Ghostrunner

Every combat encounter is a tense dance of avoiding enemy attacks and pouncing on vulnerable foes when you see an opening. Platforming is equally fun and exciting. The game's bland story and boring "cyberspace" tutorial missions do bring it down, but the main gameplay is so fun I simply have to recommend it. Cool art direction and music as well.

I had high hopes for Ghostrunner, especially given its futuristic cyberpunk aesthetic and fast-paced action. Unfortunately, my experience with the game was far from enjoyable, and here's why.

First off, the difficulty is downright punishing in a way that feels more frustrating than rewarding. Sure, it’s meant to be a challenging parkour action game, but constantly dying due to the brutal timing required for each segment quickly loses its appeal. The respawn system doesn't help either—you're right back at the beginning of each section, forced to redo everything from scratch, which just becomes tedious rather than exciting.

The controls, while responsive in theory, feel stiff when you’re trying to string together precise jumps and attacks. It's hard to feel in control when the game has a way of punishing you for the tiniest misstep. Some platforming sections are borderline infuriating, and there are times when the game’s camera angles do more harm than good, making it difficult to judge distances or your surroundings.

The story, although attempting to be deep and philosophical, is largely forgettable. The narrative feels shoehorned in just to justify the endless combat and parkour sequences, and the voice acting does not do the script any favors—often sounding overdramatic and forced.

I also found the level design to be incredibly repetitive. The environments, while visually stunning at first, quickly start to feel like re-skins of the same dull futuristic landscapes. There’s little variety in the locations, and it’s hard to feel immersed when everything looks like it was pulled from the same bland cyberpunk template.

And let's talk about the sound design. The soundtrack might work for some, but I found it grating after a while. It’s constantly loud, heavy, and repetitive, which just adds to the feeling of frustration rather than helping to get you into the flow of the game.

Overall, Ghostrunner is an incredibly frustrating game that tries hard to impress with its visuals and high-speed gameplay but ultimately falls flat. Instead of offering a rewarding challenge, it feels like a constant exercise in patience. If you’re looking for a fluid action experience, you might be better off looking elsewhere.

Rating: 4/10 – Beautiful visuals, but frustrating, repetitive, and lacking in rewarding gameplay.

Hoped I would love it. I did not. The controls were irresponsive, more and more while the game progressed, and in the end a lot of stuff spawned incorrectly (walls from the other side etc.) and even the subtitles in the ending cutscene were noticably not in synch witch the sound (while I was listening to a line, the one preceeding that was shown). When the game crashed, I had to start the level from the beginning (as it is designed, I do not know why).

From the beginning I felt the game was not responsevie enough, I hoped I would listen to my gut. Hopefully, this does not happen to everyone, but it happened to me, so take my rating with a grain of salt, but also do not underestimate it, as without the problems, I think I could finish the game in half the time, so 2 hours would be enough time to find out if there is some big my computer - ghostrunner problem.

i 100%'d this game then they released DLC and now my 100% has been ripped from me and put behind a paywall for content that seemingly isn't as good as the base game. thanks a bunch, guys

Really fun game, worth getting for anyone who likes to speedrun levels. There's a lot of unique mechanics that keep the game from ever getting too frustrating or boring, and the maps are all well designed with unique systems and collectibles.

Game is very difficult rage quitted atleast twice yet i continue to play this game is very fun but can be very annoying Love it

Some parts better than others. I enjoyed the speed even if that often ended with me having a sword or pistol in my face. Fun overall. Get on discount though.

I absolutely love this game, especially being able to slow down time mid jump to dodge enemy bullets. Yes it can get hard, but it makes me only want to try harder, not give up - It's hard, but it feels possible. The concept itself is also really cool, and it's really nice to be able to learn about the history whilst playing, and it always brings new challenges, so it never gets boring

Good game. The bosses are terribly designed, but I love movement games.

Alright game, and I'm inclined to recommend a game with its heart in the right place. Ghostrunner is basically Mirror's Edge with a coat of paint from a trending genre, and a splendidly produced soundtrack.

This game will be quite the challenge to most players, but everyone will find it more frustrating due to control than to difficulty. Lot of buggy latches/hooks/walls, etc. This one of those games that convinces spatially unaware people that platforming doesn't work in first person. I do think the platforming is entertaining when it works! Though there's many trial and error moments that you couldn't have predicted or reacted to on your first try, unlike for example, Hotline Miami - where it's literally always possible to pull off a blazing combination of weapon grabs and throws if you end up surprised by new foes while out of ammo. Skill isn't going to get you through Ghostrunner perfectly, but there's checkpoints in basically every single room.

Something nobody seems to want to admit is that Ghostrunner has the most cliche possible generic cyberpunk story and characters, of zero interest to anyone familiar. Not even worth describing. It's that "vacant protagonist goes after corporate entity with optional double-cross" one. I assume they build on it in the next instalments.

As far as other gameplay features... Eh, some powers are blatantly better than others, I guess. Maybe the developers should have considered why Hotline Miami is light on bosses, too. One difficult target without a variety of approaches is just Simon Says by way of Groundhog Day. Didn't find much of the game massively fun, but I did find it comfy and atmospheric. Glad I played this. It's not exactly a massive undertaking to play every parkour & first person melee game, though. There's so few good ones.

Guess I can review the Ghostrunner nightclub event we had. Daniel Deluxe's mixes were a little shaky when he performed, and the other act we wanted to see couldn't make it. But the third act was a total surprise, a fantastic spooky theramin industrial band called The Night Terrors. Drinks were a little pricey, but I had a pretty good night. Since a nuanced opinion can't be given numerically and all I have to go on is a Gladiator thumb, I am deciding to judge Ghostrunner a good game because of this paragraph.

this is a nearly flawless game the only issues are the price how long the game is and a few bugs any other issues i have are trivial and it is without a doubt the best game of its type

Not nearly as hard as the comments made it seem. Very forgiving with checkpoints every 10 feet. I died more to the walls not activating wall-run than the enemies

Some encounters require split-second reflexes and creative movement, but its mostly straight forward. Only the first boss felt rewarding imo.

Overall good game, solid mechanics, fun. 7/10 will not be playing hardcore mode lol

Played both the first and second game. Got them for free on my old computer and had 100+ hours on each game. Smooth satisfying mechanics with satisfying kills and gore. 9/10 would recommend.

At first I didn't like, well I liked it for about 2 hours then I stopped playing because it got too difficult. But I kept the game installed, and after a long time I got back into it, and just finished and beat the game today. And I enjoyed it. Well, I died like 100 times per level though haha :)) but it was still fun. Especially the boss battles, they are intense. It's a badass game. Recommended, especially if you get it on sale as I did.

Think twice before buying.

The graphics are stunning, the music is great, but the game design is ass.

Some sections are the most fun I had in videogames, and some are complete BS.

If you're not a very patient person and\or you head\eyes start to hurt, when you try to track too many objects at once (especially glowing ones) - this game is not for you.
While it is a fun concept and I did initially like the game, at certain times it becomes a literal torture to play. Some stages are unreasonably unfair (but beatable, you just need to die 50+ times until you get everything right AND you're lucky).
The controls are clunky. Quite often the character climbs on stuff, he isn't supposed to. And sometimes doesn't trigger the animation of wall running\grabbing ziplines when he IS supposed to.
But the worst part is bad environment design. Sometimes you can't even tell where to go (yes, occasionally it's one of those "Where the f do I go?" kind of game). This is especially bad at the moments with parcour, when you need to make decisions quickly, but can't because game doesn't give you a clear signal where the f you need to go (so you die multiple times to figure that out).
There's quite a lot of stages where you're bambarded with tons of effects, that move fast and they're impossible to keep track of (if you're someone like me, at least), but you need to in order to progress further. This one is the main reason for this bad review. I gave up on a stage after beating Mara (who is either the final boss, or the one before the final boss). The part with what seems like hundreds of red dots flying in blue glowing space, where you need to jump on moving platforms (also glowing) while avoiding those dots. Don't know who's responsible for that stage, but I have a big FU for them. It was a pure torture for me and after what fealt like 100 tries, all failed, I just decided to give up (it's basically a finish line, an this makes this a first game I ever dropped this close to the end, EVER). This is not how you design stages, when you strugle not due to difficulty (which is also true), but simply because you can't make sense of what you see because everything on screen becomes a big glowing sludge for you.
This one is a big disappointment for me. I won't be touching the sequel, simply because I don't believe that devs would fix any of the aforementioned issues, given the generally good reception of the game (good for them, if they did fix those, but I won't bet my money on it).

---[Audience:]---
☐ Everyone
☑ Teenagers
☑ Adults
---[Graphics:]---
☐ Awful
☐ Not that bad...
☐ Great
☐ Awesome
☑ Beautiful
---[Price:]---
☐ Not worth it
☐ Worth it
☑ Buy now
☐ Wait for sale
---[Requirements:]---
☐ Potato
☑ Medium
☐ High end
☐ NASA
---[Difficulty:]---
☐ Easy
☐ Normal
☑ Hard
☑ Very Hard



the game is very hard and its made that way with no difficulty settings. it is fast paced and it may take you many tries to get a single part. i would like the saving system to be a bit different though (if you dont finish a level it doesnt save) i would like it to be able to save whenever we want bc the levels are quite big as you progress and they need some time until you complete them. but the second and the third boss fights... even though they are fun i would like a bit more narrative bc i had to use a youtube vid to understand what i had to do

Played this after mirrors edge holy this game is good the game has such fast paced combat and movement i love it 9/10

I really wanted to like this game, but I couldn't.
This is not a game for everyone!

Played with a controller, the shuriken parts still give me nightmares.
The movement is pretty clunky found myself dieing a lot because I glitched into a wall or started wallruning when i did not want to.
There is a section in the game where if you are too fast, you gonna die and won't realize why.
The story and characters started interesting, but ended up just an excuse.

I found it a very chill short game and had a lot of fun playing it did everything there was to do in the dlc and main game i bought it on steam after playing it on epic cause epic is a trash platform so i really enyojed it esspecially after learning advance speed movment wich made the game so satisfying to play

Ghostrunner is fast, flashy, and gorgeous. The cyberpunk aesthetic is immaculate and the base movement feels great (though it's weird the dash and slow-time buttons share the same keybind).

However, the story is a bit hollow, and Ghostrunner starts to fall of at the end. One of the last few levels introduces exploding enemies which feels antithetical to the game - you usually need to back up after triggering their timer and let them die on their own. Getting too close to them (within melee range - your primary weapon is a sword) also causes them to insta-kill you. I would've preferred them to start a timer, and you either need to kill them quickly, or parkour away, but that's just me.

The end boss and end level felt incredibly anticlimactic, which is a shame since the rest of the game is great fun.

I also completed the project Hel DLC, which feels a bit better movement and combat-wise (hel is much faster between her jumping and 'rage' mechanic which builds up on kills, enabling a projectile attack and a second life) and has a slightly better boss. However, a mini-mechanic was added right at the end, would've liked to see that show up at least once before the final level. There's also a powerup on the map which maxes out your rage and recharges incredibly quickly - which kind of encourages spamming the projectile and going back for a second life. I also had no idea Hel had her own set of upgrades until I got the 'legacy drivers' achievement - it didn't feel that much more difficult than the base game even without them. I did also clip out of the map at least once, but just had to fall into the void to go back to my checkpoint.

Other than those minor complaints it's a great action platformer. There's also in-game collectibles to encourage exploration (not much in a linear game, but still), and relatively simple puzzles or timed skill checks to break up the combat sections. Ghostunner might even be worth full-price if you're really in to action platformers, but it normally goes on sale for 50-70% off.

didn't like Ghostrunner because it was too hard? too fast paced? too unfair? instakills you? feels janky? frustrating? broke your monitor in a fit of rage? learn the virtue of patience. its a skill-based game focused primarily on timing. if you're expecting an fps-like experience, this game isn't for you. not for those who get frustrated when they're not immediately good at something, but great if you like fast-paced trial and error games that require quick timing and persistence. not a brute force experience. in other words: get gud

Story is incredibly mid basically just being a 5/10 action movie esq plot that only serves to give some sort of reason as to why you are slicing guys, but the game play is very fast paced and enjoyable 7/10

Great game to grab on the cheap. It has a couple Unreal stutters here and there but the graphics are very competent. The gameplay is fast and clean. I do not know how the story was expanded in the sequel but there is nothing to write home about in this one, just a servicable narrative. I found the puzzles to be the weak point in terms of gameplay, but the parkour and movement more than made up for it. It is good enough that I could easily see someone replaying a lot of parts just to get perfect runs and the like. Overall slick little game that does not overstay its welcome at ~5ish hours.

So that's where Cyberpunk 2077's wallrunning went, huh? Probably as good as 3D platforming gets.

Though Neon white has done the whole speedrunning for the masses thing better, Ghostrunner definitely scratches the perfectionist itch too.

Fun gameplay, weak story, and unique upgrade system. Some frustrating moments but overall a sense of clean gameplay. Enjoyable!

really fun game, mechanics are great, felt like a ninja, quite difficult, but not punishing, rarely felt frustrated, visuals are great and the movement is fun. parkour is smooth and feels natural, most obstacles blend into the buildings and scenery. didnt like the bossfights, especially the last one, solid 7.5/10

Super awesome experience, did rage in the game but that was fun!

i love this game to its core. its so brilliant and wonderful. the movement is quick and precise, as well as the combat!

As much as I want to love this game and do enjoy playing it. The bots in the game are so unrealistic is makes the game unbearable at points. They will shoot at you when you just peak out of a wall and clearly could not have possibly seen you. I really wanted this to be a fast paced game but it just slows so much down once you have to repeat a level twenty times because you got shot dead an inch away from the person.

The game is great, but damn the design of the first 2 levels is so BAD for new players!
- No long continuous run to feel the speed.
- Enemies are placed in such a way that after you kill the first one, you immediately get killed by the bullet of the others one that ISN'T IN YOUR FIELD OF VIEW YET.
- No button to snap the camera to the nearest enemy for controller (while the control scheme left the X button empty?). I have to swap to keyboard and mouse after the first enemy.
- The visual of the weapon suggest the attack range to be must shorter than it actually is.
- Most grappling hook points are OUT OF YOUR VISION FIELD both when you're in high speed and (somehow) in checkpoints -> They make me either panic or stop my momentum to find them.

Excellent game... Really been awhile since I've played a game with the fluidness of gameplay that Ghostrunner has. Real good treat for anyone looking for either a cyberpunk type game or just a 10 hour fun experience

The mechanics are really smooth. The final "boss" was a little disappointing but everything else is very polished.

Game for masochists. Insane difficulty levels not meant for human beings. You will eventually get through them, but it's mostly because you failed to mess up after 500 tries. Or you can try and bug out the level or sequence break out of desperation.

As someone who hasn't played many games in this genre, I found this game quite satisfying. Ghostrunner is more than adequate in terms of gameplay, but in my opinion, it's a bit lacking in story and narrative. If you don’t care about the story and just want a game to blow off some steam when you get home (though if your hands aren’t fast enough, you might find yourself even more stressed!), it’s a really good option. Overall, while the game satisfied me, I didn’t find the same enjoyment in the boss fights as I did in the regular gameplay. The bosses feel too repetitive and memorization-based. It also doesn’t seem like it was thought through too much. If they had integrated the story more into the gameplay and not just used subtitles in such a fast-paced game, I’m sure my score would have been higher. If you have free time, give it a try!
10/7.5

Main Game: I quite enjoyed this game, especially the movement mechanics. The story isn't bad either, though it isn't Skyrim Or RDR2 levels of writing, I didn't have trouble following along and significantly enjoyed the ending. Gameplay-wise, it is extremely fun, the slow-mo bullet dodging and fast-paced movement-based combat was really engaging and fun to play. I also like how the collectibles are hidden throughout the game. Not too easy to find but not impossible without a guide either. Overall, good story, great gameplay, 8/10.

DLC: I noticed that many people seem to enjoy the DLC a lot, sometimes even more than the base game. I personally didn't enjoy it as much, but I still had fun. The movement is slightly different, the jump is higher and the dash is longer and easier to control. I like this, but I also liked the technique needed to jump far distances in the base game. While Hel (DLC Main Character) can jump farther than the Ghostrunner, it doesn't feel as good. This is not to say I didn't thoroughly enjoy the movement system. I found myself using the dash a lot more since it felt much easier to control and had more distance.

Story-wise, the DLC provides insight into what went on before the events of the main story. I can't say much else about the story in the DLC, since it was about half as long as the base game and I didn't pay too much attention to it other than, "Oh, so that's how that happened!" Though from what I gathered the story was well written and did well to explain the lead-up to the events of the base game. Overall, the DLC is a great addition to the game and was enjoyable to play through. 8/10

Overall Score: 8/10
Notes: The game is engaging for seasoned gamers while also being beginner friendly, with the option to slow down combat in game to give yourself more time to react. I think this game would suit almost any player (except for kids of course, too much gore).

While the campaign is quite short(6-8 hrs) i think that the creative gameplay more than makes up for it, with its smoth and fast movement paired with the quick and satisfaying combat makes this game good

Story is pretty mid and predictable, boss fights were underwhelming except for the laser tower which was cool, but has fun gameplay, open maps, and interesting movement.

I played this game for 5 times the required times needed.
Completed it twice.
Finish the kill run and wave mode.
Committed (and succeeded) to every single achievement in the (base game)
And tried to get every level sub 10 deaths. (And bosses 0 deaths)

So you could say I hated this game. lol

Unfortunately, Ghostrunner suffers from severe optimization issues. Frequent frame rate drops, artifacts, and crashes significantly diminish the overall gaming experience. Despite the game's impressive visual style, these technical shortcomings prevent players from fully enjoying the gameplay.

The Gameplay is cool, the setting is cool and the characters are cool. I died way too much and i still had a great time wallrunning, slashing and dashing. The gameplay is like Hotline Miami and Mirrors Edge and I love it. There is gore of course but I just wish it was a little more brutal. The voice acting can also be a bit underwhelming but its nothing too bad and it absolutely doesn't ruin the game in my opinion. Dying and respawning are incredibly common just like in Hotline Miami so if you're the type of person to whine like a little bitch because you died more than three times then I really don't recommend this game but if you don't mind having your badass parkour killing spree ruined by a stray bullet then I think you should pick this one up.

Had a lot of performance issues, mainly stuttering, even after I turned down all graphic settings to low. I have a 4070 and it still struggled quite a lot. I still liked it and the fast paced level design reminded me of some of my favorite games to play - as if neon white and katana zero had a baby. but performance issues genuinely made me rage quit multiple times just because it felt so unfair to die over and over again due to so much stuttering on some levels. I quite love the music, and would love to play this game again granted the performance issues are fixed. I did really enjoy a lot of it but just those issues left a lot to be desired.

This is about twice as fun to watch as it is to play. I went in excited for a fast-paced first person ninja experience, but I find to be an unrefined, uncommunicative, and unfortunately dull gameplay structure.

-Dashing brings you to a halt at the end, it feels like dashing slows me down, especially used in the air.
-my dash either comes up short, or i dash directly into a bullet. Freezing time to move around is sort of lethargic. I don't like how the dash feels. Might be personal taste.
-Vertical movement is extremely limited, dash provides only side to side options, making diving onto an enemy awkward and difficult
-automatic wall-running and vaulting can occur at unexpected times, disrupting the flow of movement.
-deflecting bullets while running seems to be a necessary part of the experience, but deflecting is significantly easier when stationary. deflecting bullets while running is inconsistent and awkward.
-enemies don't communicate where they will move, making predicting them and fighting them awkward since the player is always moving.

The grapple hook and sliding are fun at least, but the base combat has an awkwardness I just can't get around. The story is alright, but I don't really want to play this game anymore.

8/10
pros:
-great dynamic movement system
-amazing looking levels
-solid difficulty not too rough but not too easy either
-solid soundtrack

cons:
-short game length (only took me 8 hours) and sort of okay story
-not enough post game content


this game was absolutely fun but i wish it was longer with a more fleshed out story

Ghostrunner by all accounts was a good time. Didn't blow me away in its story or gameplay but then again I don't think every game should have to. The best thing about that title is easily the visuals but as someone who doesn't care that much about that I would say that Ghostrunner is the perfect 7/10 game.

I will also add that I did end up playing this right after finishing Neon White and I couldn't help but compare what both games tried to go gameplay wise since both feel like they're meant to be fasted passed and feel cool. Unfortunately for Ghostrunner, Neon White executes on that kind of gameplay better.

good story, satisfying combat but it can be annoying at times. Still would recommend.

Amazing visuals and map design. Some levels are really hard but rewarding when completed.

Extremely satisfying combat and parkour, especially in the Project Hel DLC. Cyberpunk aesthetic and synth wave OST work very well for this type of game. Instant respawn mechanics allow it to increase difficulty without feeling frustrating. Plot was a little predictable, but its delivery was well thought out.

The game has generous checkpoints, but progress in any given level is lost if you quit the game before finishing the level, which some might find annoying, but it didn't affect me since levels are relatively short, longest taking half an hour at most.

Wish it was longer so I can play it more.

Not a power but a movement fantasy. Important distinction to make. In a nutshell, Hotline Miami meets Mirror's Edge meets Katana Zero. Also soundtrack slaps. My only gripe with the game is that I'd lock into the gameplay loop and space out every time so I could hardly pay attention to the incessant yapping between the 4 characters, which lays out the plot and gives insight into the lore and worldbuilding around you. Not that I needed to, I had a blast anyway.

And I'm also down bad for Hel. Like bad bad.

spiderman grapple
run up walls
slice people

i enjoy