Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

You wake up dead. That's an opening situation scarcely any other game in the world will offer you. The hero named Sissel has neither memory nor body, but he does have one day to find out who killed him and why. And he has a single tool: the ability of a ghost to enter objects, manipulate them, and in the last four seconds before someone else's death, rewrite fate. Ghost Trick is one of the most original titles ever to come out on the Nintendo DS.

At its core the game is a logic adventure built around a mechanic called „Ghost Trick“. Sissel jumps between objects in the environment, sets them in motion, and triggers chains of reactions to save people who have just died. He turns time back a few seconds and the player must rearrange the events in the scene so as to prevent the tragedy. The individual mysteries fit together with the precision of clockwork and gradually assemble into one grand, surprisingly emotional story.

Behind the game stands Shu Takumi, the creator of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series, and his signature is evident at every step. It came out under the Capcom banner and is distinguished by absolutely remarkable character animation. The developers used motion capture and hand-tuned fluidity of movement, so even the tiny figures on the DS's lower screen seem to come to life. The visual style, music, and dramaturgy form an exceptionally tight whole.

Culturally Ghost Trick joined the titles that critics loved but that commercially didn't reach big numbers. Over time, however, it built up the status of a cult classic and a devoted fan base that recommended it for years as a hidden gem of the DS library. The game later received a remastered version for modern platforms, which brought it a deserved second wave of attention from a new audience.

What makes Ghost Trick exceptional is the way it weaves witty humor, a tense detective plot, and clever puzzles into one breath. The story of lost identity and a fate that can be rewritten builds toward a conclusion that ranks among the very best in the genre of narrative adventures. It's a game you'll finish practically in one sitting and remember for a long time afterward.

Why play: A completely original puzzle-adventure with an unforgettable story about death, time, and identity, from the creator of Ace Attorney.