Even though many elements are familiar for gameplay reasons - it's important to dictate to the player exactly what textures can be wall run or what yellowed edges you should be aiming to vault to - the world itself comes alive in a fleshed out dystopian tower, a last bastion of humanity of a dark future.

Something that moves this fast really has no right to look this good, but Ghostrunner pulls it off deftly. The game moves fast, not just the cybernetic limbs of your protagonist ninja, but even the re-entrance to the next attempt that lies beyond the fourth wall. Probably the best feature of this loop is that there is no time to even dust yourself off before the next attempt, as reloading times into the previous checkpoint are practically nil. A single enemy bullet, a single brush along an electrified wall, a single mistimed leap that doesn't land on a platform all bolt you straight back to that last checkpoint. I never really felt cheated in that regard, but I did have to work out the lines needed to traverse the arena through copious trial and error, and even once my strategy was formed, I needed to execute on it flawlessly to pass each hurdle. There is no health bar, no room for error. Levels break down into running sequences and arenas usually populated sparsely by a few enemies and when the room is clear or gauntlet run a checkpoint is reached. You will die a lot in Ghostrunner. The completion of each level displays the kill count in the statistics and even early, easier levels were still racking up my count to sixty or seventy attempts. The only thing you really get for slowing down is dead. Ghostrunner is played at a lightning pace. Also, there is the motion sickness so watch out for that. The reason I implore everyone who might be interested to give it a try is simply this: this is a breakneck-paced game that involves a lot of trial and error, and being attracted to that in theory is sometimes very different to actually enjoying it in practice.

The demo covers the complete first level of the game and will introduce you to all of the core movement techniques of combat, dodging, and grappling while acclimating you to just how fast this game plays. Here it is for Playstation, or it's the first item on the Steam page.

Undoubtedly, the best advice I can give about Ghostrunner: Complete Edition deserves to be shoved right up front: do yourself a favor and download the demo and play it for yourself before first.

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