Niche Spotlight – Tokyo 42: Isometric, Neon-Drenched Lovechild of Where’s Waldo and Grand Theft Auto

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Independent British developer SMAC Games are working on a unique, minimalist action game that hearkens back to classics like Grand Theft Auto 1 and even Syndicate. Titled simply Tokyo 42, the new game puts an isometric spin of the genre, and it filters it through a neon-drenched, futuristic Tokyo.

Developed by a pair of creators, Sean Wright (code, co-designer, co-director) and Maciek Strychalski (co-director, art, co-designer), the game is likened as the lovechild of Where’s Waldo and the original Grand Theft Auto. In short, you’re thrown into different environments as a budding freelance assassin – your goal is to take up contracts and follow them through.


Here are some high-resolution stills of the game:

Press play on the above trailer to get an idea of what the game is like once “the man” is involved. You can naturally use stealth where possible, but sometimes you have to go through guns-a-blazing and go on a sociopathic murdering spree. As you systematically take care of both clients and their targets, you’ll get involved with all kinds of cyber-shenanigans.

There’s also a multiplayer arena mode that ups the ante a bit, enabling you to change your skin and blend in with the crowd, only to explode with a murderous rampage later with rockets, shotguns, or all sorts of automatic weaponry. There’s a tiered wanted system a la Grand Theft Auto, so the more killing you get caught doing, the more the 5-0 will be on your tail.

Tokyo 42 is set for a release sometime later this year across PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.


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