Welcome to our review of Ghost 1.0, a new metroidvania on Nintendo Switch from the creator of Unepic.
“Ghost 1.0” is a metroidvania where two super hackers hire a mysterious agent in order to infiltrate the Nakamura Space Station and steal the greatest electronic secret ever. Of course, the space station will defend itself, which is where the fun begins: the station’s defenses, with their never-ending arsenal of weapons and artifacts, will have to be destroyed. But the story gets more complicated when the hackers find out about their agent’s hidden ties…
The protagonist is not the android you see, but the being that remotely controls it: a mysterious digital ghost that can leave its robot chassis, pass through doors and walls, control enemy androids, and use their own tools against them. What happens if the robot you control gets destroyed, you ask? Then your ghost will be free to control something else, or return to your main body. This mechanic is both a blessing and a curse in disguise by adding a puzzle layer on top of the action.
Imagine taking control of 2 different robots just to solve a small puzzle, Ghost already faces such a problem in the second “level” of the game. You enter the first one to start an elevator pad. You then enter the second one to jump onto that pad. Back to the first to leave make the elevator pad go up and then back to the second just to make it to a computer.
Another great thing about this game, no need to search for ammo, your gun just automatically reloads over time, so be aware that you need to organize this. Do not jump into a room with enemies prior to having a full load of bullets or you find yourself in a precarious situation. One could say it adds to the difficulty, but I prefer being able to shoot the incoming enemies instead.
Once you progress enough, you will be able to buy upgrades like a drone that follows you around and shoots at enemies. I loved that one, At one point I was stuck in a room with an empty clip, but it kept shooting. It did my destroying for me and I managed to escape without dying.
Dying might be the worst aspect in metroidvania games, but Ghost has endless lives as her body is just reprinted at the save points, a nice little touch in this 16bit style game. In the map, you can see where you are going and have been before, in true metroidvania style, you need to backtrack your steps to get to that one keycard that opens up a brand new part of the map. The game holds very true to the genre, but also has 1 difference: the defense rooms.
Defense rooms can get monotonous as it is always the same, you trigger the defense mechanisms. The room turns red and blasts you with a ton of enemies. Usually, these are a bit harder than your everyday robot you encounter, though it just may feel that way because of the amount of em. Most do go down with just a few shots, but the variety and the amount make it harder and harder and harder.
While in itself this game is decent enough, it is not great. I like the futuristic atmosphere but in the end, it is just a metroidvania with the twist of being able to go out of body. The fighting can get dull and despite loving the twin-stick shooting mechanics, it just did not click completely. The conversations between the characters can get long winded and dull too. But despite those parts, I still think this game is not bad, just not outstanding.
In conclusion, if you love the genre, definitely check out Ghost 1.0, it brings good gameplay to the table. It might get lost in the shuffle otherwise and before you know it, a game like this is lost in the eShop. My rating for this game is 70%, based on my likes and dislikes. The monotonous parts did bring it down a little.
