Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective gives new life to a Nintendo DS cult classic
Ghost Trick follows Sissel, a recently deceased spirit who can’t remember who he is or how he died. But he can possess objects, setting up the game’s mechanical core: interfering in the Rube Goldberg-like puzzles to save others from their own grisly fates. The game alternates between these puzzle sections and dialogue-heavy story segments, where a twisty plot unfolds in sweet and surprising and surprisingly sweet ways.
Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games, movies, TV shows, comics, tabletop books, and entertainment experiences. When we award the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the recipient is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive, or fun — and worth fitting into your schedule. If you want curated lists of our favorite media, check out What to Play and What to Watch .
Originally released for Nintendo DS in 2010, Ghost Trick didn’t sell especially well. But it did develop a cult following, particularly among those who were already fans of writer-director Shu Takumi’s better-known series, Ace Attorney. Being involved in the latter fandom for almost 20 years, I’ve heard the pleas — “Play Ghost Trick! Don’t look anything up first, just trust us!” — since it first came out.
Having now played it, I’ll hand it to them: They’re right. I might not be as unreserved in my love for Ghost Trick as someone who’s been trying to convince people to play it for a decade or more (there’s one truly awful stealth section, for a start), but it’s a real little joyful gem of a game. Fiddling around with ghostly interactions until the puzzles slot into place is satisfying, the characters are great and include possibly the best dog in video games, and both the music and
Read more on polygon.com
