PC Gamer - UK (2022-07)

Ghost doesn’t boast about its intricate
puzzle boxes, but they’re some of the
most original I’ve come across. There
are often a lot of tools in play, but
they’re introduced at a manageable
rate, and come together in a careful
way, with every icon
being legible and easily
distinguishable in the
game’s low-res
environments.
Take teleporters

• the most common
  mechanic in the game.
  Oh, they’ll warp your
  ghost character from
  point to point, as in many puzzle
  games, but the warping blocks can
  also be pushed around. Teleporters
  are multi-purpose, and the various
  functions are clearly marked on the
  blocks, with legible icons telling you
  where you’ll pop out, and which sides
  of the block can be pushed.

One of my big stumbling blocks

with puzzle games is the amount of

information I’m expected to store in

my head, but Ghost is considerate

enough to present as much

information as possible within the

actual game. I can see

the outcome of many

actions, without having

to test them over and

over. Somehow, it’s not

visually overwhelming

as a result.

SPOOKOBAN

In a similarly friendly

move, you can access all 50 puzzles

from the start of the game. Indeed

you’ll need to, as the first one is

unsolvable until much later. That

means you can skip around when

stuck, something I’d recommend as

the later puzzles aren’t necessarily

tougher than the earlier ones.

And what puzzles. I’ve harped on

about the teleporters, but what about

the blocks holding pocket

dimensions, the working number

blocks, or the little acorn things that

deactivate puzzle tools within a

certain radius? If Ghost is missing a

Big Idea, like Baba is You’s

programming logic, then it makes up

for it with just how many ideas it has

• and how well they work in concert.
  There really isn’t much to criticise
  about Ghost. I suppose the ghost
  theme is under-explored – you can’t
  actually do any ghostly things, like
  float over gaps or through solid
  objects, so I was a bit confused until I
  realised it was just for show.
  I love puzzle games, but I’m also
  not very good at them. With its
  generous method of presenting
  information, Give up the Ghost is the
  rare puzzler that meets me halfway,
  while still offering the devious
  challenge I’m looking for.

84

Give up the Ghost has

some seriously smart

ideas, and a huge heap of

puzzles, presented in an

elegant fashion.

VERDICT

O

f all the tools in the puzzle-solver’s arsenal, the most essential
is the undo button. You’ll be making a lot of mistakes,
particularly in a Sokoban-style block-pushing game.
Thankfully, time-reversal is a thing of beauty in Give up the
Ghost, ultimately speeding up as you keep the Z button held
down. I found myself more ready to experiment, knowing how easily, how
majestically my many blunders would be unravelled.

CTRL-DEAD

The afterlife is full of puzzles in GIVE UP THE GHOST

You can

access all 50

puzzles from

the start of

the game

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT?

A block-pushing puzzle

game where you play as

a ghost

EXPECT TO PAY

Free

DEVELOPER

John M Williams

PUBLISHER

In-house

REVIEWED ON

Intel Core i7-10750H,

16GB RAM, GeForce

RTX 2060

MULTIPLAYER

No

LINK

gate.itch.io/ghost

COOL TITLES FOR NO CASH by Tom Sykes

FREE GAMES REVIEWS

Here I am teleporting

keys into locks like it’s

no big deal.

BELOW: Number blocks can be combined to

make numerically greater blocks.