It took about 5 seconds to determine Ghost City is perhaps one thing a bit particular after I first performed it earlier this yr. Earlier than you even hit the ‘begin’ possibility, you are transported to a dingy, moonlit South London automotive park within the driving rain. Fog drifts over litter-strewn tarmac, police sirens wail unseen within the distance, a concrete council block looms overhead, and only for a second – though I’ve not lived in London for over a decade – it felt somewhat like coming residence. I’ve bought lots of good issues to say about Ghost City – it is simply considered one of my favorite video games this yr – however greater than something, its sense of time and place is totally transporting.
Ghost City
Developer: Fireproof Video games
Writer: Fireproof Video games
Platform: Performed on Meta Quest 3
Availability: Out now on PSVR 2, Meta Quest, and PC VR
Ghost City, which simply launched on PSVR 2 following its celebrated launch on Meta Quest and PC VR earlier this yr, is nice at these things. One minute you are in a haunted theatre – all dusty purple velvet and light splendour – the subsequent you are on a fishing boat, bobbing on the indignant gray waters of the North Sea. London’s again alleys are so vividly realised you’ll be able to virtually odor the urine! Wherever it takes you, be it the mortal realm or the planes past, its gloomy invocation of 1983 England is splendidly convincing. That is the period of Thatcher, the bed room coding growth, the beginning of the New Romantics, and the £1 coin – a grimier, greyer, and albeit much more refreshing evocation of the 80s than the overplayed crop-top-and-shopping-mall nostalgia of Stranger Issues. Not that any of these things straight intrudes upon Ghost City, however there’s an air of authenticity to all of it (I say this as a baby of Willo the Wisp and Manic Miner) that brilliantly grounds an in any other case fantastical sport.
This time, you see, developer Fireproof Video games trades the occult Victoriana of its award-winning The Room sequence for full-on city fantasy (a refreshing flip, given the style stays curiously underrepresented in video video games), dropping gamers right into a world the place magic co-exists with the mundane, the place witches and wizards do spywork for the Ministry of Defence, and the place one thing harmful is stirring deep beneath the streets of England’s capital. Amid all that is South London witch, ghost hunter, and protagonist Edith Penrose, desperately looking for her lacking youthful brother, Adam. Admittedly, Ghost City’s tackle city fantasy is not significantly radical however what it loses in originality it positive aspects within the telling. And on that entrance, Fireproof’s first-person supernatural thriller journey is a gem.
Earlier than I get too distracted by the larger image, I ought to most likely say Ghost City is a puzzle sport at coronary heart, and in case you’ve performed Fireproof’s The Room sequence, the evolution from that to that is clear. Ghost City is a sport equally obsessive about manipulation, the place interactivity and physicality intertwine in a method designed to attract you deeper into its world. And in a world that feels as richly realised as Ghost City’s, that is a very potent mixture.
Right here, Fireproof takes the fascinating tangibility of The Room’s beloved puzzle containers (which the studio expertly translated from touchscreen swipes to 1:1 motion in 2020’s The Room VR) and goes additional nonetheless. These splendidly intricate gadgets – unusual, alchemical contraptions long-established from magic and equipment – are as well-represented as ever right here, and their innate inward nature combines with puzzles spanning outward, forming elaborate chains throughout complete rooms. It is satisfying stuff, if hardly ever particularly difficult; Fireproof sensibly prioritising narrative momentum over problem. However you may additionally encounter extra mundane interactions (levers to yank, elevator buttons to punch, jerryrigged computer systems with clicky switches and massive, chunky dials) including one other layer of engrossing verisimilitude to Ghost City’s world.
However again to the telling. It is simple to bandy across the phrase ‘cinematic’ the place video games are involved, however hardly ever does it imply very a lot exterior of flashy cutscenes. Ghost City, although, is correctly cinematic because it unfolds round you, with an actual aptitude for a set-piece and a few spectacular mise-en-scène that is genuinely like being plopped into the center of your individual movie. It begins with a flashback; you, Edith, are investigating a haunting in a long-abandoned London theatre, and Adam is tagging alongside for the primary time. It is a brilliantly choreographed opener, instantly setting the tone for issues to come back – the dialogue feels genuine, the naturalistic performances exude heat and wit, and the vibe is cinematic in all the suitable methods.
There’s a fantastic little second only a minute or two in, as an example, as your wanderings across the theatre’s tatty lobby result in a barred set of double doorways. You grip each handles along with your palms (VR, keep in mind?) then fling them broad, doorways swinging open to disclose simply probably the most completely spooky hall – all awkward angles, ominous graffiti, and moody lighting – stretching away past. Minutes on, you get a primary large ‘wow’ because the claustrophobic hall abruptly opens out onto the theatre’s cavernous auditorium. And it solely will get higher from there.
Quickly, the previous makes method for the current and also you’re bobbing alongside in a tugboat out at sea. Two minutes after, you are dodging seagulls and scrambling up jagged rocks as a superbly framed lighthouse stands stark in opposition to the Scottish sky, waves crashing perilously beneath you. Nonetheless later, a flashback to suburban comforts and a hardcut from day to nighttime; then it is again to the rain-lashed current of your towering tenement block, creeping by way of its gray concrete corridors. You will scout out dirty London alleyways, discover long-forgotten Underground stations; there is a sequence set on the ocean mattress, one other that launches you skyward on an out-of-control elevator as your environment waver unstably backwards and forwards in time. It simply feels relentlessly, effortlessly cool, and at all times, Fireproof finds enjoyable, stunning new methods to current its motion. At one level, a dialog performs out concurrently throughout two planes of actuality and also you’re free to toggle backwards and forwards at will – the studio simply going that further mile as a result of, one, it really works for the story and, two, as a result of it may. And that is earlier than factor will get actually bizarre.
It is simply genuinely improbable stuff; pacey, propulsive, and constantly participating throughout its five-or-so hour runtime, each little ingredient, all that spotlight to element, coming collectively in a method that simply feels proper. I’ve performed lots of nice video games this yr, however it’s Ghost City – with its many, many brilliantly orchestrated moments – that is maybe caught most stubbornly in my mind. All of which is to say that if in case you have the means – whether or not that be on PC VR, Meta Quest, or PSVR 2 – this spooky little journey into the magical underbelly of England is nicely price your time.
