At first glance, headless children and businessmen with umbrellas don’t exactly scream fear factor. Yet, because they seem so normal from a distance and act so erratic and scary when up close, there is an undeniable chilling atmosphere to Ghostwire: Tokyo. Game Rant recently spoke with Tango Gameworks, specifically game director Kenji Kimura and producer Masato Kimura, about how it took these almost horror-like creatures and put them into an action-adventure game.

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Discussing this, game director Kimura said that Tango set out to bring Japan to gamers around the world, considering normal elements of Japan that could be different or weird to other people. Combining what they’ve seen with urban legends led to an important discovery in terms of Ghostwire: Tokyo’s enemy design: not all of these legends were evil or out to get anyone. Kimura would continue to say, “Sometimes, they’re just there as something spooky or scary or creepy. You know, there’s something in the shadows, or something moved and we’re not sure what moved it, but it’s not always out to get you or harm you. Sometimes, they’re just trying to communicate something.”

This ties in well with the various spirits and Yokai players will deal with in Ghostwire: Tokyo, including basic enemies and side quests. Sometimes, the businessman enemies are just standing there and seem normal, while some quests have players free good spirits from the capture of bad ones. This sot of insight led to a certain philosophy or phrase used often in this game’s development. According to Kimura,

This essentially gamifies distance between the player and the enemy outside just ability reach; it’s the perceived threat from these enemies, really defining the paranormal Ghostwire: Tokyo adventure. From afar, they’ll look harmless, but as players get closer, they become more disturbing and more deadly. “Once you’ve crossed a specific distance, you’ll start to notice these things, and that’s the creepiness of it. At the moment, you notice you get that chill up your spine, and that’s the kind of spookiness that we were going after,” Kimura said.

Ghostwire: Tokyo releases March 25 for PC and PS5.

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