Ghostrunner 2

Review game Ghostrunner 2, Cool Runs

The greatest sequels are those that manage to expand upon the aspects that made the original feel bigger, grander, and more thrilling while still capturing the essence of what made the original so fantastic. That’s precisely what Ghostrunner 2 accomplishes. This is still a first-person, one-hit-kill slasher where, to paraphrase my assessment of the previous game, you have to run quickly, slide quickly, and kill quickly. If you can’t do any of those things quickly enough, you’ll die quickly. However, you can now do all of that in addition to occasionally riding a really sick motorcycle and customizing your playstyle with a greater range of ninja tricks. Together with a fantastic boss cast, a well-developed world, a wide range of levels, and an upbeat soundtrack that amplifies the action, this action game is among the most thrilling of the year.

Ghostrunner 2 begins soon after the first game’s events, which are summarized in a handy little video. This time around, the story takes center stage, with a visit to a hub where you can speak with other rebels before most levels. You will discover information about Dharma City, a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk dystopia, and their generally fascinating backstories. The conversations were consistently engaging enough to entice me to follow up with them before my next mission. Together with a few more unexpected faces, there’s Kira, a brilliant but morally dubious scientist who once worked for the opposition; Saul, your friend from the original who helped you rediscover your humanity; and Zoe. Although the world building and characterization aren’t RPG-level, these exchanges were excellent in helping me feel rooted in Ghostrunner 2’s setting.

Deadly Weapon

Ghostrunner 2 plays essentially the same as the original: both you and your enemies can only take one hit at a time, which results in an incredibly quick flow. As you desperately try to avoid fire and simultaneously get closer to your opponent, you’ll be darting all over extremely well-designed combat arenas. Checkpoints are very forgiving, and respawns happen quickly, so I could die 10, 20, maybe even 50 times trying to get through a challenging combat encounter without getting frustrated.

In essence, think of Hotline Miami or Katana Zero, but with a variety of 3D movement options that allow you to easily outmaneuver opponents and dodge bullets.

Think of Hotline Miami or Katana Zero, but in three dimensions, with a plethora of mobility options that allow you to easily outmaneuver opponents.

Your newfound abilities are more significant. Returning as an on-demand powerup instead of a one-time event, Shurikens provide you with a strong, meter-controlled ranged attack to complement your reliable katana. Large enemies, such as the bipedal mechs, are particularly enjoyable to use since a hit from a shuriken transforms them into grapple points, allowing you to move quickly and satisfyingly while going in for the kill. A few other brand-new special skills and ultimate techniques are also added to the Ghostrunner’s arsenal. These include the Shadow skill, which lets you turn invisible and create a double where you activated it, and Flux, which lets you destroy enemy groups by firing a continuous laser beam for a short while.

Thankfully, upgrading these abilities doesn’t require you to arrange blocks like a puzzle anymore. The progression of skills is much simpler, as playing through the campaign will automatically unlock a number of upgrade chips. You can buy any kind of chip you want, but you’ll need to add slots to your motherboard by locating purple memory chips that are hidden in each level in order to equip them. This creates a delightful incentive to delve deeper into each stage in search of its mysteries rather than merely obtaining surface-level collectibles such as different colored gloves or sword skins.

They really do a great job of giving noticeable perks that could drastically change my approach to a level, so I always looked forward to returning to the base to see what new skill chips were available. I could spend money on Shurikens to give myself a greater advantage from a distance, or I could spend money honing my sword skills to receive more rewards for flawless parries. Alternatively, if I’m feeling very confident, I could spend money on flow to get strong buffs—but only if I can chain kills together without letting the combo counter fall.

Moving On From Dharma City

Almost every level in the original Ghostrunner introduced a new element for you to deal with, which kept the campaign feeling fresh throughout. This was one of its best features. That well of inspiration apparently never nearly ran out, because Ghostrunner 2 follows suit. You will explore a number of stunning and visually striking locations both inside and outside of Dharma City during the course of the game’s 10- to 12-hour campaign. You will also continuously come across new enemy types, acquire new powers or abilities, and be thrust into arenas that offer you thrilling new ways to use your current powers.

Renegade ghost

Apart from the campaign, there’s also an extremely entertaining side mode called Rogue Runner. It cleverly combines combat and parkour challenges with enemies, upgrades, and powers from the main game to create a very compelling roguelike formula.

Each run begins with a basic set of moves and a finite number of lives. From there, you can select between three different types of levels to play: combat, parkour, or more difficult versions of those levels that offer greater rewards. Since the levels are procedurally generated, it’s critical to have quick reading and comprehension skills to grasp the subtleties of a given challenge. This is because, in a mode where you only have a few lives to complete, trial and error is largely eliminated. Upon completing a level, you can receive extra lives or select from three upgrade chips, some of which are only available in this mode and most of which can be acquired in the main game.

In the end, it’s just a more expansive version of the wave mode that was first offered as DLC in the first game, but even after I’ve finished the main campaign, I find myself returning to it frequently.

Conclusion

Ghostrunner 2 is an incredible follow-up that takes everything that made the first one even better and pushes it to new heights. With even more tricks to add to the already exciting one-hit-kill combat, you have an abundance of new options for how to approach each scenario in this skill-heavy, lightning-fast combat style. The parkour is still silky smooth, and some of the new motorcycle sequences are some of the most adrenaline-pumping experiences of the year. None of these changes will likely convince people who didn’t enjoy the first Ghostrunner’s extremely reflex-heavy gameplay, but if you enjoyed it, this is the best sequel I can think of.