“My new game of the year, cutting through everything else”

LifeIsXbox’s Ghostrunner 2 Review | The game that taught you slicing and dicing enemies whilst running on walls was possible is back with a sequel! Welcome back to the world of Ghostrunner where you will continue the story of Jack the Ghostrunner and his mission to bring peace and protect those who live in Dharma Tower after victoriously defeating the Keymaster Mara. Published by 505 Games and Developed by One More Level the developers have created proof that making a sequel can make all the difference, with huge changes from the original, you will need to use your cyber ninja skills to take on tougher and more resilient enemies, parkour your way through whilst slicing through those put in the way to stop you.

Ghostrunner 2 just proves that a cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic future game can still surprise you! Ghostrunner 2 caught me off guard when I played the demo at the WASD Live event and being my first playthrough it had me jumping for joy at the tease and wanting more even to the point of beating my score so I could enjoy the achievement and being up on the wall of fame for the demo! Being something new to what I am usually used to I struggled to put it down racking up tons of achievements in just 14 hours and honestly do not regret my time with it and enjoyed every moment from the beginning straight till the end.

This single-player experience is not easy though, oh no, no it is far more challenging than I expected and a few times I had a spit of rage but being a hardcore FPP hack and slash it did not come as a surprise. But the satisfying relief of finally getting the enemy that kept taking you down made the moment all worthwhile but here’s a question for you… Do you have what it takes to be a Ghostrunner?

What I Liked!

• Cinematic Story | When you are looking at a game’s story you always wonder what you are going to see or feel and if you will connect and feel part of the world or be disappointed, I must say I was not disappointed! Ghostrunner 2 had one of the most captivating stories of any game I have ever played, with so many moments that took me off guard and had me in a moment of disbelief. Now it is hard for me to really connect with a story like that, so during my playthrough feeling like I really connected and felt part of the story believing I was the protagonist just made playing through so much more enjoyable. Jack is the ultimate cyber ninja and taking on that role just made me feel almost indestructible and deadly. Although I died many times, I picked up my sword and went back to slicing the enemies and getting my revenge. The story surrounds what happens after the prequel and how things have changed after defeating Mara the Keymaster, what kind of effects will it have on Dharma Tower and its residents, or will it be the dawn of something far worse? No spoilers you will just have to find out.

• Slicing and Dicing | The combat mechanics of Ghostrunner 2 are so smooth, that cutting through hordes of enemies is the same feeling as slicing through butter. The satisfaction of taking on countless enemies all with different weapons and skills all to be met with the ultimate killing machine, Jack. As you progress you will come to learn more about how to become the most efficient by taking on your enemies with new skills you will unlock through gameplay, a style of skill tree known as the GR Augmentation Unit where you will choose the style you want to play upgrading your motherboard with upgrades and skillful advantages, you can choose many different styles, rather that be upgrading your sword, system or traversal; you can choose the way you want to play. A new feature of Ghostrunner 2 is the way you deal with the encounters, use your creativity to find the best possible way through or go running in swinging your sword around, whatever style you prefer is completely your choice with the enemies behaving more unique and dependent, no encounter is ever the same. I love using the Shuriken skill, use it to take out the little guys whilst dodging and making sure I can get close behind and eliminate the threat that has been kicking me left, right, and centre. How will use take on your foes? You decide! If you want to return to any level to beat your score or replay and collect anything you missed, have no fear Ghostrunner 2 has that option in the level selection menu, meaning you can return to any level you like and complete any tasks or improve your time or death score.

• Impressive Visuals and Customisation | Ghostrunner 2 and I cannot wait for you guys to experience the new looks and visuals of Dharma Tower. It just looks amazing and truly proves that One More Level really put their heart and soul into this game. The art and character models are as good as you can expect, and not just that but the different looks and models for your sword, hands, and bike from collecting new models just some of them were awesome, and some were okay, but you could choose back and forth the model you want to use. One little detail that was just a nice touch was the holographic band on your hand with your gamer tag which looked so cool to see. Ghostrunner 2 has 3 graphics modes Performance has a resolution of 2160p resolution with a 60FPS prioritizing a stable frame rate. Quality mode runs the same as Performance but only with 30FPS target. High frame rate at 1080p resolution and 120FPS. This varies considering the system you are using, and these settings are for both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. PC specs being different you would have to check your own PC specs which I have also included in the image so you can see the best way for you to enjoy Ghostrunner 2.

• Audio, and Voice Acting | One thing I love about games is the music, if you hear a good piece of music and I don’t know if I’m the only person to do this, but I will add that to my playlist and Ghostrunner 2’s theme and game music was phenomenal! The soundtrack had new music featured from multiple artists including We Are Magonia, Dan Terminus, Daniel Deluxe, Gost, and Arek Reikowski. The music made cutting through enemies even more captivating. I have to say one thing I absolutely loved about Ghostrunner 2 was the voice acting, each character had life and personality in them. A few times I had a laugh at some of the interactions but also the real emotion behind each voice felt more real than just a character in a video game. Sound effects in Ghostrunner 2 have had an incredible amount of detail put into them, from the metal of your sword connecting to the limbs of your enemies to the sounds of explosions and enemy chatter. Every little detail is unique and really shows that they really spent a lot of time perfecting this.

• More Content Coming Soon! | I can’t wait to see what new content will be released as Ghostrunner 2 has a season pass for you to buy which will have a new game mode and 4 cosmetic packs each containing 3 new sword skins, 3 new hand skins, and 1 motorcycle skin which will be announced further down the line. If you preorder Ghostrunner 2 you will unlock 2 exclusive skins for your hand and sword. If you buy the deluxe you will get 2 skins one for your hand and another for your sword plus the DESIGN 24R motorcycle skin or the brutal edition comes with 4 skins for your hand and 4 skins for your sword. A nice fresh look for each mission you can change in the menu anytime.

Mixed Feelings!

• Motorcycle missions | I have very mixed feelings when it comes to motorcycle missions, I don’t hate them but sometimes I would have issues with parts where the bike would stop mid-way through the air causing me to get zero deaths, which would frustrate me but it was also something new that hadn’t been done before, the controls where easy to pick up and you could also use your sword and the bikes gun to mow down enemies but also the issue was more if you run out of nitrous doing a jump you would slow down causing you to crash and again have to retry. I have very mixed feelings though I must say it was fun at times but also frustrating.

What I Disliked!

• RogueRunner.exe | When you get to a certain part of the game near the beginning you will unlock a game mode called RougeRunner.exe which is an augmented virtual simulation challenge mode where you can go through different stages which as you progress will get ridiculously harder, I completed Stage 2 and unfortunately Stage 2 still locked came back to see Stage 2 was available and it then forced me to redo all of Stage 1 which I have done at this stage already. You have a total of 7 at each stage which is extremely time-consuming from parts being surrounded only by parkour to fighting enemies getting increasingly harder and being the only way to unlock more skins etc. I really wasted a good hour getting so close to finishing Stage 2 to then meet a challenge that had no directive causing me to fail to restart progress. If it had made me start on Stage 2 again that would have been okay but restarting Stage 1 all over again just put me off massively, making me not want to go through RougeRunner.exe again.

How long did I play the game before publishing? 14 hours
How long to beat the story? 14 hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 440/1000GS
How long to achieve 1000G | Over 30 hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Ghostrunner