After playing Ghostwire: Tokyo for many hours, you might discover some secrets or find some better ways to play it than during its initial chapters. Its combat and exploration systems, though simple in many ways, hide some nuances for the long run.

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From late-game items to exploration advice, we have gathered some tips only players with a dozen hours in the game would tell you. Check our pro tips and tricks for Ghostwire: Tokyo.

Jump Right Into Every Hyakki Yako You See

Right at the beginning of the story, you will see a group of Visitors walking together, like a small army. KK will ask you to avoid them, and that’s exactly what you should do for the time being.

However, much later in the story, you’ll find these amalgamations of spirits randomly. They are called Hyakki Yako, and if you move towards any of the spirits, you’ll be transported to another dimension and face waves of enemies. Once you have enough upgrades and feel powerful enough, this will be a good option for farming Experience Points and meika.

The quantity and type of Visitors presented in each wave will be randomized.

Talismans Are Actually Cool

The last type of item you will unlock is Talismans. These are unique throwable objects that can change the tide of any battle, and you can purchase them in any convenience store.

Stun Talismans negate the mobility of almost every type of Visitor, while Exposure Talismans leave the enemies’ core at hand. On the other hand, Decoy and Thicket Talismans are more focused on stealth and escaping fights; they emit a distracting noise and a bush that blocks the enemy’s sight, respectively.

Depending on which difficulty you’re playing on, you might find that Talismans are pretty unnecessary most of the time. However, if you try the harder difficulties — especially the last one —, you’ll want to have as many of these items as you can.

Stun and Exposure Talismans are the most expensive ones, costing 4,000 and 7,000 meika respectively. The rest cost only 1,000 meika each.

What's In The Box?!

While you go through the story, you’ll start discovering shrines that have Offering Boxes. These are pretty unique objects in which you put some meika and get a reward. However, they only can be used once, so you have to be pretty careful when you do so.

Offering Boxes can heal your life and fill your SP, but this is pretty useless when you consider that you can do those things easily while just walking around town. The best way of using this item is after exploring the whole shrine and being unable to find that Jizo Statue that you can’t find. It will be marked on your map if you pay the highest price and select the option.

Jizo Statues are the collectibles that increase your total SP. They are divided into three types, like your powers: Water, Fire, and Wind.

Going For 100% Completion? Clean All The Torii Gates First

If you want to collect the more than 200 collectibles and all the side missions Ghostwire: Tokyo has to offer, you should start by cleaning the torii gates. These work as the usual ‘towers’ in open-world games: clean them and the area will be revealed.

The same goes for this game. Clean all the torii gates, and you will be able to walk around every area. Plus, almost every side mission will be marked on your map right away, letting you choose which to do first.

Torii gates will become available as you advance through the story.

The Payphone Is Tiring, Let’s Use The Transmission Beads

One of the main systems in the game consists of absorbing groups of spirits in katashiros (magic papers) and transferring said spirits using green payphones all over the city. You’ll be introduced to this pretty early in your journey.

What you wouldn’t know until finishing the game is that there are special Prayer Beads (equipable items that give you a bonus stat) that can skip this whole process. They are called Transmission Beads, and they automatically transmit the spirits at the same time you’re absorbing them

You can see more about this item and transmitting spirits on this guide.

Knocking Down Those Bastards

When you get the hand of the combat, you’ll notice that you can knock down the majority of the Visitors. They will stay a moment on the floor until they stand up, ready to get your life.

However, you can use those sweet seconds to your advantage. If you unlock the skill Tajikara I, Ground Core Grab, you can grab the cores of enemies on the floor. You can also make this action faster by unlocking Tajikara II, Ground Core Grab Speed Boost.

For more information about upgrades, please check this guide.

This Spectral Food Is So Good

The streets of Ghostwire: Tokyo are full of delicious food to pick up. You can do this by just checking for bags (which are pretty much everywhere) or by purchasing consumables at convenience stores.

While most food is useful, you should focus on using Spectral Food. This is a type of edible that not only heals you but also gives you a temporary boost, like a defense bonus. We may never know what these fine meals taste like, but they will help you without a doubt.

You’ll notice you have equipped Spectral Flood when the food icon below your HP bar is blue.

If You Need To Go Up, There’s Always A Way

Sometimes you might need to get to the roof of skyscrapers to finish a main story mission or even secondary ones. At first, it will be easy: there’ll be a tengu around that you can use as a grab point and get up high in no time.

Other times, you won’t be this lucky. Some buildings don’t have any flying yokai around, leaving the climbing to you. What you need to do in these circumstances is to find special devices (like a lift) or use something from the building to do the climbing, such as the stairs to different departments.

Don’t waste too much time looking for other ways to climb up: the solution is always in the same building or in the one right next to it.

Next: Ghostwire: Tokyo - Complete Guide