Review of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective – detective night

We have also prepared a review in the form of a video.

If you’re familiar with Capcom’s Ace Attorney series of legal adventures, the title Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective might tell you something. Shu Takumi, creator of Ace Attorney as well as The Great Ace Attorney spin-off, is behind a detective game with relatively unique gameplay. Ghost Trick was released in Japan in 2010, and a year later in the West, only for the Nintendo DS. However, in just a few days we expect the release of the remaster for almost all modern platforms, and I had a chance to play it.

• Platform: PC (Verified), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Publication date: 06/30/2023
• Developer: Capcom
• Publisher: capcom
• Genre: Adventure
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data to download: 6 GB
• Game time: approximately 12 hours
• Price: €29.99 (Steam)

Ace Attorney without a lawyer

In the game, you take on the role of Sissel, who, however, appears in the game not as a classic character, but as a ghost. He just died, but who killed him and why remains a mystery. Thus, he embarks on a journey to find out the truth not only about his death, but also about other events. As they soon discover, this night is special. And he only has time until dawn to reveal all the secrets that this city hides.

Like Ace Attorney, the story is one of the main strengths of this game. However, it is not stretched over several cases, but rather squeezed into a single night, which has its advantages and disadvantages. The positives are definitely the very solid pace and gradual unraveling of the mystery, even though at first you will have more questions than answers. The story grabs you quickly and doesn’t let go until the very end. This is also due to the excellent dialogue, which can be serious but also funny, as is the custom with Ace Attorney. The characters are brilliantly written, and the gradual development of their personalities and motivations seems wonderful.

However, one thing spoils the story in my eyes – the conclusion. As stated here, the plot is crammed into one night, which really helps keep pace, but the final chapters fully expose the downside of choosing this particular method of storytelling. While for most of the game you gradually learn one piece of information after another, at the end the game reveals all the secrets that have not yet been revealed. Everything seems a little rushed and a little confusing. It’s definitely a shame, but it doesn’t change the fact that the story is very strong.

Ageless gameplay

What’s more, in 13 long years, the gameplay hasn’t been out of date either, which is really fun from start to finish. As a ghost, you can jump between different objects in the scene and manipulate them, with your main weapon being the ability to return 4 minutes before the death of the body you find. After all, games over time are the central theme of this game and, apart from the already mentioned conclusion, they work great. And if the core mechanics start to bore you in the later stages of the game, don’t worry, the title also has a few surprises in terms of gameplay.

Although it is a linear experience, the game does not lead you by the hand and you have to find the solution on your own. True, you could get stuck a few times, but for me it definitely never led to disappointment, quite the contrary. I rather wondered how I could not understand a relatively obvious thing.

Remastered for better or for worse

All of these aspects are the same as in the original game, so what has changed? The name has been moved to RE Engin and of course the visuals have been changed and improved a lot. The higher resolution definitely suits the game and looks nice, but you can still tell it’s an older game, some objects in the scene deserve a bit more attention in my opinion because they stand out compared to the characters, for example. which, on the other hand, look great. And I didn’t even mention their fantastic animations, like when they go on stage. Without them, the overall presentation would not look as good.

The big shame, however, is that the game is still stuck in a 4:3 aspect ratio. I think it definitely deserves to be converted to the modern 16:9 standard so we can enjoy the title across the entire width of our screens. Of course, this is not a big problem, and in such a game you get used to a narrower image quite quickly, but still this is not what I expect from a game for modern devices.

However, what I have to appreciate is the soundtrack. Here, on the contrary, the creators have done much more work than they should have, but it was definitely worth it. The original music is already great, but the newer, higher quality and vastly improved one I can’t praise enough. It perfectly complements tense and carefree moments. I really enjoyed the songs while playing and the tunes are so memorable that I still listen to the music even after I’ve finished playing. Along with other bonuses, it’s also available in the main menu, so I spent quite a bit of time there because of that…

Overall, I left Ghost Trick with a very positive experience. Of course, I had my doubts about the story and how the remaster was approached, but the bottom line is that this is a great game that is not out of date even at 13 years old and definitely deserves attention. First of all, if you are a fan of the Ace Attorney series, you can’t go wrong with this unique detective story.