Ghostwire: Tokyo Ending Explained (With the Director)

So you’ve finished Ghostwire: Tokyo, congratulations! But if you’re like us you may have some outstanding questions about what actually happened during the story. Well, you’re in the right place for an explanation. And not only have we got you covered, but we also spoke to the game’s director himself, Kenji Kimura, to get some definitive answers. This is your last chance to stop reading before we dive into the spoiler zone.

Mari

After witnessing Akito’s final confrontation with the man in the hannya mask, we imagine some of your outstanding questions involve Akito’s sister, Mari.

Throughout the game Mari has been in a comatose state, making you wonder not only what Hannya sees in her, but how she became so sick in the first place. The finale reveals that before the events of the game, Mari was caught in a burning room that she could have escaped from if she hadn’t made a last gasp dash for the rings of her and Akito’s recently deceased parents. She’s since been in a hospital bed, drifting close to death numerous times. It’s this, according to director Kenji Kimura, that’s the source of her power.

“She was in a hospital bed for a long time and it was very unclear whether she was going to make it. Sometimes it would look like she was about to die and she'd go back and forth from life and death. Enough times to harness a new power that would probably make her a special being that somebody like Hannya might notice.” - Kenji Kimura

Hannya was drawn to Mari because of her almost limbo-like state between life and death, a unique position that also grants her the strength to halt Hannya’s final ritual to break the barrier between worlds. Mari exists in the space between those two worlds, and likely harnessed the power of that place.

In her last act, Mari drains what little life force she has left, consigning her to death for good. But not before she manages to have one last conversation with Akito, where he confesses his guilt for the years of neglecting his sister, particularly since the death of their parents. As we learned when experiencing Akito’s memories during his jaunt through the abyss, Akito has always buried his feelings and been cold towards his sister, allowing his selfishness to drag Mari down into desperation as well.

Since her accident though, Akito’s desperately been trying to make amends and rescue her, despite -as we learn- Mari’s reluctance to live on. When Akito first arrived at Tokyo tower, he was even confronted with Mari’s true wishes to be allowed to pass on and be reunited with her parents, and her frustration at Akito for desperately clinging onto her in this world.

Akito’s refusal to let Mari pass on may evoke thoughts of euthanasia, but Kimura was quick to explain his reasoning on this:

“I wasn't thinking of creating a message of euthanasia being something that would be a positive thing. I wasn't trying to set a positive light on that at all. I was shedding light on the fact that death is something that is irreversible. So once death occurs, it's has occurred, it's not something that you can rewind and try to do over. That goes with what Hannya is trying to do. And that also goes with the situation with Mari.” Kenji Kimura

The Man in the Hannya Mask

Even in his final moments, Hannya is a constant source of mystery, never once revealing his true name or face. We asked Kimura about the reasoning behind this:

“Yes, the man in the Hannya mask does have a real full name, but we felt that it wasn't important for us to expose the name. We'd rather have the player use their imagination and also think about what person could that be in their imagination. We wanted players to have their own interpretation of who would be in that mask. And so we just left it in a way so that we don't over-explain things.” - Kenji Kimura

Despite that logical, although ultimately frustrating answer, Kimura did have a justification for the mask and how it was a reflection of the character’s emotions:

The hannya mask is symbolic, and was utilized originally in Japanese traditional theater. Actors would wear it in ceremonies or in plays and perform for rituals or for royalty a long, long time ago. The actor who would wear it would be portraying a non-human entity sometimes, or something that is very powerful or some kind of God and sometimes just a spirit from the other world. These are theaters when there was no such thing as electricity or stage lighting and so depending on the light, that is the sunlight or the Moonlight, it can look scary or it can look very sad and depending on what angle you look at it too, or whatever emotion is in the tone of that play. It can express a lot of different emotions. - Kenji Kimura

Hannya’s strong emotions also play into the general theme of the story: the stubborn refusal to let go of what is lost. Hannya’s motivations are clear, he’s willing to sacrifice our world to be reunited with his wife and daughter, with his contempt for our current existence even going so far as to disregard their earthly vessels, using these so-called puppets as weapons against Akito and KK. Hannya, much like Akito and Mari, refuses to let go of his emotional ties to the past.

“Those emotions are very important in life. We thought about what would be something that we wanted gamers to feel. Yes, it is about letting go." - Kenji Kimura

Akito & Mari’s Parents

In the final scene of the game, Akito is presented with the figures of his deceased parents, arriving to collect and reunite with Mari. They are, however, wearing uniquely Japanese face coverings. We asked Kimura if he could explain a little further.

“In Japanese funerals, we cover their face with a white cloth like that. The saying is to not show the face of the dead to people. For that scene, we thought it would be much more effective to communicate through the hands, rather than facial expressions.” - Kenji Kimura

Akito uses this moment to tell his parents he never forgot or moved on from their deaths, he was simply burying the pain deep down. But now, learning from his mistakes, he refuses to pretend anymore, even if it makes him weaker. His mother then points him to the literal metaphor of rising up, urging him on this new path. Akito says his final goodbyes to Mari, promising to have a good and full life knowing she’s now at peace.

KK

Much like Hannya, KK’s true identity is never revealed. But in his final moments, we learn that KK had also clung onto a lot of regret in his life in regards to his wife and son.

Earlier on we learn when confronting Rinko’s spirit in her final moments that Ghostwire’s many spirits were clinging on to existence because of outstanding business that needed to be settled. Rinko needed to come to peace with the fact that Erika, her friend and Hannya’s daughter, was sacrificed by her father in a ritual and transformed into a monster. But KK needed to not only stop Hannya but also deliver a final message to his wife and son explaining that he never gave up, despite Hannya having defeated him in their first encounter. With that message passed on to Akito, KK’s spirit finally leaves for good. But in the world of Ghostwire, where do these spirits go and do they still exist?

“It's up to the gamer in regards to whether there is an afterlife or another world.” said Kimura. “For me, It was more about communication and can we communicate with that entity or that being in the other world? Rinko was able to communicate her feelings and actually have a back and forth talk with Akito and KK, but she's not physically there on Earth, at least not in Tokyo and as a human.

So if you're able to communicate with her, does that mean she survived or does that mean she is gone or dead? If you can communicate with the dead, does it mean that the spirit is gone or does it mean that spirit is there and is it alive? Is it dead? That was the notion or the feeling I was trying to go for. “

Did we miss anything? Are there any outstanding questions? Let us know in the comments and for more on Ghostwire: Tokyo, stick with IGN.

For more on Ghostwire: Tokyo, check out our guide and walkthrough.