Cool Races
The best sequels are the ones that can recover what made the Original so great, while expanding those elements to make them feel bigger, grander and more exciting than what was before. This is exactly what Ghostrunner 2 manages to do. It’s still a first-person Slasher that-to quote my review of the first-forces you to run fast, slide fast, finish fast, and if you can’t do those things fast enough, you’ll expired fast. But now you can do all this while occasionally riding an absolutely sick motorcycle, and with a wider variety of Ninja tricks to customize your play style. Combine this with a much more refined world, an excellent variety of levels, fantastic bosses and a booming soundtrack that amplifies the Action, and you get one of the most exciting action games of the whole year.
Ghostrunner 2 picks up shortly after the events of the first game, which are summarized in a practical video by Dandy. The story is a much more important objective This time around, with most levels being preceded by a visit to a Hub where you can chat with your fellow rebels. You will learn more about their most interesting stories, as well as about the post-apocalyptic Cyberpunk dystopia Dharma City, with conversations that have always been interesting enough to make me stop by everyone’s house before my next Mission. There’s Zoe, your friend from the Original, who helped you find your humanity; Saul, the kind-hearted doctor who fixes you; Kira, a brilliant but morally dubious scientist who worked for the other side; with another surprised face or two. These are not RPG levels of characterization and worldbuilding, but these interactions have done a great job of anchoring me in the world of Ghostrunner 2.
Deadly Weapon
Basically, Ghostrunner 2 plays a bit like the first one-it’s a hit, a finish for you and your enemies, resulting in a lightning-fast stream. You will go through very carefully designed action areas while desperately trying to avoid the fire while reducing the distance in the middle of you and your opponent. When you expired, the respawns are super fast and the checkpoints are very forgiving, which meant that I could expired 10, 20, maybe even 50 times if I tried to get through a tricky action experience without getting frustrated.
Basically, imagine Hotline Miami or Katana Zero, but in a 3D space and with all kinds of mobility options that allow you to dodge leads and maneuver enemies easily.
Although this core is still the same in Ghostrunner 2, there are some notable changes that have affected the way it approaches its challenges. On the one hand, there is now an endurance meter that governs your new ability to block actions and run several times in a row. Blocking may seem exceptionally strong in a game where it only takes one hit to expired, but dodging enemies is always the way to survive the Chaos that is the Ghostrunner action experiences, because the gauge runs out quickly, the many non-blockable actions used by enemies and the fact that blocking some actions still you, being able to simply block instead of perfectly planning a parade offers a nice margin of maneuver that makes many Boss experiences much more forgiving, and fun.
More substantial are your new special abilities. Shuriken are coming back, but are now available on request, rather than being a limited-time Bonus that gives you a powerful ranged action but managed by meter to match your trusty Katana. It is especially fun to use on big enemies like bipedal Mechs, because a blow with a Shuriken makes it a gripping point that allows you to finish quickly and satisfactorily while continuing to move. The ghost runner gets a few other new special abilities and ultimate techniques added to his Arsenal, such as the Shadow ability, which allows you to become invisible and create a double in the place where you activated it, and Flux, which allows you to fire a continuous laser beam for a few seconds to decimate groups of enemies.
Fortunately, you no longer need to arrange the blocks like a Puzzle to improve these abilitys. The progression of abilitys is much easier because you naturally unlock a variety of upgrade chips just by playing through the campaign. You can buy any chip, but to equip it on your motherboard, you will have to add slots by finding purple memory chips hidden on each level. This is a nice incentive to really look for the secrets of each level beyond unlocking superficial collectibles such as new sword skins, glove colors, etc.
I was always eager to get back to the basics and see what new ability chips were available, because they do a really good job of offering tangible benefits that could radically change my approach to a level. I could invest in Shuriken and get a greater advantage from a distance, or I could invest in my sword abilitys and be more honoured for making perfect saves. Or, r If I feel particularly confident, I could invest in Flow and get powerful Buffs, but only if I am able to chain smaks without dropping the Combo counter.
Now they are leaving the city of Dharma
One of the best features of the first Ghostrunner was that almost every level introduced a new element that you could deal with, which made the campaign fresh throughout. Apparently, this fountain of ideas has never nearly dried up, because the same goes for Ghostrunner 2. Throughout the 10-12 hour campaign, you will constantly experience new types of enemies, acquire new powers or abilities, visit a variety of beautiful and visually different areas inside and outside Dharma City, and be thrown into areas that will offer you new and exciting ways to use your existing powers.