I already wrote a longer review back when I finished the main story, and now that I have got the platinum trophy for this, I want to add some more thoughts.

Running around the map in order to get the all the collectibles has only strengthened my opinion of how good this depiction of Tokyo is, as a open world location. I truly appreciate the verticality of the exploration, and how dense the city feels, not just in the literal sense. Gliding and zipping from one building to another (or transitioning between street level and above) just feels so fun, and it feels great to walk in a walkable city. Not to mention seeing how beautiful the city can be, even if nobody's around to make it more lively. Exploring Tokyo's unique brand of urban architecture has not been done in this level of quality before in games.

While the activities that you do in the world is relatively straightforward and ordinary, I think the game successfully compensates for that by presenting Japanese culture and history through the things that you discover, with impressive level of care. As somebody who never really studied Japan seriously, I was very entertained by the bits of information and lore that the game gave me. Whether it's for a piece of everyday item in Japan, a piece of historical significance, a landmark, or tales of the supernatural, it all contributes to a sense of understanding the place I'm in, which also helps me appreciate the open world area more. It's almost like digital tourism with a supernatural twist.

If we're talking about animals in games, Ghostwire probably has one of the most fun depictions of them. It's so fun to read thoughts of cats and dogs that you pass by, as they talk about the disappearance of the humans, or just talking about being hungry and tired. They're even integrated into some of the side content, as their thoughts can give hints and directions. Also, you can pet most of them, and it feels very relaxing to do so. There's shapeshifting tanukis too, and finding them all is a worthwhile process. Interacting with all of them certainly made exploring the open world feel much less lonely.

I do wish that we get better rewards for completing the game, like a tease to a possible sequel or something. The very last set of rewards are just upgrades for another playthrough, which isn't too satisfying for me.

Well that's it. I'll finish by saying that Ghostwire is one of my favorite open world games already. I'm very sure that the sequel has the potential to be one of my all time favs in general, as this game got a lot of things that can be improved, but as it stands it's still a very memorable game with an unique personality.