Ghostrunner 2, like its predecessor, was developed by One More Level and published by 505 Games. Taking place a year after the events of the first game, players reprise the role of the cybernetic ninja named Jack. Ghostrunner 2 (GR2) is what I would call a safe and faithful sequel in that it carries with it the look, feel, gameplay, and storyline of the first game, while adding some new mechanics and improvements along the way. The briefest take on this game I could offer is that if you enjoyed the first and want more, you can’t go wrong here — but if you were not a fan of the original, then GR2 probably won’t do it for you because it’s very similar to the first outing.
It has been a while since I had player GR1 (and its DLC), so having a quick recap video available from the main menu was nice. In it, you’re given some cutscene footage from GR1 and a quick overview of what happened. In a nutshell, it’s a dystopian world, and the common people, known as Base Dwellers, are being controlled by a tyrant who is enthroned in the massive skyscraper known as Dharma Tower. You set out to bring peace and justice, going against your programming, and to do so you had to ascend Dharma Tower, a massive neon-lit structure loaded with bad guys eager to meet your blade. Upon defeating the Keymaster, and this is where GR2 picks up, several rival factions step in to try to claim the power and control that was left behind. As a member of the Interface Council, your goal is to restore order and stability. To accomplish this, you will traverse renewed dangers of Dharma Tower, as well as many challenges outside of the Tower, but your primary danger comes not from the rival gangs, but from a few select original Ghostrunners that want to step in and take over.
Before diving into the game itself, I would point out that the standard version of this game is $40, which is quite reasonable for the length and quality of game that it is. Deluxe and Brutal Editions of the game were also released that reached up to that $70 price point, with differences being in cosmetics, as well as Season Pass and Early Access (forty-eight hours) for Brutal Edition owners. As another tidbit, this game does offer Performance and Quality modes, as well as a Photo Mode by the way, so that players can decide if you want an upscaled 4K image with priority on stable framerate or image quality, or drop down to 1080p and go for 120 frames. Either way, I wouldn’t categorize this game as awesome when it comes to graphics — it’s good, but if you’re looking for cyberpunk worlds, there are better options out there.
With those details behind us, players dive right into the opening cutscene that sets an ominous stage of what Jack is going to be facing. You’ll then hear NPC Connor in your ear helping paint the picture of the story and events of what’s happening. Meanwhile, players get used to the fundamentals of traversal and combat, utilizing their gap-jammer to grapple around, sliding down slopes, running on walls, jumping on conveniently placed platforms, using massive fans to get an air boost, and more. Along the way, bad dudes with melee and ranged weapons will patiently wait for you to come into their active range, and you had better keep moving and act fast. There is some element of strategy or patience within Ghostrunner, especially if you access the in-level optional challenges, but for the most part the go-to strategy in GR2 is to be 100% on the offensive, and be fast. One hit kills the bad guys, but it also kills you. So for as cool and capable as that ninja suit is you’re wearing, one hit is enough to take you down. You can block, and even deflect enemy fire with a well-timed block, but blocking consumes stamina, so dashing and otherwise making the enemy miss are vital. The Stamina meter often felt like it was just barely enough or not quite enough though, before you had to pause a sec and let it regenerate. Anyway, another tool at your disposal from the start is the Sensory Boost, which momentarily slows things down to allow you time to dodge incoming attacks, but this also has a cooldown mechanic. Shurikens help you stun enemies or blow up explosive barrels, too, oh and there’s a chunk of the game where you’re on a badass motorcycle.
Ghostrunner prides itself on this very aggressive, frantic type of combat, which is fitting for the type of character and environment you’re in. He wields his blade off to the right side of the screen, helping you see things better from this first person perspective, but the camera angles can get pretty gnarly at times making it kind of hard to figure out where that bad guy went when you’re in a frenzy trying to slice them all down. I’m not sure if I would like this game better in third person or not, but it is pretty satisfying to zip around in first person and slice the bad guys with your sword.
Death comes quickly and often in GR2, at least for me. I like action games, but the twitchy platforming one-hit-kills type are still pretty new and not particular preferred by me. That said, I loved that the load times are completely zero and the game silently checkpoints constantly. So when you die, you’re typically either right at that jump or enemy encounter that killed you, or just literally just a few seconds back from that. So, that helps keep you going when the repetition and grind of it gets kind of grating, and it certainly did for me. For much of the game, there are various NPCs whose avatar will pop-up on screen as they chat with Jack about plot developments. Many times, I died during these times, and I like how the game handled these breaks during the checkpoint reloads. The conversation basically just continues uninterrupted, or, it might dial back a few seconds, but this was better than missing the conversation or having to hear it too often.
As you traverse the cyber-y world of GR2, a variety of NPCs will communicate with you to fill in more story and plotlines. Some NPCs are the good guys, others are the bad guys. Jack will respond to some of them as well. In between action, there are times where Jack can do a branching dialog with some NPCs, too. Through all of this communication, it’s evident that much more effort was put into the narrative than in the original game, and I can appreciate that. If the first game was maybe a little light on story, GR2 might be just a tad heavy-handed with its approach. Between the two, I like what GR2 has done, but if you’re here just for the action, I could see how the chatter could get annoying. I thought the story was interesting, even if the dialog while you’re in the middle of traversals can be a little annoying. On a related note, I have to say that some of the soundtrack for GR2 is pretty annoying as it’s too repetitive and obnoxious. Other tracks are much more enjoyable, but some of the tracks (including, by the way, the tune that plays from the PS5 XMB when you hover on the game), are overbearing and disagreeable.
On the whole, though, Ghostrunner 2 is a good game. It’s not my preferred type of first person action, but what it does is unique, cool, and rather well done. As mentioned out the outset, if you liked the first game and want to see a modest, but confident, evolution of that, GR2 is for you. It successfully makes the GR experience more robust without taking away from the unique action the first game offered.
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