#GHOSTRUNNER REVIEWS HOW TO#
#GHOSTRUNNER REVIEWS UPGRADE#

I’m no stranger to games with difficulty curves like Blazblue or things in the Soulsborne vein. I ran through the demo at PAX, which was the entire first level, without too much trouble. I’d like to think I’m pretty good at video games. Be warned that there are no accessibility options like Hades’s god mode. I don’t usually discuss difficulty as a feature, but there’s no denying it here. My first and most major caution is that this game is hard. You could argue that about any game, but especially with Ghostrunner there is something major to consider before you drop some holiday money on a purchase. This gorgeous game speaks volumes on its presentation! I was just as excited to try it again as I was when I demoed it back at PAX East, but with the list of polished features dangling before us like a shiny new modification comes a big “buyer beware”. The music is also an atmospheric and adrenaline inducing caffeine injection that hits you whether you’re enjoying a little down time or flashing steel between bursts of gunfire. Beautiful visuals, heart-pumping gameplay, smooth controls, solid voice acting, and the levels are well constructed puzzles in their own right. The path to success will be paved with many bodies, many of which might be your own.

#GHOSTRUNNER REVIEWS HOW TO#

Be prepared to die over and over as you probe a level for the best paths between enemies and cover, learning how to best take on an open room. Yeah, in the very first stage you will have your hand held just long enough to learn your basic controls before this game throws you to the proverbial cyber wolves. Try ag-oh, you’re dead again already? You’re not even off the tutorial level. In no time you’ll be diving off wall runs, finding the best routes to cleave enemies-wait, you just died. You die quickly in this game, a single hit of anything taking you down, but you respawn just as fast and can tackle a level over and over until you get it right. They’re a nice little bit of variety that helps you tailor the Ghostrunner to your own style of play, and you can flip them at any time, a feature I quite liked.

#GHOSTRUNNER REVIEWS UPGRADE#

Alongside these basic controls is an upgrade system in which you play Tetris to slot in various shapes to your power grid, allowing you to do things like move faster, scan enemies behind walls, deflect projectiles with your sword swings, or have enhanced special abilities and recharge. You’ll also periodically earn special moves that allow you to do all kinds of advanced attacks, though they never become overwhelming as they’re bound and cycled through a single key and all share the same recharge meter.

You’ve got your standard run, slide, and jump controls, you will parkour along a wall until you jump or hit an obstacle, there’s a grapple hook you can use to extend your movement on special points, and you have a sword swing that allows you to unleash a two-hit combo with a small cooldown. There are only a few buttons, but you will spend hours perfecting your skill with them. Ghostrunner is a classic case of easy to learn, hard to master. A refreshing change from the silent protagonists we sometimes see in first-person games. I wasn’t expecting the Ghostrunner to talk, but he has a character of his own that comes more to the forefront the longer he chats with his companions. Still, this game has some excellent voice acting and you’ll find it pretty easy to get behind the characters right from the get-go. Even if levels provide you with more than one way to tackle them, the story is linear.

Not that you’ll be given much choice as far as good or evil go. Of course, there will be plenty of enemies to cleave in half along the way.Īs you climb, you’ll meet a couple of other characters who will act as both a frame to the story and foil to your protagonist, as well as perhaps the two halves of your conscience. It’s going to be a long journey on your way back up, thwarting the subplots of the villain as you make your way back towards the final confrontation.

You see, the intro sequence shows you arriving just a tad too late to stop the baddies and taking the short way back down the tower as you’re hurled through a window. In this game, you play the titular Ghostrunner, a mechanized ninja who served as a guardian soldier of old in the massive tower that acts as the center of your city, the site of all the action, and ultimately the place of your death.

Ghostrunner reviews