REVIEW: ‘Ghost Trick Phantom Detective’ is a Spooky Puzzle (PS4)

Ghosts and mystery games seem to go hand-in-hand. Whether it be you’re solving a mystery that involves ghosts. Or, better yet, you are the ghost-solving issues for those who’ve passed on. When they become wacky puzzle games, that’s when they seem to run on all cylinders after any sense of realism is thrown completely out the door. That’s where Ghost Trick Phantom Detective, a remaster of the 2010 Nintendo DS puzzle adventure game by Capcom, falls into this picture. For a DS remaster being made for modern consoles and for a puzzle game, it’s awesome to see how well it’s held up.

Ghost Trick Phantom Detective follows Sissel, a spirit who has no memory of how he just died. All he knows is he possibly got shot after meeting a mysterious woman in a junkyard. Quickly, he learns that he has special ghost powers. The powers to possess and manipulate objects as well as go back in time to four minutes before a person died. Not only can he time travel, but he can also change those people’s fates to give them a second chance at life. There’s a catch to all this. He has until sunrise the next day to find out why this woman is being hunted down by hitmen, how he’s involved in all this, and why exactly he died.

If you’re familiar with the original release, you’d be happy to know that this iteration changed very little. It is a faithful remaster, including solutions, particularly with its gameplay. Ghost Trick Phantom Detective is, at its core, a big puzzle game with two main portions of gameplay. One involves solving mysteries or helping people at the current time, and the other is saving people from doom in four minutes. Each is tricky in its own way and requires you and Sissel to navigate environments quickly. This is done by moving Sissel’s ghost as a line, jumping from object to object.  There is a short range that Sissel has to jump to an object.

This is where Sissel’s ability to manipulate objects, or tricks, comes into play. Most objects are able to move in one specific way, whether it be opening a lawn chair or causing a fan to spin faster. Each, in its own way, leads to a cascading effect on the room. Opening a lawn chair with Sissel’s spirit in it moves Sissel closer to other objects. Causing a fan to spin faster forces an object attached to it to move up higher as it also moves faster. The true fun of Ghost Trick Phantom Detective comes from finding the hidden Rube Goldberg machine that lets you get to your objective. Plus, there are numerous fun secrets or challenges to find in each level that lead to fun prompts by the characters in each level.

However, there are issues with this connect-the-dots mechanic moving around, especially on a controller. This mechanic works by moving the left stick around to aim the line. However, there are some items that are close together. Swinging the stick around, as one may do, when trying to quickly swing the line around when under time pressure, The line regularly got caught on the wrong item. Or even trying to realign the line would end up with it getting connected to the wrong object because the line was slightly off of the target. This is a minor issue when translating a game that used a stylus and connecting items via a touchscreen to a simple control stick. Just be ready for some minor frustrations while stressing about getting a task done quickly enough.

Then there are some puzzle solutions that are exponentially challenging compared to earlier moments in the game. With slowly figuring out how exactly objects and their motions affect others, it can be difficult to figure out what exactly you need to do to get the solution right to progress. What makes this difficult is the time rewind mechanic. In some instances, as previously mentioned, you’re under a four-minute time crunch. If you run out of time, you start over or go back to when you affected the original fate in a certain way. But all progress you’ve previously made gets reset as well when you go back. Thankfully you can also revert the time whenever you want. Yet when during late game moments you do a lot of actions in that amount of time, and you need to do it all over again, it can get annoying, especially when you’re just about to cross the finish line and can’t find that last piece to fall into place to make it all click.

What really stood out is its lively cast of characters. Similar to Capcom’s Ace Attorney games, every character introduced is either important or just stands out in their own way. Even minor characters who feel like they’re just quick joke characters come back later with interesting payoffs. It’s hard to give examples without spoiling major plot points, but it was exciting to start caring for some of the goofballs as much as Phoenix Wright characters. Just be ready for a surprisingly deep story that does take some time to really let you get your teeth into.

Ghost Trick Phantom Detective, even with its quite obtuse puzzles, is a joy to play. Particularly with its interesting story full of twists and turns and unique characters. While there are some limitations with playing this game with a controller, compared to a stylus back in the day, with its ghost hopping, few issues were experienced. Everything worked out well, and the game looked great in a cleaner, higher-resolution art style. With another fun blast from the past resurfacing, I really hope to see more modern versions of these games in the future. If you missed out on this hidden DS gem, be sure not to make that same mistake again when this comes out.

Ghost Trick Phantom Detective is available on June 30th on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC