This article originally ran under a different banner/website in November of 2020 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!! I CAN SEE THE TEARS OF PAIN FALLING ON DOWN YOUR FACE. You are all torn apart by Cyberpunk 2077 being delayed into mid-December. I felt the cries of anguish as the recent delay was announced. You want nothing more than to be engulfed in the streets of Night City. I am here to tell you to rejoice and deny yourself those painful tears. I might have a game to quell your cyberpunk desires. If you long for neon streets and cyber-kinetic enhancements, then may I present to you Ghostrunner.
You play as the last remaining Ghostrunner, a cybernetic ninja warrior, that was used on a raid of the ruling tech company’s tower. After being thrown from the tower, you are rescued by a ragtag human resistance group. You awake after the resistance’s hideout was raided and receive a voice in your head guiding you up the tower. It might seem like Ghostrunner is building an interesting story, but you will soon begin to see a middling cyberpunk story. DO I DARE EVEN MENTION THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD INCLUDING AN AI DEMANDING YOU SACRIFICE EVERYONE FOR THE MISSION AND THE LAST REMAINING RESISTANCE MEMBER WHO ASKS YOU TO SAVE EVERY SOUL POSSIBLE? None of the writing is bad, but it is all troupes you have seen and heard before. I half expected the AI to start saying his logic was undeniable. The story will certainly not be what drives you forward.
Fortunately, for Ghostrunner, the focus isn’t on its story, but its gameplay. Many describe the gameplay of Ghostrunner as a blend of Katana Zero and Mirror’s Edge. You are asked to parkour around the level and slice and dice your way through enemies while avoiding being killed in one hit. Your bread and butter traversal move is a dash that allows you to move around the level and dodge projectiles; you can use the dash to slow time and dodge to the left or right of gunfire. Combine the dash with wall runs and a grappling hook, the game has an exhilarating speed when firing on all cylinders. You can try to deflect gunshots, but it has a very small window. There are various power-ups that you learn throughout the campaign missions and find through the levels; however, I never feel like they improve the gameplay but merely bog it down. I do wish there was a way to watch yourself speed through the level as Katana Zero did. Yes, dashing around is exciting, but watching it all come together makes it more satisfying.
The enemy variety, unfortunately, both helps and hinders the game’s fast pace nature. Early on Ghostrunner will throw standard enemies with pistols and machine guns combined with a shield generator. These levels will usually require you to parkour your way to the shield generator, take it out, and quickly dispatch the remaining enemies. These levels perfectly capture the fact pace nature Ghostrunner wants to be played at. Unfortunately, in order to draw out the run time, Ghostrunner keeps adding additional enemies that really work against the game’s flow. There are shielded enemies that require you to quickly navigate around them to backstab them, but they turn so fast that you will frequently be running around them in a circle to get to their back. They throw enemies with swords to test your parry skills, but I found I frequently stop moving to parry their attacks in order to deal with them. Ghostrunner also throws enemies that can phase, teleport away, and hurl projectiles at you; nothing was more frustrating than reaching one of these enemies and watching them teleport to the other side of the room. Unfortunately, they are not as annoying as the exploding zombie-like enemies. They seem like they are meant to keep you moving but I found them frequently blocking my path. I had many deaths to these monstrosities that had me cursing out the game as I questioned how I was supposed to avoid those enemies. Ghostrunner has a perfect simplified gameplay that seems to be ruined when the developers try to make it too complex.
Another aspect of Ghostrunner that seems to be ruined by adding complexity is the platforming. Initially, Ghostrunner was asking me to do simple wall runs, grapples, and slide maneuvers, but as the game continues these platforming sections seemed to get longer and tedious. The platforming becomes especially frustrating when you realize it is incredibly inconsistent. There were a number of times, where I would launch myself forward hoping to wall run and have the Ghostrunner not make contact with the wall, just to fall to my death. Combine these multi-staged platforming rooms that will kick you back to the start if you make one mistake or fail to connect with a wall, and my patience begins to wear thin. I remember one room where I failed to connect with one of the walls. I fell but was caught on some debris. At that point, I decided to wall run along a section of the wall that the developers clearly didn’t want me wall-run on, skipping almost all the platforming that laid bare before me. The platforming sections are fun when you are speeding through them, but as soon as I am replaying sections, the fun instantly vanishes.
I wish I could say the bosses redeem Ghostrunner but they also seem to be a mixed bag. The first boss resembles a giant game of KerPlunk. It is a long cylinder machine with lasers jutting out all around it. There are various grabble points and walls for you to run along while trying to avoid the laser beams. You must trial and error your way to the top, which never feels like a test of my skill. The second boss is versus an off-brand Ghostrunner that requires you to perfectly parry her attacks to open up an opportunity to strike her. I liked this fight as it felt like a true test of my ability to parry and platform around the arena as I chased her between the various platforms. The final boss versus Miss Doc Ock was rather unremarkable, but I feel that’s partly due to the fact her fight has checkpoints. I am not sure if I would be able to handle her Simon-says-style fight without checkpoints. Much like the extended enemy roster or over long platforming sections, part of me wonders if bosses needed to be in a game at all.
MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!! I am sure there will be many people who would love the tough difficulty of Ghostrunner. This game feels very much in line with Hotline Miami or Katana Zero. I could see this game having a home within the speedrunning community. However, I feel the high difficulty is bogged down but some questionable design decisions. If the balance isn’t as sharp as the Ghostrunner’s blade, you begin to question whether you are really at fault. The frustration begins to mount. Soon, you will reach the final level and throw in the towel, because you have had enough of the nonsense, which is never a good look. I honestly, would have preferred if the developers kept the game simple. The simplicity of the first few levels was easily able to draw me in. However, as soon as the developers begin to add more to the mix, the pudding becomes over-egged. If you are still looking for a challenging game set in a cyberpunk world, you could extract some fun from Ghostrunner. For me, I would rather just go watch Blade Runner until CD Project Red is done polishing Cyberpunk 2077.
