On the desolate moon of Lorian V, a long-dormant Deadsuit awakens from slumber. Journey beneath the surface on an atmospheric 2D adventure of self-discovery, ancient mysteries, and cosmic terror. Explore winding caverns and acquire new abilities to unearth this alien world’s long-buried secrets.
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This is probably going to be one of those reviews where I complain more than I praise, because this is a game with strengths so prevalent that they overcome the many flaws and ultimately leads to an enjoyable experience, at least if the strengths appeal to you which they do for me, but it is also a frustrating experience and it's hard not to feel that there could and perhaps should have been something so much better here after nearly a decade of development.
So, the strengths! This game is dripping with atmosphere; stuck on a desolate, once inhabited but now abandoned world, with surroundings that feel truly alien, mysteries around every corner, and a lingering sadness that permeates everything. Delivered with beautiful and striking visuals, moody and appropriate sound effects, as well as a soundtrack that alternates between ambient background music to serene, soft, almost haunting melodies that carry that same sadness that the rest of the game does. I also enjoyed the exploration, with just enough and just satisfying enough upgrades around every corner, and interesting bits of lore and NPC interactions to find. The combat and the Hollow Knight-inspired charm system (called "modules" here) were also things I mostly liked, with a few exceptions. All of this combined to a, for me, compelling experience and I wanted to press on and see more even though I did actually mostly dislike the game to begin with. I even found myself waking up on saturday wanting to play this first thing, after the usual morning stuff, and so I did and had a mostly lovely morning finishing off the second half of the game.
The problems, however... There's a lot of them. This game is very slow and never really picks up the pace. The early game feels like dragging yourself through hardening concrete, it's so slow. This is helped a little, but only a little, by finding the dash and double jump upgrades, both of which can thankfully be found early due to the game's unusually (even for the genre) free-form exploration that allows you to go in many directions at any time, with only a few rooms and areas blocked off by ability-gating, but the game never feels satisfyingly fast. This is exacerbated, heavily, by the fact that there are only like five fast travel locations in the game, and basically none of them make sense. Two are very close to each other and the "home base" one is oddly far away from the actual base for no discernable reason. This slowness and inconvenience is the biggest problem in the game, and what brings it down several notches, but I also kind of hated the side quests. The game is unusually populated for the genre, which I really liked, but it also uses a system where NPCs change their positions after you've made story progress (which in this game is returning ship parts to repair a ship so you can leave the planet), and they have randomized positions, which just really does not work in a game this slow and with this little movement convenience. The NPCs are almost never in logical spots that you'd return to either, because the non-linear story campaign means that the dev couldn't predict where we would be and when. This could've worked if the dev hadn't gone overboard with story triggers, which means that there are too many of them, meaning that if you miss one, you have now missed a story step and that side quest is ruined forever.
There are also a few glitches, like how there are a couple of marked exits on the map that don't line up with the next room, making it look like there are two exits stacked on top of each other and causing stupid confusion when you try to figure out where this magical second door is and until you find out that the map is just a little broken. It's not a big deal and so are none of the other glitches I ran into, like how one boss is sometimes invincible until you walk in and out of the room enough times to fix it. Not much of a problem. Neither is the runback to home base after finding a ship part either, honestly, and I don't know why so many people complain about it. I do not believe that it was intended as "padding", as I believe that "padding for time" is extremely rare and hardly ever done and that in most cases, it's just a question of content that person didn't like and so they refer to it as "padding" when other players really enjoy it. I don't believe that this game was intentionally padded either, and I don't see why it's such a big deal that you have to manually walk back the ship parts when you have to manually traverse the entire game. There are so few fast travel points so who even cares that you're not allowed to fast travel while delivering parts? It would've saved like a minute or two.
And I suppose it must also be stated that, unfortunately, the mysteries never really amount to anything and it's basically impossible to understand what the story is unless you're a master theorycrafter, though the easiest possible guess is that your character is dead and this is purgatory. Was that a massive spoiler? Not really; they tell you that your character's name is "Deadsuit" within like 10 seconds of starting the game. I was like "Oh, space purgatory, gotcha" in the first room of the game, so I'm mentioning it even though it's possibly an ending spoiler, because it's so very obvious. Ghost Song. Deadsuit. Lots of talk about ghosts, studying ghosts, trapping ghosts. So, the plot is either incredibly predictable and easy to figure out in the very first room of the game, or it's super obtuse and I have no clue what it was about. Personally, I don't care too much and it didn't bring the game much for me, but lore hounds beware that the game just kind of stops and doesn't feel like it has much of an ending (and I found the hidden thing you need for the "true" ending that is supposed to reveal more; I haven't seen the less revealing ending).
Overall, I'm happy that I played this game and I'll give it a decent enough score. I really did enjoy it and I couldn't wait to play more after work and on my first free saturday after staring it, even despite all of the above complaints (and more I had as I was playing but don't feel important now that I've finished it). It just doesn't seem like this game was worth almost a decade of development including completely rebuilding the game at one point. Maybe this version should've been released back in like 2015 and the remaining years of work should've gone into a sequel. I don't know. There is a lot to complain about and be frustrated by here, but also quite a few things to be engaged and excited by. I would cautiously recommend it to anyone who think they'd enjoy a slow-paced, comparatively small (but not necessarily short) metroidvania that really emphasizes the Metroid part of that word.
So, the strengths! This game is dripping with atmosphere; stuck on a desolate, once inhabited but now abandoned world, with surroundings that feel truly alien, mysteries around every corner, and a lingering sadness that permeates everything. Delivered with beautiful and striking visuals, moody and appropriate sound effects, as well as a soundtrack that alternates between ambient background music to serene, soft, almost haunting melodies that carry that same sadness that the rest of the game does. I also enjoyed the exploration, with just enough and just satisfying enough upgrades around every corner, and interesting bits of lore and NPC interactions to find. The combat and the Hollow Knight-inspired charm system (called "modules" here) were also things I mostly liked, with a few exceptions. All of this combined to a, for me, compelling experience and I wanted to press on and see more even though I did actually mostly dislike the game to begin with. I even found myself waking up on saturday wanting to play this first thing, after the usual morning stuff, and so I did and had a mostly lovely morning finishing off the second half of the game.
The problems, however... There's a lot of them. This game is very slow and never really picks up the pace. The early game feels like dragging yourself through hardening concrete, it's so slow. This is helped a little, but only a little, by finding the dash and double jump upgrades, both of which can thankfully be found early due to the game's unusually (even for the genre) free-form exploration that allows you to go in many directions at any time, with only a few rooms and areas blocked off by ability-gating, but the game never feels satisfyingly fast. This is exacerbated, heavily, by the fact that there are only like five fast travel locations in the game, and basically none of them make sense. Two are very close to each other and the "home base" one is oddly far away from the actual base for no discernable reason. This slowness and inconvenience is the biggest problem in the game, and what brings it down several notches, but I also kind of hated the side quests. The game is unusually populated for the genre, which I really liked, but it also uses a system where NPCs change their positions after you've made story progress (which in this game is returning ship parts to repair a ship so you can leave the planet), and they have randomized positions, which just really does not work in a game this slow and with this little movement convenience. The NPCs are almost never in logical spots that you'd return to either, because the non-linear story campaign means that the dev couldn't predict where we would be and when. This could've worked if the dev hadn't gone overboard with story triggers, which means that there are too many of them, meaning that if you miss one, you have now missed a story step and that side quest is ruined forever.
There are also a few glitches, like how there are a couple of marked exits on the map that don't line up with the next room, making it look like there are two exits stacked on top of each other and causing stupid confusion when you try to figure out where this magical second door is and until you find out that the map is just a little broken. It's not a big deal and so are none of the other glitches I ran into, like how one boss is sometimes invincible until you walk in and out of the room enough times to fix it. Not much of a problem. Neither is the runback to home base after finding a ship part either, honestly, and I don't know why so many people complain about it. I do not believe that it was intended as "padding", as I believe that "padding for time" is extremely rare and hardly ever done and that in most cases, it's just a question of content that person didn't like and so they refer to it as "padding" when other players really enjoy it. I don't believe that this game was intentionally padded either, and I don't see why it's such a big deal that you have to manually walk back the ship parts when you have to manually traverse the entire game. There are so few fast travel points so who even cares that you're not allowed to fast travel while delivering parts? It would've saved like a minute or two.
And I suppose it must also be stated that, unfortunately, the mysteries never really amount to anything and it's basically impossible to understand what the story is unless you're a master theorycrafter, though the easiest possible guess is that your character is dead and this is purgatory. Was that a massive spoiler? Not really; they tell you that your character's name is "Deadsuit" within like 10 seconds of starting the game. I was like "Oh, space purgatory, gotcha" in the first room of the game, so I'm mentioning it even though it's possibly an ending spoiler, because it's so very obvious. Ghost Song. Deadsuit. Lots of talk about ghosts, studying ghosts, trapping ghosts. So, the plot is either incredibly predictable and easy to figure out in the very first room of the game, or it's super obtuse and I have no clue what it was about. Personally, I don't care too much and it didn't bring the game much for me, but lore hounds beware that the game just kind of stops and doesn't feel like it has much of an ending (and I found the hidden thing you need for the "true" ending that is supposed to reveal more; I haven't seen the less revealing ending).
Overall, I'm happy that I played this game and I'll give it a decent enough score. I really did enjoy it and I couldn't wait to play more after work and on my first free saturday after staring it, even despite all of the above complaints (and more I had as I was playing but don't feel important now that I've finished it). It just doesn't seem like this game was worth almost a decade of development including completely rebuilding the game at one point. Maybe this version should've been released back in like 2015 and the remaining years of work should've gone into a sequel. I don't know. There is a lot to complain about and be frustrated by here, but also quite a few things to be engaged and excited by. I would cautiously recommend it to anyone who think they'd enjoy a slow-paced, comparatively small (but not necessarily short) metroidvania that really emphasizes the Metroid part of that word.
Slower paced Metroid is a good hook. Atmosphere, art, and music are all really well done.
The gun overheat boosting melee damage is a smart gimmick to encourage switching constantly during fights. The combat is otherwise decent, enemy designs don't change much and bosses tend to not have more than 1 or 2 moves to use at a time so it can feel a bit stale. I was expecting there to not be other melee options but to instead have different gun options, so it was a nice pivot from Metroid to do the opposite. The passive mod abilities are cool and there is enough good variety that you do have to consider which ones to take, but I can't say the same about the weapon abilities. The first one you get, the rocket, really does seem like the most effective one barring the novelty of having a "summon" ability, so it really doesn't seem like a worthwhile endeavor to equip multiple weapons abilities since they take from the same energy pool that passive mods use.
Skimming through reviews, I do agree that the backtracking from each objective item to the hub felt unnecessary and did come across more like padding. Some small skeleton head enemies will spawn when you're doing this backtracking but they're pretty easy for what they are, so it really is just doing the same rooms again with practically no change. I even stopped to grab another macguffin on my way back to return another, but it told me I couldn't take it until I dropped the other one off. Naturally this meant walking to the hub, walking back to the macguffin, and then walking back to the macguffin again.There not being an upgrade/fast travel station at the hub too is kinda silly, of all places why not there?
The gun overheat boosting melee damage is a smart gimmick to encourage switching constantly during fights. The combat is otherwise decent, enemy designs don't change much and bosses tend to not have more than 1 or 2 moves to use at a time so it can feel a bit stale. I was expecting there to not be other melee options but to instead have different gun options, so it was a nice pivot from Metroid to do the opposite. The passive mod abilities are cool and there is enough good variety that you do have to consider which ones to take, but I can't say the same about the weapon abilities. The first one you get, the rocket, really does seem like the most effective one barring the novelty of having a "summon" ability, so it really doesn't seem like a worthwhile endeavor to equip multiple weapons abilities since they take from the same energy pool that passive mods use.
Skimming through reviews, I do agree that the backtracking from each objective item to the hub felt unnecessary and did come across more like padding. Some small skeleton head enemies will spawn when you're doing this backtracking but they're pretty easy for what they are, so it really is just doing the same rooms again with practically no change. I even stopped to grab another macguffin on my way back to return another, but it told me I couldn't take it until I dropped the other one off. Naturally this meant walking to the hub, walking back to the macguffin, and then walking back to the macguffin again.There not being an upgrade/fast travel station at the hub too is kinda silly, of all places why not there?
There has been a recurring theme in video games, if something languishes in an unsteady development for too long it tends to result in a poor final product. Ghost Song first emerged as a Kickstarter all the way back in 2013, with an estimated delivery date of May 2014. Promising to create a striking 2D “metroidvania” that would appeal to fans of Metroid and Dark Souls. An overly optimistic target considering the game finally made its way to release a whole 8 and a half years later in November 2022 after undergoing a full rebuild on a new engine in 2018. Mostly created by one developer who did all the gameplay design and art, Ghost Song is certainly a testament to determination. Thankfully I am happy to report that, bucking the trend of most titles that get stuck in this form of “development hell”, this one is actually pretty good.
New Beginnings
You play as “Deadsuit”, a robotic looking protagonist who wakes up on the surface of an alien moon called Lorian with no memories of who they are or why they are here. No immediate story presents itself, instead you must explore this strange and intimidating rock to find ways of progressing forward. On your journey you will meet characters who will either add to your understanding of the world or attempt to kill you on sight. As well as one specific group who needs your help and will be your driving force to continue onwards and explore the subterranean tunnels beneath you. At this point the Dark Souls influence begins to show itself rather clearly as this is not a game that is here to tell you a direct story. Instead it just seeks to constantly whisper in your ear and pique your interest in the world around you, keeping questions in your mind as to what happened, it’s remarkably effective. Just don’t go in expecting answers, Ghost Song seems fairly content to let the audience try and piece together for themselves what is going on without ever giving the full story.
Time to Delve
As far as the gameplay goes it’s mostly a standard metroidvania affair, light platforming with plenty of combat while searching for abilities that allow you to progress further to as yet unexplored areas. Initially I found the platforming and movement a little clunky however this is greatly improved as you unlock additional movement options and pretty soon I was navigating around the levels with ease. This turned out to be a blessing because the game really does like to make you run around an almost unnecessary amount. While there are multiple fast travel points dotted around the map they feel a little too few in number, as well as being slightly too far from points of interest. Any time you end up dying to a boss (and you will be dying to the bosses) will result in a tedious trek back to face them a second time. Dying will also take a small chunk off your health bar until you repair it by spending resources so you are doubly punished for losing to a boss repeatedly as you need to take time out to get some xp and repair yourself. You will also be repeatedly forced into sections where you are unable to use the fast travel system. At first glance this felt like an interesting gimmick to re-traverse explored routes with my updated knowledge and powers, but by the 5th time it felt like padding and a lack of respect for the players’ time. These repeat journeys are made a bit fresher by adding some new enemies and challenges but the backtracking combined with a slightly abrupt ending gives the game a rather rushed feel, ironic for its extreme development time. It’s not a dealbreaker but given the exploration is great, I couldn’t help but feel covering the same ground repeatedly was taking me away from the strengths of the game.
Ghost Souls
Out of the platforming and the combat, the latter sees a lot more focus. While I referred to Dark Souls in the heading, it’s clear a lot of inspiration was also taken from Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight which was released during this game's development. Ghost Song actively encourages you to play a more aggressive high risk play style with its combat mechanics. If you use the blaster too much it will overheat and slow down to a mere sputter, however that heat is then built into your melee attacks to deal extra damage. Encouraging you to whittle foes down from a distance before dealing some damage up close. Thankfully Deadsuit can find a wide variety of different melee and special ranged options so you can find a combination that works for you. There is also a large variety of modules you can use to further enhance yourself with passive bonuses, very much akin to Hollow Knight’s charms. Although the amount you can equip is based on your level and you certainly don’t have room for all so you will have to make some agonizing choices on what you equip, and what stays behind.
The rest of the combat feels straight up Dark Souls. Enemy design is fantastic ranging from intimidating to grotesque. Run of the mill enemies are mainly a threat early on but are capable of chipping away at your health bar throughout if you aren’t careful. The bosses are an area where the game shines and are all varied in appearance/moves while mixing up attack patterns as their health is depleted. Each one initially gave me that feeling of being in over my head that souls-like players will be immediately familiar with. Their damage is high, their windows to get the perfect dodge are fairly slim and they will be sending you back to save points repeatedly until you “git gud” and learn their patterns. A number of these are also completely optional and guard new weapons/unlocks for those masochistic enough to seek them out. If you do fall in combat you will need to head back to that point and retrieve your body to avoid losing all the experience you had… very Dark Souls. The enemies can feel rather spongy but I can’t deny that I enjoyed littering the underground with robotic and alien remains and the feeling of triumph from beating a particularly hard boss.
A Lonely Planet
So why do I recommend you play this game? Honestly it’s hard to put a finger on the exact
reason why I came out of this game so charmed. The best I can explain is that it just has so much atmosphere to it. As you travel through this rather desolate and hostile feeling environment, the game just constantly hits you with such an overwhelmingly melancholic mood. I never felt like I was on edge, despite the tough enemies, rather filled with a slight sadness as to what has become of this place and the few remaining souls stuck on it with me. This is all reflected in Deadsuits’ voice and character. Displaying a rather childlike sense of curiosity but without any of the excitement. Everytime an objective is completed there is no celebration, just tiredness and a desire to rest. None of the character’s dialogue shows any high levels of emotion, it feels that everyone is just resigned to their situation and doing what they can to get through. It might not sound like it from the description but it makes all the characters feel rather endearing because you can relate to their mood through the tone the game is setting.
The soundtrack provides the perfect level of ambient tone to bring out the emotion of the wonderful background art that is a joy to look at in every new area. In fact the sound design on the whole is stellar. It induced a rather visceral reaction in me when I was trudging through a fleshy, pulsating alien tunnel and found myself charged by some sort of humanoid that had been taken over by the bugs. The creatures’ screams muffled by the giant alien clamped tight around its head sucked me into and immersed me in this strange location.
Ultimately Ghost Song created a world I just wanted to spend more time searching in. After each quest out I was eager to return to the characters I had met to get some new snippets of dialogue and lore and I was always happy to meet a new face while out searching new areas. The game as a whole does a great job of rewarding you for exploring, whether that be with an interesting locale, a new boss to fight or an interesting upgrade for your suit. By the time I finished the game after around 10 hours I had only discovered about half of the possible modules for Deadsuit and after writing this review I will likely go back and hunt for more!
Final Thoughts
If someone was to go into Ghost Song expecting it to be the next Hollow Knight, then I can imagine them leaving disappointed. However if you want to explore an interesting world, if you want to experience a passion project truly come to life. Then you should give Ghost Song a try, it might not be the best metroidvania you have ever played on a mechanical level, but I think it will be one of the most memorable overall. I really hope developer Old Moon uses this experience to come back and create a truly great followup because they are undeniably an artist when it comes to games.
buen juego pero para mi , paso sin pena ni gloria
non mi dice niente giosu
Do Androids Dream of Tortoises?
Ghost Song just oozes with melancholic atmosphere and a sense of exploration. You are stranded on a moon infested by some sort of plant infestation without any memories. Your only purpose is to help a stranded crew that crashed due to a magnetic field which pulls every spaceship onto the surface. While the premise is not that intriguing at first, it develops into a greatly written tale of sacrifice and humanity that just gives you enough lore bits and clues to comprehend your place in it, while it can sometimes turn into a guessing game of where you can obtain that knowledge because some vital NPCs move places or turn up out of the blue in different spots on the map you already marked as explored, my sense of wonder still kept the better of me, and I'm sure it was purposely designed that way. It's not as grand or entangled as Hollow Knight or the modern FromSoftware games which obviously deeply influenced the game, but rather focused on a certain theme, and I found that rather refreshing.
It plays like a typical modern metroidvania with more focus on ranged combat than melee. You have many different modules, some more helpful than others, and several weapons. My favorite was definitely the precise laser gun mixed with a satisfying magnum of sorts. The biggest gripe I have, though, were the boss fights, which were very unspectacular and rather easy. Most of them had three moves at most and a rather large health pool, which turned them into a test of patience rather than skill.
The soundtrack, though, was something else; I absolutely loved it. It's practically a more simplistic "Tomorrow's Harvest" album from Boards of Canada with a more melancholic touch. The song that was playing in Stoffbloom will definitely live rent-free in my head for the next weeks. Also, it absolutely helped to alleviate the already lonely and post-apocalyptic atmosphere to the next level.
If I were to make a list with games like Hollow Knight, this one would definitely be among the top three. It comes very close to some aspects of it, and I think with a few more fine-tuning in the gameplay and some more budget to alleviate some of its presentation, the next game of this studio can reach new heights.
Ghost Song just oozes with melancholic atmosphere and a sense of exploration. You are stranded on a moon infested by some sort of plant infestation without any memories. Your only purpose is to help a stranded crew that crashed due to a magnetic field which pulls every spaceship onto the surface. While the premise is not that intriguing at first, it develops into a greatly written tale of sacrifice and humanity that just gives you enough lore bits and clues to comprehend your place in it, while it can sometimes turn into a guessing game of where you can obtain that knowledge because some vital NPCs move places or turn up out of the blue in different spots on the map you already marked as explored, my sense of wonder still kept the better of me, and I'm sure it was purposely designed that way. It's not as grand or entangled as Hollow Knight or the modern FromSoftware games which obviously deeply influenced the game, but rather focused on a certain theme, and I found that rather refreshing.
It plays like a typical modern metroidvania with more focus on ranged combat than melee. You have many different modules, some more helpful than others, and several weapons. My favorite was definitely the precise laser gun mixed with a satisfying magnum of sorts. The biggest gripe I have, though, were the boss fights, which were very unspectacular and rather easy. Most of them had three moves at most and a rather large health pool, which turned them into a test of patience rather than skill.
The soundtrack, though, was something else; I absolutely loved it. It's practically a more simplistic "Tomorrow's Harvest" album from Boards of Canada with a more melancholic touch. The song that was playing in Stoffbloom will definitely live rent-free in my head for the next weeks. Also, it absolutely helped to alleviate the already lonely and post-apocalyptic atmosphere to the next level.
If I were to make a list with games like Hollow Knight, this one would definitely be among the top three. It comes very close to some aspects of it, and I think with a few more fine-tuning in the gameplay and some more budget to alleviate some of its presentation, the next game of this studio can reach new heights.