It must be said how this kind of repetitive gameplay often breeds the need for a good rewards system. There are many gamers out there who enjoy this kind of gameplay, but the sheer repetition can be a real bummer.įrom a technical perspective, levels load very quickly and checkpoints are near-instant whenever an encounter fails (helping to reduce frustration caused by repetition). As a result, the stage devolves into continually retrying different combinations until the way forward becomes clear. In this sense, it can be extremely challenging to get past an enemy unit, until players figure out the exact combination of jumps, dashes or lack of abilities needed to complete a stage (yes, some stages require players to not pick up an ability to complete it).

However, there is an element of strategy that is not immediately evident. The game seems to encourage getting through stages in certain ways by means of using unique abilities and pick-ups. It must be said, however, that stages do not encourage a lot of experimental play. Little things, like temporarily letting Ghostrunner dash a bit farther, make a huge difference in what tactics are needed to get past a stage. Thankfully, the game makes this a bit easier via pickups and abilities that can be found strewn throughout the game’s many stages. The intense high-speed gameplay requires extreme focus, especially given how one early jump, late dodge, or bad grapple makes the difference between life and death. The story may not have a lot going for it, but the gameplay is admittedly top tier. The idea is to outmanoeuvre enemies (or sneak past them) and then going in for the kill as soon as they are vulnerable. The opposition consists of enemies with a whole lot of bullets, and as Murphy’s Law would have it, Ghostrunner is fatally allergic to bullets one hit from an enemy and the game resets back to the most recent checkpoint. Ghostrunner’s main weapon is a “monomolecular blade”, which is just fancy talk for “ insta-kill sword”. Much like Mirror’s Edge, players are tasked to bring Ghostrunner to the end by utilising a whole lot of parkour, sneaky murder tactics, and quick reflexes. Sure, every stage has a loop, with a clear start and end. The unfortunate result is a game tantalising an engaging narrative within the opening hours, only for the initial tease to be pushed to the wayside in favour of repetitive gameplay and zero narrative payoff.įortunately, the game features continually evolving and changing gameplay. Throughout the game many additional topics of seeming importance pop-up and vanish with nary so much as an extra thought given to them. Sadly, these topics are never given their dues. Classism, for instance, continually makes a comeback in the hundreds of lines of dialogue featured in the game, while the downfall of humanity also appears to be an important aspect to take note of. Strangely enough there are many references throughout the title to important events and places, yet these are seldom used to emphasise the story at hand. Unfortunately, there is no such satisfaction from Ghostrunner, with a narrative culminating in further mystery instead of answers. There is no issue with intentionally vague storytelling in video games, as long as they pay off is done right. As players push on, the voices in this head will add to the overarching narrative, which focusses on Ghostrunner wanting to find Mara, an allegedly evil ruler. This Dredd-like tower acts as the first of many hints about who or what the Ghostrunner is. The game starts with Ghostrunner trapped inside a massive mega-tower housing the last remnants of the human race. What he does know, however, is that he is some kind of cybernetic badass with ninja-like capabilities. Players take up the role of the Ghostrunner, who has no recollection of his past. Ghostrunner features a fairly simple story. Alas, it does trip over its own feet more often than it should.

Ghostrunner is the latest title to tread the wreckage that is the combination of lowlife and high tech, and it does so with unmatched fervour. This is especially true in the indie game market, where countless titles are coming out of the woodwork in a bid to play off the disparate excellence of this particular science fiction sub-genre, and the dystopian retro-future inspired by cinematic classics (think Bladerunner). The video gaming tentpole left by CDProjektRed’s Cyberpunk 2077 may not have lived up to the hype surrounding it, but it still serves as an entertaining experience within the genre of cyberpunk.

Ghostrunner genres