Take one part Mirror’s Edge-style seamless first-person view parkour running. Add a dash of cyberpunk design – because it’s 2020, after all! Mix in some one-hit-kill sword-swinging action, and blend it all up with a bullet-time slow-mo sauce. What comes out is Ghostrunner, an absolutely fascinating experience that this writer was able to go hands-on with during PAX South this year.
Sitting down to the demo, I was warned ahead of time that Ghostrunner was not a gentle, hand-holding experience. Neither, however, is the game especially punishing of failure. Combat effectively boils down to a series of small kinetic puzzles, where the player needs to sort out the quickest, most efficient way through the environment to take out the enemies and move on.
Run along the wall, dodge incoming fire, kill the enemy. Easy, right?
The demo begins with the player’s character waking up with a strange voice in his head, and set of mostly unexplained augments on his body. Congratulations! You’re now wanted by the local authorities, who have no qualms about using lethal force to make you stop. Better get moving. Oh, and the voice in your head is currently attempting to escape from prison, and probably has his own motives for why he’s helping you.
When things go smoothly, it’s an exhilarating experience. The bell goes off, and you double-jump onto a platform, transition to running along a wall, slip into slow motion for a couple of seconds to dodge weapon fire and stab an enemy in the head, slide down an incline to kill another enemy, and then take a moment to look around and figure out where your next steps will be in this retro future jungle of concrete and steel. When things don’t go smoothly, things can be a little bit frustrating, but with checkpoints seemingly located before every major movement piece, the aggravation is minimal and the learning comes quickly. The game seems focused on getting players back into the game quickly, and pushing them towards that smooth, exciting experience.
Reacting to the environment is a huge part of the game. Convenient how that fan has a broken blade, isn’t it?
The slow-motion component brings to mind the visceral melee attacks from F.E.A.R. and other titans of the genre. Enemies fountain blood when killed, and your arm blade needs a serious cleaning within the first five minutes of play. At PAX South, Ghostrunner fit right in alongside Kingpin: Reloaded and Wrath: Aeon of Ruin at the 3D Realms booth.
We’ve previously covered the news that 3D Realms (Duke Nukem 3D, Ion Fury, Kingpin: Reloaded) would producing and distributing Ghostrunner in North America, but that the game is being published by All in! Games (Tools Up!) and developed by One More Level.
Blade, meet enemy head. Enemy head, meet blade. *Splutch*
Ghostrunner is planned for 2020 release later in the year, and is expected to be on PCs, Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 consoles. The game can currently be wishlisted on Steam. More information can be found at the official Ghostrunner website, and by following @GhostrunnerGame on Twitter.
