Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a promising iteration from IllFonic’s previous titles – GDC 2022 Preview

“Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed” is a promising iteration from IllFonic’s previous titles. The game promises to be more than just an action-packed shooter, with elements of RPG and co-op gameplay. I’m looking forward to learning more about the upcoming title while waiting for its release later this year!

The “ghostbusters game 2022” is a promising iteration from IllFonic’s previous titles. The new title has been announced for release in the near future, with a tentative release date of March 2022.

Sometimes you’ll hear a gaming notion that seems so apparent that you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it first. In Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, four Ghostbusters face off against one Ghost in a five-player asymmetrical multiplayer game. The company IllFonic, which is best known for Friday the 13th: The Game and Predator: Hunting Grounds, hopes that this upcoming product will be a reflection of the lessons learnt while developing earlier games.

Spirits Unleashed takes set after the events of last year’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and stars Ernie Hudson and Dan Akroyd as their legendary film roles, with players taking on the role of new Ghostbusters recruits. From their appearances to their gadget bonuses, these are personalities that gamers will construct. Meanwhile, a fifth player will take on the role of the Ghost, selecting from a variety of Ghosts each with their own set of powers. I played a match of Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed with the IllFonic team, in which I was able to play as both a Ghostbuster and a Ghost.

Image courtesy of IllFonic

I played a preview version at GDC 2022 that only contained one map and one playable Ghost, but it was more than enough to get a sense of the gameplay cycle. With citizens roaming the exhibitions, we played on a museum map. As a Ghostbuster, I could switch between the Proton Pack and the EKG Meter in first-person mode – the former was our primary weapon against Ghosts, while the latter was what we utilized to monitor the Ghost.

Each side will have their own goals: the Ghost will have to haunt the region (which will be tracked through a progress meter), which they will do by frightening the NPC people placed across the map. The Ghost will also be responsible for guarding three Rifts, which will act as respawn spots if they are discovered by the other players. The Ghostbusters, on the other hand, must hunt down the Ghost, trap and catch it, soothe panicked residents before driving them away from the area, and eliminate any Rifts to prevent the Ghost from respawning.

Playing as a Ghostbuster took some time for me to figure out, but the concepts were sound. Communication and callouts are critical for pursuing the wily Ghost, who has a lot more mobility choices than the Ghostbusters. Shooting the Proton Pack gives satisfying feedback, with recoil reflecting the raw power at your disposal. It took me a while to figure out how to attach to Ghosts – there are choices to pull and push your stream when you link with the opponent Ghost, and doing so as a team is crucial since one of you will need to install a trap. According to the developers, catching a Ghost was quite similar to fishing.

Image courtesy of IllFonic

Being a Ghost, on the other hand, suited me better. Although there was no need to collaborate with other players, playing as the Ghost would force you to chose your fights carefully. By achieving 100 percent on a haunting meter, which you’ll achieve by assaulting people, you’ll reach a victory state. You have a couple of defensive and offensive powers, as well as an ultimate, against the Ghostbusters; the Ghost I played as could fire slime for one ability, send out minions for another, and spew slime in all directions for an ultimate. I felt a lot more flexible with the ability to fly, and the addition of Ecto Vision allowed me to observe both people and Ghostbusters, letting me to plan out my actions ahead of time.

I ended up playing as the Ghost, a third-person view character, with a rather aggressive attitude. I’d wait until the Ghostbusters were about to calm down a civilian or discover a rift, then try to take them out all at once. I felt like I had extremely real and disruptive crowd control options with the ability to slime and send out minions, and I could follow up by just floating away. I had to continuously press a key to escape after being tied by Proton Packs, however I was informed that an accessibility option would be included in subsequent editions for people who couldn’t button mash.

I felt like I had to consider my choices multiple times: the Busters were assaulting one of my two remaining Rifts at one point, but I was near enough to my objective that I could have disregarded it and kept scaring bystanders. IllFonic constantly referring to these situations as “rock, paper, scissor” issues, as though the notion of players having to make these decisions was exciting to them. A timer started counting down as I reached 90%, allowing the Ghostbusters one final opportunity to kill me before I won. I took use of the Ghost’s unique feature: I had a pterodactyl statue hanging from the dinosaur exhibit’s ceiling, which caused the Ghostbusters to scramble beneath me until I won the battle, which took roughly 18 minutes in total.

Image courtesy of IllFonic

While my aggressive, guerilla-style of play was entertaining, IllFonic suggested that with more customization possibilities, Ghostbusters could be able to counter that style by giving their armor new powers. Each player might have their own Ghostbuster construct, allowing them to play diverse roles — for example, one may be on the offensive, another on tracking, and still another on trap-setting.

IllFonic also said that all ethnicities and gender identities will be represented in the character customization choices, and that Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed would be accessible to both casual and dedicated fans. The Ghostbusters franchise has a lighter tone than Predator or Friday the 13th, and with Funhaus authors James and Elyse Willems handling the dialogue and banter, there will undoubtedly be some chuckles. Dan Ackroyd, according to IllFonic, praised the script for fitting the tone of the series. IllFonic promises unlocked plot pieces, so Ackroyd and Hudson will be doing more than simply being disembodied voices. Finally, IllFonic wants Spirits Unleashed to be enjoyable alone as well – AI will take over when necessary, even during an online battle if any players leave out.

Despite all of the studio’s previous successes and flaws, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed seems like the pinnacle of their efforts, less of a copy and paste and more of a refining. There’s still a lot of work to be done before the game’s debut in late 2022, and my particular concerns include accessibility and balance. IllFonic may have something that sticks like slime if the final version of Spirits Unleashed delivers on the enjoyment I experienced in my quick hands-on.

The “will friday the 13th: the game continue” is a promising iteration from IllFonic’s previous titles. This new title promises to have a lot of improvements and will be released on October 13, 2022.

Related Tags

• ghostbusters: afterlife video game
• illfonic ghostbusters
• predator: hunting grounds credits
• ghostbusters: afterlife release date
• illfonic lawsuit