Ghost Song

 Switch
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 2 out of 6

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  1. Robotunit197
    Nov 7, 2022
    8
    Definitely enjoyed my time with this game. The art and music gave a wonderful sense of cosmic horror atmosphere that was present through my entire play through.
  2. cedriceent1
    Nov 17, 2022
    7
    Overall enjoyable game with great visuals and good soundtrack, but fairly mediocre story and technical flaws.

    Ghost Song is a Metroidvania with high emphasis on the Metroid part of that word with the main character even looking like a Samus clone, including gun arm. Gameplay-wise, it also borrows heavily from that franchise as well as other Metroidvanias. Most notably the charms-system    Overall enjoyable game with great visuals and good soundtrack, but fairly mediocre story and technical flaws.

    Ghost Song is a Metroidvania with high emphasis on the Metroid part of that word with the main character even looking like a Samus clone, including gun arm. Gameplay-wise, it also borrows heavily from that franchise as well as other Metroidvanias. Most notably the charms-system from Hollow Knight which you can equip and unequip as long as you have enough slots. The difference here is that you can change your equipment wherever you want rather than at a checkpoint, so you can prepare yourself just before a boss fight.

    But the game also has some ideas of its own such as the heatup system. When using your gun, it heats up, and gets weaker. But at the same time, your melee weapon gets more powerful, so you're incentivised to switch your fighting style accordingly. I like the mechanic, but it would have been nice if the devs had played around with it more. They do expand on it in one area, but that's about it.

    The game in general puts a big focus on combat and boss fights. It has its fair share of challenging bosses, but most of them don't put up much of a fight if you have the right equipment. The most lackluster boss is unfortunately the very last one which is ridiculously easy and barely requires any strategy to beat. I fully expected there to be another fight after it, but was instead let down by a rather anti-climactic ending.

    As a Metroidvania, the game puts heavy emphasis on exploration with lots of items and equipment to find. However, almost all of them are combat related. There are only a few that offer new ways to explore the world. There's a wall jump, a double jump, and that's about it. I found that a bit disappointing, as for me, one of the biggest joys in a game like that is to find an item that changes the way I play, and to figure out how I can use it to progress.

    Speaking of progression, the way forward is oftentimes opened in an unsatisfying way. At times, the player is just expected to shoot at a random wall to open up the path forward, which doesn't require any deductive or puzzle-solving skills, but just trial-and-error. There's also quite a bit of back-tracking as there are several points in the game where you literally have to walk the way back where you came from for arbitrary reasons. I didn't mind it too much, but it's still padding.

    The presentation of the game is overall great. I like both the visuals and the soundtrack. Environments are detailed, distinct and are nice to look at. The soundtrack also does a good job adding to the atmosphere. And the voice actors also did an impeccable job with their lines of dialogue.

    The story is... serviceable. It has some interesting setups that don't get resolved in a way that feels satisfying. It also feels unfocused in that regard as seemingly unimportant information becomes important to reveal the identity of the playable character. There's also an odd side story that doesn't offer anything to the main narrative and only makes the story more unfocused. Overall, I feel like it could have been executed a lot better.

    Finally, I want to address some performance issues with the Switch version. Obviously, I can't tell you anything about other console or the PC versions, but for Switch, there has been noticeable slowdown in areas with lots of enemies. It doesn't affect gameplay too much, but it is distracting. There are also framerate drops if you use the speed boost with the evasion boost. So I hope these issues will be fixed in an upcoming patch. Note that I exclusively played on handheld, and don't know how it plays in docked mode.    … Expand
  3. Loonlamb007
    Feb 18, 2023
    2
    Really janky and bad Game. Control probably the worst I have ever experienced in an Metroidvania. Music is wonderful thought, but it doesn't save the Game.
  4. Kwhetton87
    May 31, 2023
    10
    An excellent little metroid love letter. It does just enough different to feel fresh and exciting but has that Super Metroid vibe. Thoroughly enjoyed Ghost Song after 12 hours of play it's one of my favourite titles of 2023.

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. NintendoWorldReport
    Nov 9, 2022
    80
    There have been frustrating boss fights, sure, but that was my experience with Hollow Knight too, and it’s a similar feeling here. Finally beating these tough-as-nails bosses gives you a great feeling of accomplishment (and relief), although they’re probably not for everybody. It’s definitely worth a shot if you enjoy Metroid, Hollow Knight, or the Souls series.
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  2. Nintendo Life
    Nov 6, 2022
    70
    Ghost Song is a game that wears its inspirations on its sleeve with pride, and although it may feel a bit derivative at times, it is still able to create its own identity through a great combat system and unique worldbuilding. While the game can be brutally difficult, “explorer” mode makes the game more accessible than it would otherwise. Unfortunately, the game suffers from significant performance problems on Switch, from an inconsistent frame rate to extensive loading times that destroy any flow the game has. If you’re willing and able to look past those issues, Ghost Song is an easy recommendation for any and all fans of the Metroidvania genre.
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  3. TouchArcade
    Nov 4, 2022
    80
    The only thing holding me back from wholeheartedly recommending Ghost Song to everyone is the performance on Nintendo Switch. I had already finished Ghost Song on PC before I played it on Switch for this review, and it was a better experience there. I hope these performance issues can be addressed because Ghost Song definitely feels perfect for Nintendo Switch. Right now, the game itself is an easy recommendation, but the Nintendo Switch version needs a bit of work.
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