Despite from the mind of one of the survival horror genre's founding fathers, Ghostwire: Tokyo isn't actually all that scary. Sure, there are some pretty disturbing enemy designs based on Japanese folklore and the atmosphere can sometimes be rather disconcerting too. When all's said and done though, there are actually not many moments by which players will be genuinely scared in what they're seeing on-screen.
One of what might freak players out just a little may be the sight from the Hyakki Yako: a parade of evil spirits which could occasionally be found marching down and up the streets of Shibuya. When they first encounter it, players are expected to hide rather than tackle it head-on, but completionists will actually need to find the Hyakki Yako many times throughout their Ghostwire: Tokyo playthrough.
What's the Hyakki Yako?
Like many of the themes and enemies found throughout Ghostwire: Tokyo, the Hyakki Yako is based on Japanese folklore. Based on legend, the supernatural parade sees thousands of Oni and Yokai march with the streets of Japan harvesting souls. That's exactly what they may be found doing in Ghostwire: Tokyo too, which is why players will need to stop them.
Players will in fact encounter the Hyakki Yako during the first chapter of Ghostwire: Tokyo, with KK advising Akito to cover instead of go on. From chapter two onwards though, players can run into the parade during free-roam and will need to dispatch multiple waves of enemies in order to rescue the souls the Visitors had been trying to spirit away.
How to locate the Hyakki Yako in Ghostwire: Tokyo
The Hyakki Yako can spawn in multiple locations, however the most reliable destination to find it is Shibuya Scramble. With this in mind, players should fast visit the map marker for the scramble crossing proper (or even the nearby Morite Shrine if they haven't unlocked the ability that allows Akito and KK to fast visit landmarks) and then look for any moving patch of fog somewhere around them.
In all likelihood, players probably won't be able to view it immediately, so should run between Shibuya 429 and Shibuya Scramble and appearance all the major sideroads which intersect the primary strip for signs of the Hyakki Yako (fog, along with a boatload of Visitors marching in an orderly procession). If there aren't any, players should fast travel out of the area after which return and try again. They are able to also take a look at a few of the other big roads on their map if they're really struggling (in most cases, the thicker, the greater).
What to Do After Locating the Hyakki Yako
Upon locating the Hyakki Yako spirit parade, players should allow themselves to be seen, that will lead to them being transported for an alternate realm. Once there, they'll have to defeat multiple waves of tourists. For individuals who don't already have it, this is a great chance to unlock the "One Fell Swoop" trophy/achievement by taking out five Visitor cores simultaneously.
After defeating the final visitor, players will be transported to their original location, where they'll now find several clusters of Spirits. These are typically worth more compared to regular Spirit clusters that players find while they're exploring, which bodes well, as players will have to rescue a grand total of 15,000 Spirits from the Hyakki Yako during their playthrough to be able to unlock the game's true ending.
This implies that players will probably need to find the parade around ten times as a whole. As it can be encountered once every twenty minutes approximately though, this shouldn't take players too long to complete if they're lucky. They'll probably encounter lots of Containment Cubes while they're searching too, which will help them to reach their 10,000 quota for Containment Cube Spirits as well as obtain a few easy Quick Purge kills.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is available now on PC and PS5.
