June 28th 2023.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective – nothing is as it seems. Capcom's Nintendo DS classic is remastered for modern consoles, in this cult classic puzzle game from the creator of Ace Attorney. With the recent release of Monster Hunter Rise, Resident Evil 4, and Street Fighter 6, Capcom has had a great run of games. As well, they recently announced more Ace Attorney remasters, and the remaster of Ghost Trick - one of the strangest, and most beautiful, games of the DS era.
Ghost Trick was originally released in 2010, but didn't quite gain the traction it deserved. It's an odd game, and while its graphics are excellent, its main problem, apart from not being part of an existing franchise, is that it's quite hard to explain. Even after playing it, it takes a while for you to get a feel for what it is and how it works. This remaster, lovingly crafted as it is, does nothing to change that, but it is a very welcome return, and we can only hope that it's a sign of interest in continuing the series.
As far as anything is concerned at the start of the game, you play as the recently deceased spirit of a dead man named Sissel, whose corpse you find sitting lifeless in a scrapyard. Sissel has no memory of their previous life, but becomes embroiled in the fate of a girl named Lynne, who is being targeted by assassins and seems to have had some involvement in your death. You also meet Ray, a talking desk lamp, who reveals that they're also a dead spirit. Ray informs you that you and he are one of a select few souls who can possess inanimate objects and 'trick' them to move or activate - from turning on a fan to rolling a tyre.
Sissel cannot move about freely and instead can only jump from object to object, across quite a short distance, and so many of the game's puzzles revolve around using objects to fashion a path from one part of a game map to the other. Often this involves starting domino effect style sequences, while other times you rely on attracting the attention of living people and animals.
Ghost Trick has some of the most outlandish twists in gaming narrative history, and its weird sense of humour is familiar from Ace Attorney. It's still impressive on the Switch too, even though the only thing that's changed is the resolution. The remaster does what it can to avoid repetition, with better checkpointing than before, but there's still a lot of trial and error, as you either can't work out what to do or mess up the timing and have to restart anyway.
In the end, Ghost Trick is still an incredibly charming and unique game. While its story and puzzles don't always mesh well, the game has an undeniable charm that will keep you playing. The remaster also does a great job of preserving the game's beauty, and hopefully it's a sign of interest in continuing the series. We recommend you try the demo, so you can get into the spirit of one of the DS' best kept secrets.
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