Publisher: Ivy Games
Genre: Puzzle
Available on: PS4, PC and Mac
Tested on: PS4
Gravity Ghost – Review
Plunge into the night sky with Gravity Ghost. Fall in love with the beautiful visuals or the stunning soundtrack that only enriches the whole experience. Gravity Ghost comes to us from the people over at Ivy Games. Set out on a journey that will have you hooked from the very first second with its charming, yet sometimes challenging, gameplay. Traverse through the cosmos with Iona, who sets out on a rescue mission to find her pet fox that has gone missing. Use the orbit of each planet to your advantage and solve all the puzzles. Enjoy the journey this game will take you on, in an attempt to save your best friend.
Story
The story sets you off with an image that seems to come out of a diary, which portrays Iona her family as they are the keepers of the lighthouse. You then wake up, along with your pet fox, but in an amazing, hand-painted, fantasy realm where even Iona looks completely different. Once they are both awake your pet fox disappears in front of you, vanishing into thin air. You then get to control her movements here for the first time as the game takes you through the basics of how it should be played. The entire story revolves around you finding your pet fox back, who is somewhere in the galaxy. While guiding as many souls as you can in the process, that way you also get to know more and more about Iona her life and history.
Guiding spirit animals to the afterlife is also the way the story of Iona her past is told to you. Occasionally when you successfully guide one, you get a fully voiced cutscene that gives you a bit of insight into Iona her past. Once you make your way past several puzzles you reach this black hole, which has to be closed as its causing havoc to all the planets surrounding it. Iona takes this responsibility upon herself as she realizes that besides all the poor spirits that are lost, her best friend is also wandering around somewhere.
Graphics
Gravity Ghost has gorgeous hand-painted visuals that grab your attention from the very first second. There is an amazing use of color, everything feels very vibrant and alive. The cutscenes are also hand-painted and really capture the overall feeling this game has. The flowers you collect lengthen your hair so you can take more spirit animals with you, but this long hair gives a very elegant trace of where you have been as it follows you and does so in a very smooth way.
Sound
The soundtrack in this game is absolutely astounding, there is no better way to describe it. Every moment carries more weight thanks to being backed up by amazing songs, from the happy moments to the sadder moments, they all have their own background music. Everything just fits together in a magical way that is just pleasing to the ears. The cutscenes are also fully voiced, which is always a good thing. All the planets you will use as tools to get around all have their own distinct sound thanks to their surfaces all being different textures.
Gameplay
Gravity Ghost is a puzzle game, plain and simple. But it’s a puzzle game done right. The way you play is very unique and Iona gives a very clear reason why she sets out on her mission, she wants to save her pet fox.
Your main tool will be using gravity, as the name implies, but there is a twist. You don’t control gravity yourself, instead, all the planets you encounter have their own orbit. This is what you use to solve the puzzles as you’ll use the physics of orbiting a planet or planetoid object to your advantage. For instance, if a place seems out of reach, you could simply orbit the planet a few times, gain speed and then try and fling yourself past the planet without touching it, letting momentum take you to the area you want to reach. While it may sound weird, and the mechanic does feel weird at the beginning. It really grows on you and once you have an understanding of how the physics work and how you can utilize it as a tool, the game opens up to give you this breath-taking experience that you will remember fondly.
Additionally, the planets themselves also have surfaces you can use to your advantage, be it sliding across the ice and gaining speed before you jump, or bouncing off of a planet that seems to be made out of rubber, there is always multiple ways to reach the end of the puzzle. But in the end, there is only one right way to play this game, and this is however you want to play it.
On your journey, you will find lost spirits of animals looking to live a peaceful afterlife. The way you can help these poor souls is by actually taking their souls with you and guiding them back to their bodies. You can even collect flowers throughout your journey that make your hair grow, allowing you to guide even more spirits.
Conclusion
Gravity Ghost is an exceptionally well-crafted game that provides you with a very unique way of playing. Everything just works together in perfect harmony, from the stunning hand-painted visuals to the masterfully created soundtrack that can alter your emotions just by hitting a few notes. Everything looks vibrant and feels like you are part of an experience. Besides all of the good points, this game points out that even though your goal is the destination, this doesn’t mean the journey falls short, in fact, it could be more about what you learn during your journey that matters.
Gravity Ghost - Review,
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