45%Emulated

I can't push through the last two chapters of this game. While the sprites, music, and concept of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective are lovingly designed, its plot is contrived and its narrative beats are redundant. Again and again we watch Sissel repeat himself about how his memory loss means he can't remember basic concepts (which is understandable when it's revealed he's actually a cat, but frustrating again when we realize Sissel shares our human knowledge), watch Lynne's and the justice minister's incompetence with their jobs, or Jowd's infuriating insistence that being executed will provide some sort of justice for his wife. Yes, they are all wrong, and its through their ensemble interactions that they overcome the characteristics that hold them back, but it is just an endless barrage to highlight their flaws. There are perhaps too many characters and thus too many shallow, easily resolvable problems.

To commend this game, GTPD takes the worst part about the Ace Attorney series, collecting evidence, and weaves a conspiratorial crime drama around its primary mechanics. There's mystery to both finding out Sissel's origins and puzzling through each stage, though it can be fun but too demanding. Very precise and sometimes unintuitive choices are required in some of these puzzles, which already have a time limit, and needing to restart can be discouraging. The game asks you to embrace its kookiness, but isn't charming enough to back this up. With repetitive dialog and animations, awkward translations, and poorly designed systems, this game desires your effort but doesn't put forward enough of its own.

100%Nintendo Switch

An excellent game with excellent puzzles and an excellent story.

90%Nintendo DS

Gosto quando sou surpreendida desse jeito. Parecia ser só um jogo bobinho de puzzle, e o que eu encontrei foi uma maestria de narrativa e gameplay criativa. É uma constante de reviravoltas e além de ser divertido, me fez sentir na pele de um detetive.

Poucas coisas me incomodaram, e por isso não foi o 10, mas isso não tira o mérito de forma alguma.

50%PC

Although I like to experiment with games and genres, these experiments are not always successful. And that's okay, because the game is not bad in general, but it didn't work for me at all.

First of all, the story here is specific, I honestly expected a slightly different concept. I'll explain - I expected a full-fledged detective investigation, but the story is quite linear and is presented in portions, as a reward for the completed levels. For example, almost at the very beginning of the game, we rescue Detective Lynn, who refuses to share information with us, instead offering to do some missions and she'll tell you something. That is, we don't actually conduct an investigation. It is conducted without us, we are just given explanations at the right time to keep the story moving. Very often we go from character to character telling contradictory stories, just to find out later that it wasn't really like that, but we weren't told about it because we weren't ready to find out in the story. And if this was the only drawback in the game, I would have just sat and listened to the story, right up to the end, which is quite good. When you see the ending, it resembles the ending of some Sonic adventures with friends rather than a paranormal detective.

And now the main disadvantage that really pissed me off. This is the gameplay. In short, it doesn't change until the last 2 chapters. Moreover, there are no puzzles as such in the game, we have to click on objects in the right order in the allotted time. Many people praise the game for the logic of these puzzles. I'll tell you this, they are not just logical, you are told what to click in the direct text, and it is also highlighted in red in the dialogs. So they're not even puzzles, you don't have to think about solving them. The game just thinks you're an idiot and plays for you, telling you what to do and how to do it. And this kind of “gameplay” just drove me crazy.

We are told a few sentences of the story and that's it - the “puzzle” begins, where the characters begin to discuss what the player needs to do now, stalling for time. And if you clicked on the wrong item, your character starts commenting on your action, explaining why you shouldn't click it now and immediately offers to start over.

Overall, the story is nice, but it's more of a visual novel that you just have to click through. And even if it was 6-8 hours long, it's 13 hours! C'mon, even by the standards of the game, you have one evening to solve it, and the game takes only 8 hours, but the real time is stretched twice as much by puzzles that the game solves itself, and even chews on how it solved it.

It didn't work for me, because I was expecting something completely different, but the story is not bad and if you like light, fun VN about paranormal, then I would even recommend you to pay attention to the game.

90%Nintendo Switch

Engaging story + endearing characters + fun and intuitive gameplay + smart puzzles + cool atmosphere + nice difficulty curve + super-neat remaster... except for a few riddles requiring a little too much thinking out of the box (and a never-ending epilogue), Ghost Trick is almost flawless and deserves all the praise it received now and then. Hard to believe they never made a sequel with such a solid material. Must play for everyone who's ever been into point & click adventure games.

100%Nintendo DS

Great story with interesting cause-effect puzzle solving. Visual style is unique with some comedic writing and great hint dropping along the way. The characters all have distinct designs and are very memorable. Honestly, I can't find any faults with it other than maybe some puzzles could have been a bit more difficult.

80%Nintendo DS

Finally played this! I'm so frustrated with myself sometimes. I bought this game before the remaster of it was even announced and was interested in it even longer ... and yet it took me until now to finally put the damn thing into my DS and play it.

I just struggle with starting games on handheld consoles since I'm more comfortable with a TV and controller and story-focused games usually aren't the ones I gravitate towards, even though I often end up liking them. So both things combined led to me never starting this game, until now.

But enough about myself, Ghost Trick is a very unique adventure game where you're controlling a ghost trying to find out why you're dead and who you even are. The game is getting controlled by using the stylus to jump from object to object and manipulating said items in various ways. I like how contextualized every single action you can do is. The "rules" are clearly defined and spelled out in the game and it makes the symbiosis between gameplay and story really strong.

The actual puzzles are usually pretty simple and always make sense. There are just some frustrating examples where it's not quite clear what to do, because the game wants you to act a specific way that feels unclear. Those are exceptions, though. It can be a bit trial & error focused and having to rewind time and rewatch the same animations can be annoying, but overall I enjoyed solving each situation and let it all play out. It just got a little samey over the course of the game, despite them introducing a new mechanic later in the game (also cleverly implemented via story events!)

Where the game shines even more is the actual plot and characters. As you can expect from Shu Takumi, the characters are wacky and fun and the story offers plenty of revelations and twists. The way everything clicks into place at the end is really really cool.

Great game, just wish I enjoyed the puzzle aspect of it even more, but I definitely recommend to play this one, even if you're not that much into puzzle games. The storyline deserves to be experienced.

90%PC

Movement mechanics in this game can be frustrating. Most of the time the characters provide good enough dialogue to help point you in the right direction to progress the story when you get stuck. I would definitely recommend this if you heard about this game because you're an Ace Attorney fan (such as myself).

The connection Yomiel has with Sissel is similar to that of a black cat and myself. He passed away in 2021. The ending really reminded me of him and had me wiping tears off my face. RIP Zebulon "Batman" Pike. I still miss you.

100%Nintendo DS

A marvelous DS game with amazing music, fun writing and characters, clean art style, and a deep story that isn't held back by it's gameplay (except the guard puzzle, I had to look up a walkthrough there :P).

100%Nintendo DS

As the Nintendo DS entered its twilight years, and with the dawn of the 3DS fast approaching, Capcom had established quite a niche-yet-dedicated fanbase on the popular handheld console, thanks largely in part to their Ace Attorney series. Starting with worldwide ports of the Phoenix Wright trilogy, Capcom had debuted both a new trilogy in Apollo Justice and a new spinoff series in Investigations by the start of the 2010s. But throughout the DS's life span, Shu Takumi—Ace Attorney's legendary creator—was focused on another title that would appeal to the core audience of his adventure game series.

Initially codenamed Mansion, the project's goal was to weave together an innovative puzzle experience and a captivating mystery narrative, the kind of which could exist outside the bounds of Ace Attorney. It was also developed with a worldwide player base in mind, as opposed to the Japanese-aligned legal series. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective would become one of Capcom's final worldwide entries on the DS, and while it received some acclaim, it never quite reached the audience they hoped for. Those who did play it, though, would discover an absolute triumph—one of the very best stories in gaming and proof that Takumi must have been a true believer in saving the best for last.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective revolves around you—a recently deceased amnesiac ghost—and your quest to discover your identity and the truth behind your death. Doing so relies on meeting a list of seemingly disconnected characters and, using your eponymous ghost tricks, solving puzzles to alter their fates and prevent their deaths. It's here where the Ghost Trick first displays its wealth of innovation; the setting for each potential death functions as a delightfully clever DIY Rube Goldberg machine, where interacting with one object will have domino effects on another. It's immediately appealing and fantastically unique, and the game's approachable nature allows you to rewind puzzles any time, encouraging players to learn via observation. Deaths play out prior to solving them, so with more familiarity, you'll find yourself making notes in your head for how a potential death could be averted in real time. Every puzzle is a joy to solve, never asking too much of the player while also steadily increasing in complexity. Ghost Trick is naturally full of "A-ha!" moments, each more gratifying than the last, and when players aren't appreciating themselves for discovering a particularly fiendish solution, they'll certainly be appreciating its brilliant game design.

But somehow, Ghost Trick's narrative is not just a match for its gameplay; it exceeds it. Like the great mystery novels of old, Ghost Trick knows every move in the book to keep players barely holding on to the edge of their seat. What starts out as a seemingly straightforward mystery is compounded upon with layer after layer of new leads, new characters, and new motives. Every reveal just comes with more questions, and during the story's information-dense midpoint, Ghost Trick is almost impossible to put down. Capcom's writing team was at their Ace Attorney-adjacent best here, and it shines through in every ounce of the game, from its morbid sense of humor to its excellent and memorable ensemble.

Ghost Trick is constantly juggling a handful of storylines at once, and so it would only be natural for players to have some apprehension about the game's ability to tie them together into an appropriate finale. But Ghost Trick has no need for such concerns. One of gaming's best stories does, indeed, get one of gaming's best endings, and the only thing more shocking than the game's list of narrative twists is realizing how premeditated every story beat is. Ghost Trick is a relatively brief game, so it never wastes a moment; everything you see is relevant to the story, every piece vital towards establishing a wider conclusion. It's remarkable to witness, and as the credits finally roll, you'll realize the game's greatest trick was pulling off a truly satisfying ending, in a manner more fitting than most could ever dare to hope for.

For most of its time, Ghost Trick was stuck on the Nintendo DS. It seemed to be doomed to the status of a cult classic, enjoyed by some but undiscovered by many more. With the game's recent remaster, though, it too has received something of an altered fate. Perhaps things can be put right this time. It's a thrilling and intensely captivating mystery whose only real flaw is that it can only be played for the first time once, and it deserves an audience worthy of its majesty. And with any luck, it will get one. To have one of gaming's genuine masterpieces—a gripping and massively fulfilling narrative paired with an intelligently designed gameplay loop—which you can look forward to rather than just reflect on? It's an opportunity most can only dream of. It's ironic; the only people luckier than those who have played Ghost Trick are those who haven't. Yet.

70%PC

Unique mechanics but also packed with charm. It's well written, funny, however, I didn't find the mystery to be all that intriguing. There are two things in the game I'm really not a fan of: changing the past to undo the present. I find that to be a lazy trope unless you are complementing it with something subversive. Second is the prison stealth level. Just very tedious to play.

90%Nintendo Switch

Pros:
Ghost Trick's greatest strength is its story. It has a similar amount of plot twists as Ace Attorney, but it does them much better. For one, this game has no filler, everything ties back to the main plot and two the plot twists are much closer together due to the game's short playtime. Near the end of the game, you get an earth-shattering plot twist that gets your mind racing in almost every chapter. This keeps the game compelling the whole way through. Both these factors I mentioned originate from Ghost Trick's very unique storytelling structure, which is that the entire game takes place over one night. It immediately hooks the player from a storytelling perspective, because "How much can really happen in one night?".

Neutral:
Seeing the deaths play out and then trying to stop them is fun to have as the main gameplay loop. There's enough gameplay variety in between the main gameplay sequences that keep it fresh and exciting. There was one instance, however, where I missed one crucial object I could manipulate, costing me a lot of time. I eventually figured it out, but I got quite frustrated while doing so. The section where you help Jowd escape the prison was also quite tedious since most of it was waiting around for the guard patterns. Normally the waiting isn't an issue, but this one wasn't on the 4-minute timer that most of the gameplay sequences are, which made a significant difference.

I also enjoyed most of the bonus content in the game. It's always nice to have a built-in achievement system for Switch and I'll always appreciate an art viewer and music player in games. However the addition of Ghost Puzzles is just a way to pad out the playtime for 100% completionists, they are essentially a more bearable form of Professor Layton's slidey puzzles. Luckily that meant that I didn't have to look at a guide to complete them, but they were still quite tedious to complete. Nothing would've been lost if these had been omitted altogether.

80%PC

Great writing, characters, animation, art. A couple chapters were exceedingly tedious. Not sure I entirely loved the format of the game. Felt like it should be more of a puzzle game, but playing felt more like an adventure game.

65%Nintendo Switch

Not my thing. The story and amount of text (which feels very unnecessary at times) was standing in the way of experiencing this game. The gameplay itself is also very boring and felt repetitive quickly.

There is probably a fun experience underneath all this but it doesn't grab my intention enough to keep playing. Fun music and visuals though.

95%Nintendo Switch

每月通关游戏：11月，幽灵诡计。15小时全挑战收集完成。

除了时长略短，感觉还没咋玩就结束了，以及相对时长的价格略贵，没啥缺点😂。
小淑女们尤其可爱。

90%Nintendo DS

Me gustó mucho el final, fue muy bueno, me hizo llorar. No soy tanto de puzzles, pero aún así disfruté jugar. El tema principal es pegajoso y chevere, los personajes están bien hechos, excelente animación y gráficos. Me parece que el juego estuvo muy bien planeado, todos los escenarios son usados para contribuir a la historia y todos los personajes son relevantes. También es divertido a veces.

95%PC

peak

90%Nintendo Switch

What should I say about this MASTERPIECE? JUST GO PLAY IT. ITS AMAZING. The gameplay it's extremely original and the story it's SOOO WELL WRITTEN. The cast it's something you Will NEVER forger, so real, so iconic and so relatable. I love them all and I love the artstyle and the new remodels from the remake.

80%PC

The one line review of this game for me is basically that I quite liked the plot, but not the gameplay that tied one main story segment to the next.

From the moment I played the prologue/first level, I had my doubts about the gameplay sections. They gave me the impression they were going to be quite shallow, or at worse, quite obvious and pointless. Fortunately and unfortunately that wasn't the case. On the one hand, at the very least the path forward wasn't obvious, avoiding making it feel like you were just on a long loading screen, but on the other hand, holy fuck is the guesswork you have to do quite punishing.

I'd say each level is split into two main phases on the process of clearing them. First, you have to somewhat goof around to understand what tools are at your disposal and how you reach them, in this step you also try to learn if there are any more complex interactions at play to understand the states the level can be left at. And then once you gather all that context, you start playing around with your hypothesis on how you're meant to solve the issue at hand. Problem is that there is really only one solution for everything, but more importantly, if you deviate from that single path to that solution you might reach an irreversible dead end. This will then force you to restart the full level or a sizable fraction of it.

And this is probably where I show my age, or at least that I've grown to be very impatient, because I actually kinda dreaded having to solve the puzzles because of the amount of time it'd take me to redo everything up until the point I fucked up. Though solutions being time sensitive (having to be somewhere in the map for a 2 second window on a 4 minute playback for example), or being punished with a dead end for trying to see what certains interactions did wasn't exactly a way to get me to love these segments.

Fortunately, although this gameplay was a huge chunk of the playtime, at the very least none of the level played for outrageously long, or if they did, the amount of moving parts were lowered. Which is great, because frankly, I was in it mainly for the story. I really like the Phoenix Wright aura it carries, with eccentric characters and intertwining plots and characters. It's just unfortunate it also had to carry the sometimes not so obvious way to move forward that plagues some trails in that series.

In terms of just the story, it was quite lean, all characters play their part, and all seemingly mundane stories tie in to the main narrative in some fashion. I especially enjoyed the way the writer ended up tying it all up and how breadcrumbs were thrown in from the start. Narratives involving time travel are always hard to do right, but this one really refrained from trying to do too much and sticked the landing with what it picked quite nicely.

Missile is best boy.

100%Nintendo DS

Great game. Awesome animations, good music, and an engaging story. Starts off a bit slow, but really picks up. Not a fan of the ending, but it’s a great experience.

95%Linux

Shu Takumi's magnum opus - Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. In this contemporary era where quantity triumphs over quality, you are bound to cherish this defining piece of work for its uniqueness and creativity.

75%Nintendo 3DS

A game made by the creator of the ace attorney series and the similiarites between the two show. Essentially its a puzzle point and click game with whacky over the top characters, great music and the animation is incredible despite the limits of the handheld console. The story was actually engaging and whilst the puzzles did a get a bit tedious at times, there were lots of hints and pointers to guide the player. Had a few puzzles been cut short and a little trimmed interms of story this would have been a much better player experience.

70%Nintendo 3DS

Fun, just not for me. The story is good and they make a neat circle tied which ties the story together in a satisfying end.

60%PC

I can see the charm but not for me

100%Mobile

I played Ghost Trick back in the day and more than a decade later I have decided to relive the experience. Although I remembered the ending, I did not remember most of the details of the story and I can simply say that this is one of the greatest works of art in the world of video games. The gameplay is sensational and original, something I have not seen in any other video game. The characters have a brutal charisma (Missile, I adore you) and the music is perfect (especially the theme that sounds when trying to change the fate of the deceased). If you haven't played it, DO. You'll thank me.

90%Nintendo DS

Loved this game - The whole thing is really creative and has it's own unique style. The characters are well written and the story hooked me.

Game play was a refreshing change from my usual RPGs; It's a puzzle system where you jump around interacting with objects to change the fate of the characters. One of my favorite things was the animation style and character design. It's really unique and watching how everything plays out after manipulating events is really satisfying (especially a few key moments but won't spoil here). Another big plus for me is the runtime is really managable at about 12-15 hrs (the game doesn't track playtime).

The story was really good overall and once I became attached to the characters I became invested in changing their fates which was a lot of fun. The only thing that keeps this from being a 10/10 is there are a bit too many "now this" moments as the story got a bit over-complicated IMO. This is not a huge knock on the game though - I still really enjoyed it, even if it gets a bit crazy.

100%Nintendo Switch

Incroyable jeu avec d'incroyable personnages et OST, un énorme coup de cœur !

100%Nintendo Switch

There is nothing that I could call bad about this game. Sometimes the controls can get a bit meh due to the game being designed for the Stylus Pen rather than with controllers. Also a Fast-Forward-Button might've been nice if you made a slight mistake and didn't solve the mystery. But these are minor complains.

I never played a game before where story and gameplay went so fluid together. The gameplay itself feels very unique, I have not played a game like that before and its just so creative. And not to mention that every single detail is fully thought through, even those things you weren't thinking about during the very end.

This is one of the games you must play.

85%Nintendo DS

Great OST, engaging, fun, daring. Ace Attorney vibes.

80%Nintendo DS

What a fun time. Did not expect the twists and pulls from such a little stylised gem.
What is most impressive is the atmosphere they managed to pack in here despite the limitations of the DS.

60%Nintendo Switch

A quirky detective (kinda) game from the Ace Attorney team that is fun and charming. Unfortunately it felt like it went on for way to long and did not feel to me it needed to be that length

Art- 4/5 - let me start with one of the stronger points of this game. The visuals. the art style os in that unique style of bold cartoonish character design and bright and defined backgrounds. It was a game that was very pleaseing to look at and did well to fully show a wide range of character personalities and push the designs to the limit. the level designs were good as well though the distances between some parts were decieving and added a level of dificulty to puzzles. there is also a 'ghost' world section which is visually distinct as well and really helps seperate the views. what i also liked is you unlocked art as you played as well making it just a little more rewarding

Story - 2/5 - Now this is going to be harsh, mainly because I got so fed up at one point I almost didnt finish it. The story as a whole is quite Clever and has alot of mystery and intruge in it. by the Time I had got to the end however I had guessed it all and was just waiting for characters to explain it to eachother for the third time so we could move on. The story beats are always interupted by game play but there are so many points where something will be told to you multiple times and that really does annoy me. its one I do say is a good one to look into but as a whole I just was done with it and glad it was finished in the end. I went from really caring for the characters to not really minding whatever happened

Gameplay - 3/5 - again this is going to be harsh because the length of this game really was killer for me. the mechanics are very unique. you are a ghost that has to posses items and interact with them to move around and change the 'fate' of the individuals in a scene. pretty cool and quite fun. but it is pretty consistent throughout and you will have a large number of puzzles to solve this way. half the fight is figuring out what things actually do and the other is being against the clock. if you dont solve it when times up. back to the start. it became a lot of trial and error and trying to remember what worked before and the best way to get to a certain point at a certain time. I like my puzzles but there hit a point about halfway through where I had had enough of this and was just trying to sped through to be finished

Music - 4/5 - No before I do the overall lets go for another strong point. The musica and sound design. the music is so very funky. The kind ou cant help but bob your head to. despitre me getting fustrating at playing this game the music did help keep me going. if the music had been bad as well this would have been abandoned ages ago. the sound affects of suprise duing dialouge and doing your 'tricks' as a ghost are quite good as well, kinda helps set the atmosphere and give a inkling of whats happening without having to focus too much

Enjoyment - 3/5 - When i first started the game I will admit I did absolutely love it. it just kept going and going with the same things and I just couldn't keep enjoying it. I think this is really one of those games that I may have enjopyed more when i was younger and could just keep going no matter what and still love a game. but now it just really didnt hit that mark for me. its not a terrible game it is fun but I just wanted it to be shorter for me to have kept that love I had right at the start

80%Nintendo DS

this was as great as i expected it to be, not that i expected anything less from a Takumi game. wonderful sprite work, music, and dialogue/narratives but more than anything i was most impressed with the animations. every single character and each of their movements have so much charm. characters like Bailey have small presences in the grand scheme of the game at large but i'll remember them forever.

90%PC

Genuinely just had a good time, and boppin music

90%Nintendo DS

Punta e clicca: sei morto e non sai perché, né te lo ricordi.

90%PC

Very charming visual novel and from what my bf said, a very good port as well.

The music is very good, the gameplay is good although very frustrating lol and the story is of course the main thing you want out of a visual novel and it is very good as well.
good humor and characters that have a lot of charm.
not a 10/10 simply because the game did have some issues at least for me in gameplay. One time i was stuck in a zone where i was not supposed to be ? and just a minor plot gripe i have with the whole switching beanies in front of yomiel lol.

But other than that it's very good and i recommend it :3

95%Xbox Series X/S

After n64, I completely missed all things Nintendo until the Switch. Also, I enjoy the traditional gaming experience (sitting at home w/ a console hooked up to my tv) over any handheld or VR. This info should provide a hint at how far away I was from ever crossing paths w/ a 2010 DS game. I will say, that over the decade + I missed out on this gem, I came across it several times looking up the best games of all-time - in this game's instance it would pop up randomly in Top Detective games, Top puzzle games, top Mystery games, greatest hidden gems of all time and several others. As somebody who wants to experience every highly acclaimed (especially both critically and mainstream) game, this one was always on my radar in the hopes of a port. I happened to watch a trailer and I was intrigued, especially since it was made by Capcom. In the meantime, from 2010 until it finally coming to XB in '23, a little trilogy of games, also created by Capcom, were ported to PS and XB a few years back. These games shared not only the Capcom connection, but as I looked into the Ace Attorney games, I realized Ghost Trick was a creation from the same mind- Shu Takumi, which made my hype go through the roof.

Alas, it was finally ported to consoles this previous year, and the game had me hooked right away. I didn't know what to expect going in, outside of it being a puzzle game, but I didn't know if it was similar in gameplay to Ace Attorney. It was not. & it was a breath of fresh air after playing 3 straight Ace games that were all pretty similar (albeit amazing in their own right). The entire game takes place in 1 night which I loved. The characters are just as memorable as Ace. The overall narrative is great w a variety of twists & turns and seemingly random threads that find a way to connecting with one another. I loved all the different locations used & the animations are amazing for a DS game from over a decade ago. A very memorable, unique puzzle game that I would def recommend.

90%PC

I really liked this game! It totally missed me when it came out on the DS, but I was riveted! A really surprisingly intricate story and cool puzzles it was great fun!

80%Nintendo DS

Hard to rate this one. It's good in small doses, which I find is true for me for most visual novel type games. I absolutely love Phoenix Wright but I can only play it a bit at a time. The mechanics are clever, there's a cute dog, and it turns out you were actually a cat the whole time. Now that's a twist I can get behind!

100%PC

Great in all regards. Captivating mystery.

100%Emulated

play on Drastic (Android)
great story and plot with fantasic cast

90%Nintendo DS

Excellent story, interesting gameplay mechanics, great animations. Characters also on top level, very good work developers!

70%PC

This game really nails everything it attempts to do and I think is about as good as it could possibly be. It would be a 10/10 if I was inclined to enjoy graphic novels type games with a puzzle-based gameplay. The genre here really isn't my cup of tea, but that's not the game's fault. The fact that I really enjoyed it speaks volumes for how incredible the game is imo.

Even if this type of game really isn't your thing, I think you'll likely still come away from the experience having really enjoyed it. It's very charming and pretty much all the concepts are executed at a high level of quality.

70%Nintendo Switch

More fun with a guide since the timed puzzles can be frustrating. Great music and clever and unique gameplay. I prefer the pixel graphics from DS. Still a great game. Can feel its kinship to Ace Attorney.

100%Nintendo Switch

I always forget how good Ghost Trick is. 🥰
(I don't normally give 100% ratings, except for games I've replayed so many times over the years that I've lost count.)

I've replayed this game, oh, between 5-10 times? The music is great, the art direction is truly something special, the plot is twisty-turny, the characters are quirky and loveable. Every chapter takes about 30 minutes (it was designed for the DS with its portability in mind) and I appreciate this a lot.
This remaster for Switch gives us some bonus slidey puzzles, which, okay thanks I guess; and it also gives us a bunch of bonus concept art, which, actual thanks. <3

I love all the characters a whole bunch but this time I fixated on Cabanela, he has the best animations. 💃

70%Nintendo DS

Played in 2023, DS version.

Very lovely game.
A mix between a puzzle and a narrative game.
Made by the creator of the Ace Attorney series, hence the similar "feel".

The puzzle side of things gets a bit samey after a while, until new mechanics get introduced during the second half.
What really got me going was the story. I warmed up to the characters and really wanted to know the ins and outs of the plot.
It felt a bit like a longer Ace Attorney case (albeit without the mind-blowing trials).
Another aspect worth praising is the characters animation. They move really well, adding so much personality.
The music is clearly below the one of Ace Attorney games, and the character design/portraits is not as refined as the Attorney series.
Definitely worth playing though.

95%Nintendo Switch

Nearly perfect game. Excellent writing, fun characters, catchy music and extremely engaging mystery. Gameplay is entertaining and unique.

The story has perfect pacing and is divided into short, bite-sized chapters that are perfect for a casual playstyle, keeping things interesting without ever feeling like it's dragging on for too long. My only issue is with a specific plot point that gets info-dumped at the very end of the game rather than developing and unveiling itself naturally. It feels like it was written as an afterthought to tie a loose end introduced early on.

The 2023 release looks a bit dated due to some design choices regarding text fonts and UI, but otherwise makes the game justice with it's re-arranged soundtrack, HD visuals and extra features.

100%Nintendo DS

Perfect story, perfect characters, perfect execution. This is Hall of Fame material.

100%Emulated

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. Search this title online and you'll realise that somehow, no one has played it, but paradoxically, it's one of everyone's favourite games and you MUST play it. Capcom originally dropped a massive clanger marketing this game, so it attracted very few sales and wouldn't achieve its cult hit status for a good few years after release. I believe that the online clamour throwing this game in your face is really justified, and would recommend this to any gamer with the patience for visual-novel type games.

For one night only, Sissel is experiencing one of the most desirable power fantasies I've ever seen. His life has already ended, but he can still physically influence the world (press "Ghost" to warp between possessable objects within range, and "Trick" to make your object do something), and even commune with some of the living. On top of that, if he finds a dead body, he can head back to before the death and interact with the past world. With these powers, he merrily defies the fate of several characters, without fear of any consequences, and if things don't work out he shrugs it off and tries again. His ultimate goal, and the source of the game's tension, is to obtain full closure on the circumstances of his death, and truly rest in peace.

I thought the game encouraged patient, experiment-based gameplay but other reviews penalise a "trial-and-error" approach to puzzle solving. This description barely applies - in any situation, there are only a few Trick-able objects around, and object placement and optional character comments provide ample hints of what to do. Even if the solution isn't what you expected, you were still guided into making it happen. I got stuck and had to check a walkthrough twice - both times, I was already Tricking the right object; I just had to Trick it again. Enough room is given for your brain to do some work, while smoothly propelling the player forward so that even stupids like me can finish the game in about twelve hours. The exceptions are some rare occasions where you know the correct sequence of actions, but it's easy to flub the execution. These can prompt several restarts from a checkpoint, and cursing of the lack of a basic undo button.

Each level is a 2D side-view cutscene, the progression of which is influenced by your Tricks. You'll mostly find yourself in the kinds of mundane-made-kooky environments familiar to players of this game's Ace Attorney predecessors, starting in questionably-decorated apartments before graduating to luxury prisons, pollocentric restaurants, weirdo-attracting parks and so on. The opening levels might feel inconsequential but they all tie back into the story later. The nature of getting between levels causes Sissel to take on what feel like side missions, putting together the stories of apparent side characters, but the game's cast is so well interconnected that every level is a step forward and a new tidbit of information. The plot is almost more twists than straight parts, so the number of mysteries blossoms quickly and is almost too much, but for a useful summarising monologue at the start and end of each chapter. All your questions are resolved at the end, and I can't think of any loose ends or plot holes. The conclusion is jaw-dropping in a really life-affirming way; a long way from the dark, moody gut-punch twists which are so fashionable now. As with the best-written mysteries I was kicking myself for not getting it sooner. Almost everything was in plain sight, begging me to find it, but some blend of practised sleight-of-hand and my own incompetence kept me guessing the whole time. Even if I never forget this game's story, I'll look forward to playing it again and noticing every time the answers were staring me in the face.

I'll also look forward to revisiting the colourful pantomime of characters Ghost Trick treats you to, in which the Ace Attorney spirit is palpable. Most characters have a unique quirk to their writing, so given almost any text box, you can tell who said it. Just about everyone shares a friendly, optimistic nature, and whichever cast member reappears on screen, it's a little dopamine hit every time. Their distinctive designs are accompanied by charming, delightfully floppy CGI-rotoscoped animation. The background art is not so memorable but services the gameplay just fine. I would have preferred a clearer sense of depth, which would have helped me understand some puzzles more clearly. There's a cracking soundtrack with several very replayable pieces, though I thought it was a bit lightweight. There are ten minutes of sadly unused tracks in the game files, which are worth a listen online.

So yes, as the old saying goes, "Please play Ghost Trick". A consistent, exciting visual novel puzzler, working alongside original gameplay and beautiful characters, and one of the best narratives the DS era had to offer.

80%PC

Direction artistique cohérente et singulière avec ses chara designs et ses musiques, Ghost Trick prend direct aux tripes. Bon, la salle des machines était de trop, mais à part ça les énigmes sont marrantes et la durée de vie bien dosée. Si vous aimez les twists alors n'hésitez plus, parce que la fin tourne tellement vite que j'en ai mal à la tête.

85%Nintendo Switch

17/20