Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a 2022 action game based on the Ghostbusters media franchise and developed by IllFonic. They provided a few review copies for Big Shiny Robot to have early access to review the game.
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed picks up during the after credits scene for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Winston and the Ecto-1 have arrived at the dilapidated firehouse. Through a clever montage Winston has the firehouse brought back to life. We also find out Ray’s Occult is located directly next door to the firehouse. This essentially provides an area for each of the two game play perspectives: Ghostbusters or specters.
During the main story for Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, you will have the opportunity to interact with Winston Zeddemore and Ray Stantz. Along with the legacy Ghostbusters are two new faces, Catt and Eddy Chan. They fit perfectly into the universe and act as guides into a paranormal investigation franchise reborn. Eddy is especially fun as the new tech guru for the team.
This game first and foremost is a multiplayer experience. The main story is nestled within that experience. While it isn’t a full-fledged single player narrative, it is a nice binding element for all of the fun gear and gameplay. Each story beat is unlocked by progressing your character through the multiplayer matches. Your character is given a level based on how many experience points you’ve earned. Ranking up your character equates to new story moments, upgraded Ghostbusters’ gear, and more customizations for your character.
The gameplay itself is deceptively simple while having plenty of depth for those wanting to stick around and really fine tune their ghost busting experience. Crossplay is a welcome feature for this multiplayer heavy game. The majority of the game revolves around taking jobs at the firehouse. These jobs are divided into private matches for you and your friends, or public matches played with strangers.
A job is essentially a round of four Ghostbusters versus one ghost. While that may sound one sided, the ghost has a lot of tricks and abilities to level the playing field. I never felt underpowered or outnumbered when I played as a ghost. As a specter your objective it to completely haunt the map you’re on. You can achieve this by scaring civilians, haunting objects, possessing objects, or just existing in a given area. As a Ghostbuster you use your PKE Meter, Proton Pack, Ghost Traps, and other various gear to hunt and catch the ghost.
The ghost has 4 lives total. The life you spawn with and three rifts, AKA respawns, that are hidden around the map. To take one of your lives the Ghostbusters need to either catch you or destroy a hidden rift. When the ghost is trapped, a rift is used to respawn your ghost. While deceptively simple, there is a lot of mastery to be found playing as a Ghostbuster or a ghost.
As your character is leveled up, your user will unlock gear with new abilities. While reviewing this game I spent a lot of time fine tuning my equipment to support my particular play style. What time I wasn’t spending customizing my gear I spent customizing my Ghostbuster. There are some surprisingly deep mechanics for tweaking your particular Ghostbuster to look like you, or anyone you’d like. In all honesty I think my favorite part of the game was the intro cinematic with me and three of my friends walking into a job fully customized. There is something special about seeing you and your friends in the Ghostbusters universe.
IllFonic knocked this one out of the park. It has just enough story to tie everything together. There is a ton of customization and skill to be gained playing this game. I think the $40 digital price point is perfect. While this game was provided by IllFonic for myself and a few friends to play together, I would gladly pay $40 for the experience. I have had a blast playing with friends and strangers. A lot of unexpected hilarious moments. Like possessing a giant teddy bear and trying to run away from the Ghostbusters.
If you’re a fan of Ghostbusters I highly recommend Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed. This game showed up just in time for spooky season when we are all hunkering down to spend a little more time with friends online. My only hope is some ongoing content creation and support from the IllFonic team. I would love to keep coming back to this universe for new content or abilities.