonance", which can accumulate "Resonance Rate" whether it is extracting the enemy's spiritual core in a frontal battle or sneaking to eliminate the enemy from behind. When the Resonance Rate reaches its maximum, it can launch a major move that immediately replenishes all spiritual power while generating a shockwave that directly puts a wide range of enemies into a dizzy state. Enemies in a dizzy state will show their spiritual cores when attacked, and at this time, all enemies who show their spiritual cores can be executed in one breath.

In areas with numerous enemies, it is wise to first eliminate some of the enemies that can be assassinated to accumulate resonance, and then use absolute resonance to clear the remaining enemies in one breath.

epilogue

As the official has said a long time ago, Ghost Line: Tokyo is not a typical horror game, but focuses more on action adventure elements. Having watched several official and foreign media demonstrations before, I had a rough impression of this game before trying it out. After getting started, except for a slight deviation from the expected combat part, the overall quality still met my expectations. There are thrilling elements, but the main one is the action shooting combat experience of the second explosive watch.

There is actually more content to experience in this trial version, and I did not cover everything in this article, such as character growth and collecting elements. Some things require a longer period of experience before they can be evaluated. Please look forward to our official version of the review in the future.