Experience Friendship And Overwhelming Cuteness In Ghost Giant – Review (PSVR)

Ghost Giant is unequivocally the cutest game I have ever played. 

In this virtual reality adventure game you are Ghost Giant, the protector and helper of an 11 year old boy named Louis. Your journey will directly coincide with Louis’ life as you help him navigate through childhood, friendship, and overcoming his own sources of anxiety. As Ghost Giant you are only visible to Louis and the two of your are connected in a way that only friends can be.

Story and Environment

Louis is a scared creature in a big world. Your journey begins by finding Louis near his tree house and startle him without meaning to do so. Quickly you find that Louis’ mom is behind on her debts and begin the process of helping him in his journey to navigate exactly what this means for him. While you can’t directly interact with the other characters that Louis encounters, they can’t see you after all, you are ale to interact with all of the parts of the world that he inhabits. Your new companion has no problem asking for help, and it’s your pleasure to pitch in. Louis isn’t all nerves though. He’s constantly pushing himself to get out of his comfort zone and experience new things – sometimes he just needs a little help.

What Louis lacks in confidence, he soon begins to gain through a series of events that take him into town to procure the necessary items to begin the process of helping his mother. While in town, Louis encounters quite the cast of characters. Their personalities are eccentric and alive in a way that few VR games have accomplished. Characters talk to themselves which can sometimes be a way to advance your quest as you overhear them, but also provide an immense amount of comic relief. Each character has a distinct personality and offer a perspective on life that can be anywhere from uplifting and goofy to downright macabre. In a child-like world that is so colorful and alive, it’s a bit of a startle to hear one of them question the meaning of life for the first time.

Interaction with objects in the world are mostly for the sole purpose of helping Louis. At an early point in the game Louis needs to get rid of some overgrown and dying sunflowers. While it’s a large feat for a small creature you, as Ghost Giant, are easily able to reach in and pluck them out. Louis can’t find a key, but you can easily spot its location and retrieve it for him. Sometimes you need to clear something lightweight out of the way, so Ghost Giant will blow a strong gust to clear the path – accomplished by the player by physically blowing near the PSVR headset microphone.

Graphics, Design, and Sound

Sancourt, the village in which much of the action in Ghost Giant takes place, is filled with character. The art style is beautiful and alive. It’s serious and realistic while, at the same time, appears silly and cartoony. Roads and buildings just don’t work the same way in Sancourt as they do in Anytown, USA. You can interact with buildings as if they are dollhouses – turning them around so you can see inside of them as well as ripping off the roofs to expose needed materials inside. 

Colors are vibrant and full, adding to the impression of being directly in the world that surrounds you, Ghost Giant. While most PSVR games have far away objects that are clearly visible, Ghost Giant has a knack of making them feel alive. You constantly feel as though you could reach out and touch the objects in the distance and, I have to admit, I tried to do so on more than one attempt – failing only because the technology would not allow it. You can still interact with faraway subjects though. Feel free to pick up an object and throw it into the distance. It will bounce and roll exactly like you would expect. This behavior is encouraged in several parts of the experience, especially when it comes to collectibles such as targets and giant basketball hoops.

The sound design is a real treat in Ghost Giant. It’s obvious that the soundtrack was designed with love and care. Sound effects of objects are dynamic and appropriate to the item and what it is doing. Characters will continue to talk around you even while you aren’t interacting with them and, as mentioned previously, drop some hints about your next objective from time to time. If you turn your head or reorient yourself, their voice fades slightly and appears to come from the direction in which they appear. The single gripe I have about the sound design concerns the characters and their dialogue volume. Sometimes, when you really need to hear a conversation happening in a specific area, the volume of other characters is too loud to muddle through. This caused some frustration, but can easily be overcome by moving your head closer to the subject you need to hear more loudly at a given moment.

Collectibles

Throughout Louis’ world you will be encouraged to find many different collectibles in each level, of which there are 13. Some of these collectibles are so easy to find that players will uncover them quite by accident. Others will have you searching endlessly and pulling out your hair. Regardless, finding each object or, in some cases such as shooting a basketball into a hoop, accomplishing the goal is rewarding and gives players something additional to focus on rather than just their main objectives.

VR Controls

Because you are acting as the actual Ghost Giant, Move controllers come into play in a big way. Simply, they act as your arms. Players control Ghost Giant’s arms by moving the Move controllers around their environment. You can push buttons, throw objects, pick up obstacles, turn gears, and, most importantly, tickle, high five, and poke characters in the world. 

There’s no movement in Ghost Giant. Instead, players can turn rotate to take in different perspectives, but will never move forward, backward, or side to side. You can lean in and out from objects in the game, but most things you need to do can be achieve by simply reaching your hands out and grabbing whatever it is you need. 

You most definitely need Move controls to play the game. Honestly, we couldn’t imagine playing any other way, even if there were an option to do so. Your arms and hands are such an integral part of the gameplay that it would be next to impossible to communicate this motion in any other way.

Recommendation

There are some aggravating parts of Ghost Giant. Hearing important prompts is very nearly impossible in certain situations due to other characters speaking and making noise. Sometimes a puzzle will not work correctly for a few tries even though you will later get it to work by doing the exact same thing. Still, Ghost Giant is an instant PSVR classic. It tells a uniquely human story with non-humans at the helm. The art style is immaculate and beautiful in nearly every way, giving testament to the creators’ vision of a world that is alive and breathing. And let’s not forget about the fact that this game is just straight up adorable in every aspect.

Ghost Giant may be my favorite PSVR game to date.

Ghost Giant releases on PSVR for $24.99 on April 16th, 2019.

Ghost Giant releases on PSVR for $24.99 on April 16th, 2019.

Check out our Review Guide to see what we criteria we use to score games.

Ghost Giant was provided to the reviewer by the game’s PR company, but this fact did not alter the reviewer’s opinion.