Ghostwire: Tokyo was one of the most under-rated Game Pass additions of the year

This one’s a bit of a cheat for me because I actually did play Ghostwire: Tokyo when it released in 2022; I played lots of it, in fact, and absolutely did put it on my formally submitted, finger-on-the-pulse GOTY list last year. But nevertheless it’s been as much a 2023 game for me personally as it was a 2022 game, and so I couldn’t fairly do a round-up of my year in games without it.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a massive beast. It’s the game that led me to the conclusion that everyone, no matter how averse to massive open worlds in general, has it in their hearts to love at least one Ubisoft-like overwhelming map, and Ghostwire is mine. There are dozens of little markers on that map, and I must have them all! I wouldn’t want to miss a single cool ghost, or friendly oni, or whatever else the haunted streets of Shibuya chooses to throw at me today.

There’s an undeniable element of guilt at play here, because a year ago I placed Ghostwire: Tokyo in only second place on my GOTY list, whereas my continued fascination with it throughout 2023 proves that it really should have been in the #1 slot all along. At the time it was a tough call between Ghostwire and another game, and I was maybe being a little bit tactical when I declared the latter my favourite of the year. And in fairness it had a solid claim to be, but to tell you the truth, it didn’t stick with me into 2023 the way I’d expected it to; I’ve certainly yet to be tempted into a replay. Whereas over the course of the same year, even around everything else I’ve had distracting me, I’ve enthusiastically put a couple dozen more hours into my attempt to 100% Ghostwire: Tokyo.