Ghostrunner: First Person Platformer extraordinaire

[Rock8man]

Ok, so I loved the Mirror’s Edge games, but the small genre of first person platformers is really rare. I read this review today, and this sounds amazing.

One of the best platformers of the year is in … first person?

Check out this gif they have in the review:

The perspective in a first-person game is limited to what’s directly in front of you, while a 2D platformer might let you see more of a jumping puzzle before you begin, or even while you’re in the middle of it. This lack of information in first-person games can make platforming tricky, and at worst can make it feel like trial and error, without the ability to correct any mistakes on the fly.

But Ghostrunner finds a clever way around these perspective issues thanks to a brilliant mechanic. Players take control of a cyborg ninja racing through a futuristic tower. It has all the things you might expect from a first-person platformer, like wall running, sliding, midair dashes, and even a grappling hook. But the game’s best and most unique mechanic allows me to briefly slow time while I’m in midair. This is great for combat, letting me dodge bullets and capture the full fantasy of a cybernetically enhanced ninja, but that isn’t its only purpose.

Honestly, I’ve never gone from never having heard of a game to being excited to play it this fast before.

[pyrhic]

you had me at mirror’s edge…

launches tomorrow(10/27) and is 20% off on steam right now(~$24).

[dgallina]

Looks like instant 🤮 to me.

[Vesper]

Tried the demo last night and I was really impressed.

[whispa]

Out soon!! Looks great and can’t wait to get back into a Cyberpunk world.

[Rock8man]

Eurogamer Recommends it.

I’m not joking when I say one boss encounter took me 246 tries - deaths - to clear, which sounds ridiculous. I wouldn’t play a game if someone told me it was like that. But please don’t let it put you off, because, yes, it was frustrating and I stamped my feet a bit, but it wasn’t that bad, and it’s sort of how it goes. A few levels took me around 30 attempts, a few levels around 80, and a few around 140, but it builds up so incrementally you rarely really notice.

And I hate to say it, but the difficulty brings with it a sense of achievement. There’s a moment in Ghostrunner, when slicing your last enemy in an area, that the game slows briefly as if to acknowledge your success, and it feels great. It feels great because you know how difficult it can be.

[Matt_W]

Bought this. Died about 956 times during the tutorial. Refunded it. I am apparently a n00b with no skills. Not for me.

[Intuitionist]

@Matt_W

Bought this. Died about 956 times during the tutorial. Refunded it. I am apparently a n00b with no skills. Not for me.

Yeah, I was really interested in this based on theme and dev-stated inspirations of Titanfall 2 wallrunning (and perhaps Mirrors Edge).

Then I started seeing reviews mention the insane number of deaths. RPS noted:

Elite cyber ninja? I died 1423 times in Ghostrunner. Over a seven hour campaign that roughly works out at three deaths a minute.

No thanks. Not right now. I am not interested in that punishing of a game in this week of high pre-election anxiety. Maybe at a different time, but I don’t feel in any rush.

[TimJames]

@Intuitionist

I am not interested in that punishing of a game

To be particular, it sounds like many modern platformers where the punishment is minimal because you restart quickly at a reasonable checkpoint. It still sounds pretty rough though.

[Ginger_Yellow]

There’s a demo on Steam so you can at least check it out to see if the difficulty is too much. It’s weird, I hate ultra-difficulty in Souls-likes or bullet hell shooters, but I’m fine with it in something like Trials. I suspect this will play closer to the latter, but it really needs to have instant restart if so.

[KallDrexx]

This sounds like difficulty in the speed running sense, which requires dexterity I’m pretty sure I no longer have.

[BrianRubin]

Yeah, I tried the demo and it also wasn’t for me. Too fast, not nimble enough anymore. Titanfall 2 I can handle, this was too much.

[Effidian]

I’m sure I’d get better with practice, but dying that much at the beginning of the demo isn’t a great start. Think I’ll hold off.

[Vesper]

By the time I got to the end of the demo I was doing pretty well staying alive. You need to use cover (quickly) and make liberal use of the slow time ability that lets you dodge bullets.

[WhollySchmidt]

The reviews say it has instant restart.

[Ginger_Yellow]

Hmmm. I like the parkour, but I really don’t like the combat. Most of the time I have no idea why I did or did not die, and what to do to improve. I don’t know why people making these games think that what they need is more combat.

[WhollySchmidt]

From Eurogamer’s review:

Ghostrunner is a game about the joy of movement, and I love how it never loses sight of that. You’re a cyborg ninja and your weapons are speed and agility; everything you do, and everything the game throws at you, revolves around it. There are many enemies and boss encounters and special abilities, but they all centre on the fundamental idea of momentum.

It’s a relief. I worried Ghostrunner would do a Mirror’s Edge and get bogged down in combat, but it doesn’t. Polish developer One More Level understood why the Ghostrunner demo worked earlier this year, and stuck with it. Do one thing and do it well.

That makes me hopeful, but obviously I need to try it for myself.

[Effidian]

I decided to give the demo another shot and made it through the first level with only a couple deaths. I think I was a bit hungover the first time I tried it. So the moral of the story is not to play while impaired.

I’m going for it.

[Alistair]

I died 29 times in each of the two demo levels :)

[Ginger_Yellow]

I died dozens of times and didn’t even know there was more than one level.