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Jim Mander's avatar

I tried the demo for Ghostrunner 2 and something about it felt 'off' that I couldn't put my finger on and I just had the intuition that I wouldn't enjoy playing it more than just giving Ghostrunner another run. I'm pretty glad it turned out like that in the end because I had no idea they went with an open world for the sequel and have no idea why they would.

Felix Roth's avatar

You made the right call there. Ghostrunner 2 starts out alright but the introduction of the open world turns the game into a chore. The writing is also a big problem. They really want the game to be funny and this doesn't work at all. If you're brave, take a look at this dialogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-VD2ZRF5xk&t=352s

Shadow Journal Dispatch's avatar

This looks really great, I'm really keen on trying anything that has a cyberpunk feel to it, I waited for another game to be released with the same feel called the last night but it never arrived.

Felix Roth's avatar

I just checked the steam page of "The Last Night". It looks really cool. To bad it didn't work out.

Shadow Journal Dispatch's avatar

Yeah I’m going to have to get my fix for narrative stories elsewhere, i still think other games can nail it like afterparty or night in the woods

Peter Monks's avatar

Nice review. You are clearly very skilled at this if you got to the end! I tried (and briefly wrote about) Ghostrunner 2, and while I can admire what those games are trying to do, I just couldn't get far into them due to the punishing difficulty - it just wasn't for me. So I'm impressed when I watch other people play this flawlessly.

Felix Roth's avatar

Thank you, Peter! Finishing Ghostrunner was really intense. That last level was incredibly frustrating. When I completed the game back in 2020, I swore I'd never play that last level again. However, five years later, I decided to give it another go, and it worked much better than I feared.

I think there's some carry-over effect. Before playing Ghostrunner, I played some hard platformers like Lion King for the Mega Drive. These were also super difficult, but it seems that they did a good job to prepare me.

That said, I totally get why this isn't for everyone. Games this difficult really need to hook you so that you're willing to put in the work. For example, I cannot get into games like Contra or Dark Souls, as their design just doesn't motivate me enough.