

It’s a shame that the game doesn’t have more modes or challenge rooms to serve up its best-in-class, freeform gameplay in smaller, score-based chunks. Every combat room is physically designed as a relatively open playground and its many customization options further enhance those liberties. Some may choose to deflect bullets and others may want improved special abilities or another kind of dash.

Ghostrunner pc upgrade#
Special offensive abilities yield new powerful moves and the Tetris-like upgrade system allows you to pick what you want to specialize in. Ghostrunner is even ripe for experimentation as there is no one way to cut your way to the exit. There’s an impressive array of foes with unique functions that require different strategies to overcome, much like Doom and its varied bestiary of demons. Kamikaze drones keep you running at all times. Snipers make sure your timing and ability to weave between cover is on point. Sword-wielding wardens that must be parried test your reflexes since a premature strike sends you flying. Each type even challenges you in myriad ways. Since they are single-hit obstacles and not tanks with a lot of health, killing them becomes part of the parkour flow and something great players can best in one in unbroken segment as they learn what routes get them to the end while also cutting all of the enemies to ribbons. One-hit kills also apply to your opponents, meaning the true test in skill is closing the distance via parkour and knowing when to make your fatal slice. But it’s less like traditional melee combat, per se, and more like a puzzle where your sword is the solution. Taking revengeanceĬombat isn’t even a superfluous part of the experience but fundamental to it because of how it seamlessly it incorporates with the free-running. You can’t stumble through it and the game is intelligently designed enough to cut out the frustration that one-hit deaths might entail, which is partially due to the clear level design and enemies that have easily discernible silhouettes and predictable patterns. Dying in one hit naturally leads to this feeling because of how that persistent challenge forces you to adapt, learn the game, and complete every checkpoint in one unbroken shot like a true skilled ninja. Within a few hours, linking together long strings of uninterrupted parkour becomes natural and absolutely electrifying because of the effort it took to get there, especially when the difficulty curve starts ramping up. Each is an opportunity to gradually improve and become quicker and more ninja-like - a trial-and-error process that is made painless by the lack of post-death load screens. Falling into the endless abyss and getting shot to hell are not painful reminders of the game’s difficulty, but valuable learning experiences that clearly communicate your mistakes. However, that work is a vital component of Ghostrunner‘s greatness. Properly realizing that aforementioned cyber ninja dream takes work. Ghostrunner is pretty demanding, giving players slick controls while also always putting those controls to the test. Satisfying runs are only possible if you pull them off flawlessly and, spoiler, you won’t.
Ghostrunner pc full#
Stages are full of these sorts of highlight-reel moments and typically mix together existing obstacles while also introducing a few more.

Responsiveness, while undeniably the most important one, is only the first step and the game goes past basic functionality by creating levels that intuitively use its core set of moves. Neon-drenched gauntlets chain together everything in your kit, requiring finesse and quick reflexes as you bounce off a wall to avoid a rogue electrical current and grapple into the skyrises via a conveniently placed meat hook before crashing back down on a highjacked drone.

All of it controls well and usually, outside of a few failed wall-runs here and there, behaves exactly as it should. Wall-running, jumping, grappling, sliding, slicing, and dashing are your six main tools that can overcome anything the game throws at you. Ghostrunner’s excellence comes from a relatively straightforward core.
