Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Review (PS4): A Masterpiece Resurrected

Unlike Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective‘s protagonist Sissel, the game is getting a second shot at life itself and hasn’t been left dead in a junkyard. Capcom has given Shu Takumi’s masterpiece another chance at success by delivering a lovely high-definition port of the Nintendo DS classic. While it’s been over a decade since the brilliant 2010 release, its mix of supernatural storytelling and puzzle-solving is just as mesmerizing.

Players start Ghost Trick just as confused as Sissel, who has lost his memories after waking up dead. Thanks to another spirit in the form of a helpful and mysterious lamp, players are soon on the path to learning about their own death by using a variety of “ghost tricks.” It’s a unique system that has Sissel possessing objects to move the plot forward and get through scenarios without seeing innocent people die. Each chapter presents different objects and scenarios that stretch the mechanics, so the game always feels fresh while new layers of the plot are slowly peeled back and start to connect together.

Ghost Trick has a lot in common with adventure games of old, but its puzzles are laid out much differently. While classics like Day of the Tentacle still hold up, many of the solutions were nonsensical at best, and players resorted to trial and error to figure out how to move the game forward. That isn’t the case here, as the logic throughout is sound, and there are no huge surprises in how two things might interact despite the results still being as equally humorous at times.

Ghost Trick’s dialogue and characters have aged extremely well.

Much of the game revolves around changing fate, as Sissel can go back four minutes before a person’s recent death. By watching closely how scenes play out and then noting what can be possessed, players can save lives — although the new situations that arise often become just as dire in a true “out of the frying pan into the fire” scenario. Figuring out the right combination of tricks and, more importantly, the timing of them as the situations play out again in real-time, is extremely satisfying even all these years later.

Every aspect of Phantom Detective gels together as players become quickly attached to its cast of eccentric characters. There’s an inherent connection built after seeing someone meet their grisly demise because of the humbling humanity death brings to us all, and the writing excels because it is from an era of Capcom that was putting its best foot forward with fantastic localizations. It is filled with memorable characters such as Missile, an always-barking Pomeranian that wants nothing more than to say, “Welcome!” and save his owner, that are just as fun as its cast of silly assassins with names like Near-Sighted Jeego and One-Step-Ahead Tengo. The cast and plot continually build off each other and ensure that Ghost Trick’s narrative is as consistent as it is strong.

Every story beat and character interaction is brought to life via some truly spectacular animation. Ghost Trick is dripping with personality, and while it’s hard to not miss the pixelated look of the original DS game, it all looks smoother than ever with the HD art — which has origins from the iOS port. This PS4 port also includes a series of bonus panel puzzles from the iOS version called Ghost Puzzles, which are a nice bonus for those who only played the DS version but aren’t much of a selling point otherwise, as they’re just a recreation of game scenes.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Review: The final verdict

Ghost Trick’s cohesion is why it is so special. The gameplay connects cleanly into its story, which ties together neatly and wraps up so well with an unforgettable, heartstring-pulling twist. I vividly recall beating the game and tearing up while in a parking lot a decade ago, and it’s nice to re-experience these emotions on the big screen. This is a lovely port of a timeless classic that deserves to be played by all, so change your own fate by picking it up since it’s a special game from start to finish.