Developer: Grizzly Wizard Games
Publisher: Grizzly Wizard Games
Platform: Switch, PC, Linux
Tested on: Switch
Spooky Ghost Dot Com – Review
When you have a lot of coverage of games and software, you easily spot trends and put two and two together. Recently, we talked about Pixel Game Maker MV and how you could create simple yet fun games with it. The recent increase in Souls-like games such as The Surge 2, 3000th Duel and Code Vein means that this hype isn’t stopping quite yet. Spooky Ghost Dot Com is a game that looks like it was created in Pixel Game Maker MV and has drawn inspiration from the Souls franchise.
Story
Halloween is the day that many people wait for all year to celebrate. This once all-American trend is something that is now known and loved worldwide. Ruby is a ghost hunter and is waiting on said day at home for a job to come in. As she works for her site Spooky Ghost Dot Com, she gets a mail calling for help. The person requesting aid promises a handsome reward and leaves their address at the end. There are no red flags coming from this mail and since it is your first on a slow night you don’t hesitate a second and decide to grab your bike and drive to the location. After entering the house, you know that this won’t be an easy task. Using her love for cats and her trusty weapon, Ruby shall make the ghosts disappear from the haunted mansion.
In terms of story progression, there is not that much to talk about. You’ll get a few hints about the ghost and that’s about it. In the end, there is just the ending of the game and that’s it. There are no plot twists, just a plain simple ending.
Graphics
The visuals of the game are very simple and this has a lot of charisma. The graphics all seem to be created in paint or Photoshop by pixel painting the characters. Yes, the game looks the classic 8-bit way, yet it is way more colorful. Don’t expect deep details but rather a nostalgic approach to visuals and many alternating enemies and locations.
Sound
The sounds will take you back to the eighties/early nineties. Typical bleeps from the old Atari and early Nintendo days are so nostalgic that it makes the game even more fun. Good eerie music fits the graphics and if friends hear you play this game out loud, they might think you have taken the dust off your old Game Boy.
Gameplay
Spooky Ghost Dot Com is an adventure game that borrowed an element or two from the Souls genre. In its core, the game is a platforming arcade adventure that will place Ruby in the spookiest haunted house on the block. By using her trusty weapon, she will make the ghosts vanish, turning them into yummy candies to give to the children later that night (or just eat them herself).
At the beginning of the game, you are greeted by selecting the difficulty. You can either play easy or normal mode. In normal mode, the game turns difficult with enemies doing decent amounts of damage while your only means of healing is at a pumpkin light (that indeed respawns the enemies while resting). In easy mode, you will take less damage and the candy collected from monsters have a chance to heal you.
Controlling the game is pretty easy, the bare minimum of buttons is used and Ruby responds pretty well to inputs and even precise movement is possible when fighting some annoying bosses. Talking about bosses, there are a lot of those in the game. Each of them is unique and has patterns that you must learn in order to be able to make a dent into their health bar. After clearing some bosses on the map, you will begin getting upgrades for your abilities and weapons, which is welcome because the game only gets more difficult as it progresses. It isn’t a shame toning down from normal to easy, just to make sure to enjoy the game because it isn’t that long. It takes approximately a few hours to finish this arcade title but due to the difficulty, you might take longer. The adventure doesn’t get boring but taking a break is advised when things get rough.
Ruby likes cats and petting these little creatures surely will make her feel better in the place that she is stuck in. When encountering a ghost cat, she will thank you for comforting the normal cats and will award you with fast travel opportunities when they arise. A friendly frog has a little shop where you can trade candies for new items that will surely help you on your way.
Conclusion
Spooky Ghost Dot Com is a fun small adventure game that borrows elements from Dark Souls while not just blatantly ripping off each mechanic that the series uses. The graphics seem fully homemade and the game could be made with Pixel Game Maker (just speculating) for all we know. This fun little title is a great homage to days long gone and the sound will give flashbacks to those warm days behind your Game Boy screen. The gameplay can be hard due to the normal difficulty being made for hardcore players but there are enough ways and options to make your way to the end of the storyline. It would have been cool to see more story value in the game but it also isn’t in the way of having fun.
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