Bethesda and Tango Gameworks released Ghostwire: Tokyo in March to mostly positive reviews. The game follows a young man named Akito and his spirit partner KK as they work together to save Tokyo from a supernatural threat. While many reviews criticized Ghostwire: Tokyo's pacing, they praised its characters, world-building, and incorporation of Japanese folklore.
Today, Tango Gameworks rolled out Ghostwire: Tokyo’s “Tanabata” update for PC and PlayStation 5. In addition to a handful of bug fixes and adjustments, the new patch also introduces a new Emote and some immersive new optional graphical effects.
The titular Tanabata Wishes Emote is the main event of today’s update. As the intro to the patch note explains, Tanabata is a traditional Japanese festival beginning on July 7th. During the festival, participants write wishes on paper ornaments and hang them from bamboo trees. Ghostwire: Tokyo’s new Tanabata Wishes Emote lets protagonists Akito and KK participate in the annual tradition. When players use the Emote, the game’s body-sharing leads clasp their hands and look to the stars as a decorated bamboo tree appears beside them.
Japanese folklore plays an important role in Ghostwire: Tokyo, so it’s not surprising that developers might try to incorporate some of Japan’s annual traditions. For anyone curious, Tanabata, meaning “Star Festival,” celebrates the Japanese folktale of Orihime and Hikoboshi. In the story, the Sky God’s daughter Orihime falls in love with a cattle farmer. Unfortunately, the literally star-crossed lovers are separated by the Heavenly River and can only meet during the 7th day of the 7th month. This folktale is inspired by the stars Vega and Altair, which are separated in the night sky by the Milky Way galaxy.
In addition to the new Emote, Ghostwire: Tokyo’s Tanabata update includes two visual effects that players can enable from the game’s video settings. “Film Grain” is self-explanatory, designed to simulate the visible grain of analogue film. Meanwhile, “Color-Fringe” adds effects resembling the purple fringing that sometimes appears in photography. These effects should make Ghostwire: Tokyo looks more like a film than a video game, though the effectiveness of these effects may come down to the specifics of execution.
As mentioned above, the Tanabata update includes several adjustments and bug fixes on PC and PS4. These include changes to the lighting, effects, behavior, and inventory icons of various Emotes, though the patch notes don’t go into specific details. Developers also fixed the lighting for Ghostwire: Tokyo’s “Inugami Mummy” collectible. Platform-specific adjustments include an overall PC performance boost. Meanwhile, the patch fixes a handful of bugs with Ghostwire: Tokyo’s “Haunting Visions,” “A Doll’s Last Rites,” and “Strung with a Curse” side missions on PS5.
Overall, the Tanabata update doesn’t appear to have that many tweaks and fixes by the standards of modern AAA games, and Ghostwire: Tokyo could benefit from a few major fixes. Still, the new emotes and graphical effects aren’t nothing, even if they don’t change the game all that much.
Source: Bethesda