Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters

 PlayStation 3
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. PlayStation LifeStyle
    Mar 11, 2015
    85
    Despite its unconventional and sometimes frustrating RPG segments, Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters is a game I can easily recommend to visual novel fans and just fans looking for a unique story alike.
  2. Push Square
    Mar 18, 2015
    80
    In places low-fi, in others outright obtuse, it does very little to ease in potential players that aren't well versed in either visual novels or strategy games. But once you break through, a charmingly well told tale with absolutely gorgeous visuals combined with fascinating, tactics-heavy gameplay reveals itself.
  3. Digitally Downloaded
    Mar 8, 2015
    70
    Without the kind of narrative depth that has me cracking out the history books (as I did with Hakuoki) or heading over to the philosophy section of the library (Danganronpa), Tokyo Twilight ends up being a little too simple and teen anime for its own good. That being said, it's harmless fun, and with an enormously creative and enjoyable combat system, as well as plenty of content, it's still a very worthwhile game.
  5. CD-Action
    Jul 27, 2015
    60
    A beautiful, well animated visual novel that fails at everything that could really make it stand out from the crowd. [08/2015, p.75]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. Eurogamer Italy
    May 11, 2015
    60
    Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters is an interesting experiment. The episodic structure is really nice, and the artworks are simply awesome. The lack of a good story, the abuse of anime stereotypes, and an odd combat system are the most important issues of this game. Still, this is a good way to start playing visual novels, for novices.
  7. XGN
    Mar 23, 2015
    60
    Although Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters offers an intricate RPG ghost hunting game, the visual novel aspect is boring at times. The lack of tutorials is surprising, especially regarding the unique interactive "emotion wheel".
  8. The Digital Fix
    Mar 23, 2015
    60
    Ultimately though, Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters remains something of a niche oddity, a nicely presented and slick release which doesn't really offer strategy fans and visual novel enthusiasts anything of substance - much like the spirits you’re sent to exorcise, it seems mostly confused and doesn’t really do enough to justify its existence in this world.
  9. RPG Fan
    Mar 18, 2015
    60
    Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters is pretty, but it's not the next Steins;Gate.
  10. Vandal
    Mar 11, 2015
    60
    This game has a lot of potential and some well-developed features, but it is not deep enough to become relevant in any of the genres it relies on. Still, it might be worth trying if you’re aware of its issues.
  11. NZGamer
    Apr 22, 2015
    58
    Regardless of game mechanics and how many genres you could lump on top of it, Ghost Hunters is trying to deliver on story. But how well does it do that? With relative competence you could say. I would judge it solely on narrative if the situation allowed, but the developers have chosen to include something else - something that certainly makes sense in its context, but the strategy component is easily the weaker link. Sadly that’s not something I can ignore.
  12. ZTGD
    Mar 11, 2015
    55
    While not inherently bad, Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters doesn’t really stand out from the pack.

Awards & Rankings

11
#11 Best PS3 Game of 2015
7
#7 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2015
7
#7 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2015

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 17
  3. Negative: 5 out of 17
  1. vahn
    May 19, 2015
    5
    One of the first reasons that made me buy this game is that I always search for rare games to begin with, games that unless I buy over theOne of the first reasons that made me buy this game is that I always search for rare games to begin with, games that unless I buy over the official online shops I would NEVER be able to buy them, games like Ar no Surge of any of the Atelier series. So when I saw this I made a quick search: it's essentially an tactical rpg that it's depicted as a board game for the fights, and overall I was curious about it.

    For starters, I will say the good things: the game is about ghost hunting and that's already a good hook for me: I'm a big fan of ghost-related games such as Project Zero and this alone made me curious. And it's also an RPG, another Genre I love so what could go wrong?!

    Well...a lot of things.

    Let me explain my reactions to this game: when I started I saw the characters well drawn and well animated ....attached to an obvious photo with some effects to make it look like a drawing that should be somewhat "unique". Frankly, I don't like this style: it smells of cheap and without effort and I would've preferred something else.

    After the intro, I played a little bit more, we find a ghost and our first match begins...AND MY GOD the combat is some of the most convoluted and confusing things I've ever seen. As I said the game is a sort of tactical rpg, and I do mean "sort of" because it's totally different from the usual Disgaea and others. Reason? Whenever you do your movements, the enemies MOVES TOO! You know what that means?

    This is a game about prediction.

    I failed almost 4 times at the very first battle of this game: not because it was hard, not because I couldn't figure out where the ghost was, BUT BECAUSE THE MOTHERF-----ER WON'T STAND STILL! I wasted all 15 turns to "predict" his movement but I just kept getting bumped from the ghost and the two characters couldn't hit him!

    I was frustrated: I couldn't believe this is the combat system they chose for this game, because it's completely random. Yes the board tells you when a ghost will attack (he will do a "scream"), but he doesn't tell you WHO and WHERE! So after finishing my first battle I dreaded to do more battles: I was going to die and die and my hopes were becoming grim.

    But here I noticed something: when I finally had full control of the game, with 3 characters that had different ranges and my character having a weapon that didn't suck...I was actually getting good. Not simply good but VERY good: the main character was becoming so strong that he could 1 shot ghosts, my 3 characters were able to cover all of the ghost's possible pattern so he couldn't escape, and I was getting double the money rewarded for a quick completion. On top of that the missions give so much exp that I was overlevelled by the end of the first chapter!

    I was...actually getting good and from that point on, I basically never lost a fight and even boss fights can end quickly with my character able to do so much damage that would end battles in less than 5 turns.

    What's the deal of this wall of text? That the game is flawed, it's hard to learn and there's so much wrong in this game: aside the fights the character you control is essentially non existant, the interaction system is flatout weird and hard to understand, voice acting is so minimum that I felt more voice acting in late PS1 games, the graphics are minimal with only the HQ being drawn instead of a "photo and overall it's a mediocre game that should be bashed! But I still play it non-stop: I love the style (it reminds me of persona), I love the ghost-related plot, I like the characters enough and I like that the game rewards me so good for beating the ghosts quickly.

    This game is flawed and for that reason, I cannot recommend it highly: it's messy and feels cheap and if you want a true tactical jrpg you should play something else instead. But...if you're willing to look into it, make sure to have patience and to learn the combat properly, because after you do the game becomes a breeze and it becomes insanely easy to end battles in few turns.

    Mediocre, but incredibly satisfying.    … Full Review »
  2. deadlysilentbob
    Mar 14, 2015
    8
    Kudos to the arc and toybox companies for coming up with the first original concept for a game in a looooooong time. The game itself isKudos to the arc and toybox companies for coming up with the first original concept for a game in a looooooong time. The game itself is essentially a board game slammed together with a tactical rpg and married with a virtual novel. It works really well!

    Positives: The characters for the VN portions are actively animated using an art style that is very visually pleasing, The games dialogue is very well translated and does not suffer from the "engrish" problem in so many new JRPG north American releases, the atmosphere of the game matches perfectly with the story line, and they got Uematsu-san to do the music for the game (for those of you who don't know this means its gold), the characters are well emoted and can be really silly and/or otaku which i find quite well done considering the possible derailment of such a title with these antics

    Negatives: alot of the game mechanics you will need to learn from trial and error as the games built in guide explains NOTHING clearly (I ended up licking a character I was speaking to accidentally...yeah), The battles you will never get particularly good at as many aspects of it revolve around luck (this can also be a positive as it also means they never get really boring), and the game has absolutely NO back story to the main character and his entrance into the core group is forced at best.

    overall i recomend this game to those who are tired of playing the same tropey crap and would like an interesting experience (buy it on playstation network tho as its nearly 20 dollars cheaper than retail[canada])    … Full Review »
  3. Natharaga
    May 30, 2015
    9
    This is a fun game but kind of on the short side. The visual novel portions are not very long, and it is broken into many different episodes.This is a fun game but kind of on the short side. The visual novel portions are not very long, and it is broken into many different episodes. Each episode culminates in a boss battle. I read a lot of reviews saying this game was difficult before I bought it, which made me all the more excited for it. After beating the game I have to say that after the first battle this game becomes incredibly easy to play and beat because you figured out how to predict your enemies next attacks. Sure it may be hard for some people, but because chess is hard for some people that doesn't mean it is a terrible game. I enjoyed this game a lot, and I think that the things that can be improved upon are dramatically outweighed by the fact that the developers went out of their way to create a game that is fun and exciting.

    Another concern people have about this game is that there are not really any tutorials, and since I never have enjoyed tutorial sections in games before and always skip them when I can this is a welcome relief. For me this game is a ten, but you might not enjoy it as much as I did. Do more research before buying this game because it is not the most user friendly game.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »