Ghostrunner Review

Usaid
By Usaid 8 Min Read
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Ghostrunner is all about running and slicing through enemies in one of the most authentic cyberpunk worlds to date. It dares to venture into unchartered territory in terms of combat and comes out as a breath of fresh air in a genre that is all too similar to each other.

The Story

Ghostrunner starts out pretty simple. After a short cutscene of the game’s titular cybernetic ninja losing a fight to an evil lady, you are thrown straight into it with little in the name of explanation.

Soon, you get to meet the Architect, creator of the city who explains the city’s siege by a lady named Mara and tasks you with killing her to restore his order. The story remains easy to follow with well-told dialogues. However, the game lacks in the department of characters. There are only three characters to speak of – The Architect, Lady Mara, and Zoe.

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The characters themselves felt unlikeable and generic with mostly stereotypical motivations and ambitions. There are pieces of lore scattered throughout the world in the form of audio diary collectibles. However, I never felt inclined to actively seek them out and learn more than what had already been told.

The Visuals And Music

Ghostrunner uses Unreal Engine 4 and looks absolutely breathtaking for it. The neon-soaked, rain-drenched Tower and Dharma City are one of the most authentic cyberpunk vistas on the market. The reflections and particle effects are really beautiful and the game plays well to its strengths with an abundance of water puddles and shiny katanas. The PC version of the game is well-equipped with loads of graphical options including ray tracing and DLSS. I turned my FOV slider way up to increase my peripheral vision which does help quite a bit in the combat sequences.

Enemy visibility is an issue that popped up quite a lot for me. Most enemies have dark-coloured armour which blends in with the similarly themed environments which make spotting them a hassle. This can, however, be alleviated by investing in an upgrade that surrounds them with a red glowy shadow.

Ghostrunner features a synth-heavy soundtrack that fits well with the game. The music starts out strong with it enriching the gameplay but the novelty wears out pretty quickly as you are subjected to mostly similar-sounding tracks one after the other. This never soured my experience but felt like it could use a little more variety.

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The Movement And Platforming

Ghostrunner’s move set is pretty simple, yet effective. Your character moves at such a brisk pace that it feels alienating at first. You can run off walls, slide along slopes and grapple hook on certain objects. The game also features a dash move that can be used to enter bullet time. This together forms the core of the traversal systems of the game.

The game focuses a lot on the flow of movement. There are little to no moving obstacles that stop you in your tracks. The mechanics themselves feel competent to deliver on this premise with extreme responsiveness. However, the wall-running felt a little inconsistent at times which led to a few unfair deaths. The game is split into 17 levels, which have little in the name of their distinct personality due to reused assets and similar obstacles. The levels themselves remain fairly short and fun to traverse through, thanks to an instant respawn and frequent checkpoints.

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Ghostrunner also features a couple of Cybervoid levels. These levels task you with navigating through a pixelated world that is supposedly your Ghostrunner’s codebase. This strips away the wall running and grapple hooking and leaves you with just your regular jump which in turn makes them a bit of a disappointment.

The Combat

Keeping up with the theme of Ghostrunner, the combat weaves beautifully with the traversal mechanics. The entire game is a 1 HP clutch. You die in 1 hit, but so do your enemies with the exception of bosses that take 3 hits. Killing everyone with a single slash of your katana is very satisfying, and remains so until the very end.

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To make the prospect of killing in a single hit rewarding and challenging, the game pits you against ruthless foes. It is very unapologetic about throwing you into a room full of enemies and giving a mere second to think about how to defeat them. The flexibility you have in these encounters can be a mixed bag. The starting encounters felt like a meticulous ballet with precise timings as I moved from one linear corridor to the next. The game did open up eventually with a lot more open-ended corridors and I could best my enemies with ease as I got better at the game.

Becoming a cybernetically enhanced ninja is difficult, but can be achieved with a bit of perseverance and determination. 

You start off by fighting soldiers with guns and the game regularly throws new enemies into the mix to keep the combat fresh and exciting. The variety of enemies and their attacks is astonishing, yet the game never dwells on it as the campaign is pretty short. Some enemies can be a little bit too bothersome at times, with the machine gun soldiers changing bullet spray directions mid-second which led to more than a few silly deaths.

Progression And Side Content

Progression in Ghostrunner remains a simple affair. Most upgrades offer little in the way of interesting gameplay variety. Upgrades to your system come in the form of modules that allow you an extra dash or a charge to your abilities. The implementation of the upgrade system is pretty fascinating, though. Selecting upgrades is a game in itself as you try to fit as many Tetris-block modules as you can into the board.

As mentioned earlier, the levels featured in Ghostrunner are very linear. However, you could venture off the beaten path in search of collectables. These include some codex entries for objects and audio notes that serve the purpose of providing additional lore information. My favourite to collect was the Katana skins that provided a much-appreciated sense of personalization.

The Verdict

Ghostrunner takes some bold strides in the name of its one hit one kill design. The story does operate on a generic template with uninteresting characters but is redeemed by its fast-paced gameplay. Its platforming and combat remain ruthless and challenging throughout its relatively short run, making sure that you do pay the price for the fantasy of being a ninja.

 

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By Usaid
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A prototypical computer nerd. Anything tech or games, count me in.