496 Words About: Feeding and Petting Dogs in Ghostwire Tokyo
There’s a rule in videogames which I’m happy to report I have yet to see broken: you can always pet the dogs.
Ghostwire Tokyo is an open world game which includes two tailed cats, a yokai umbrella, slenderman clones armed with umbrellas, enough ramen cups to fill up half of your local WallMart Supercenter, and tons of stray cats and Shiba Inu dogs on the streets.
The plot of the game is that all the citizens of Tokyo have vanished following a mysterious fog flooding over the city. A young man named Akito Izuki, who was just in a traffic collision becomes possessed by a spirit named KK and becomes recruited to fight the demons and spirits which are collecting human souls for a mysterious figure named Hannya (named for the mask he wears). Hannya, by sheer coincidence, has kidnapped Akito’s sister in the hospital where she was in critical care.
The game is an open-world, first person shooter (you shoot energy beams from your hands) set in an empty Tokyo and the goal is to save Akito’s sister while also freeing the captured souls of Tokyo.
But, let’s be real, you can feed and pet dogs.
I have priorities damn it.
For whatever reason dogs and cats were left unaffected by the spiritual fog leveled over the city, and as Akito and KK travel across Tokyo they can speak with these animals who often provide hints and general information to players about the locations of enemies, collectible items, or just resources necessary to continue playing. These (adorable) puppers are unaffected by the sudden disappearance of humans, but the game affords players the chance to feed these dogs if they find and/or buy dog food. The dogs, grateful for the food, thank Akito and then dig up a large pile of Yen that can be used to buy more arrows and healing supplies.
Dogs in videogames have typically served, as they do in real life, as helpful companions, and Ghostwire Tokyo continues that dynamic. The stray dogs scattered across Tokyo exist primarily to help Akito replenish his resources, but even from a meta-game perspective they exist to help further the aesthetic.
Ghostwire Tokyo is a game that explores the mythical in Japanese culture, and how modernity consumes and changes these structures and characters. One of the best examples being Yokai becoming doors and umbrellas in this urban reality they find themselves in.
The dogs in Tokyo remain unchanged as a way to demonstrate how Akito is navigating the space between the ancient and the modern spiritual plane. They level him in the world of Modern Tokyo where he was living his life, while opening his mind to the reality where two tailed cats sell him daifuku and energy drinks.
Akito’s journey isn’t an easy one; there’s malevolent ghosts and spirits everywhere on the streets of Tokyo trying to kill him. But there’s also plenty of dogs happy to let him give them a few scritches.
Joshua “Jammer” Smith
12.2.2024
Like what you’re reading? Buy me a coffee & support my Patreon. Please and thank you.