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The new Ghostbusters game looks to capture a central part of the films – that you’re part of a team. Built as a 4v1 multiplayer grudge match, you and your friends can buddy up as a squad of ghost hunters and clear out the poltergeists haunting New York real estate. To add tension to the mix, the ghosts you’re facing are controlled by another human player, and they have a suite of powers and abilities to give them the advantage.
In Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed you will be playing as a new set of characters and not the familiar faces we’ve come to know through the films, but that’s not to say it’s all new: the globby green ghost Slimer is making an appearance.
You can see the neon green ghost in the trailer below:
As the ghostbusters, you’ll have access to all the gear made famous in the films. You’ll use the PKE meter to track down the enemy ghost, blast it with Proton Packs, and capture it in the iconic Ghost Traps.
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is being made by Illfonic, the studio behind Friday the 13th: The Game and Predator: Hunting Grounds. Two titles that followed the same 4v1 format, pitting weakling humans against a single, super-powered enemy. It’s a strong formula, even if it’s had mixed results for Illfonic. Predator seemed like the perfect property for asymmetric multiplayer, but it didn’t deliver on the promise of the films.
It’s not long until we get our ectoplasm-covered hands on the game either, Spirits Unleashed will release for PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, PC, and Xbox One in ‘Q4 2022’ (so likely between October and December).
Opinion: Ghostbusters in video games
The Ghostbuster brand has a varied relationship with video games. While there are many of them, only a few are really worth playing.
The most substantial came in the form of 2009’s Ghostbusters: The Video Game. That title managed to be the last project to get every one of the original team on board. Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis are said to have had a hand in the script too, leading some to consider it an unofficial Ghostbusters 3, of sorts.
While earlier takes on the films led to disappointing games, this new multiplayer-focused spin on the ghost hunters is a smart choice. For a start, the films are centered around a team of four, a natural fit for multiplayer co-op. Then there’s the fact that in all the action sequences across the films, the Ghostbusters only ever triumphed with teamwork. One team member would be scanning the environment, directing their colleagues to the target, then when the proton packs were brought out they all had to work together to get the ghost into the trap. This all naturally fits into a co-op game.
While Predator may have been disappointing, we’ve hope that Ghostbusters could prove to be a winner.