Ghostrunner 2 review

In my review of Ghostrunner, I praised the game’s free-running elements and presentation, while criticising its level design and relative overemphasis on story. Thankfully, the daringly named sequel Ghostrunner 2 made me a happy guy, because it addressed those concerns in a number of delightful ways and successfully expanded the scope of the game, all without introducing any bloat. 

All the strengths of the original’s parkour have been retained. As the titular Ghostrunner Jack, you can still run on billboards and walls, periodically slowing down time with the sensory boost ability to dodge attacks and bullets like Neo himself, then once you have closed the gap with a dash or lasso, viciously drive your katana into attackers to rid them of their outer coil, mortal or otherwise. It’s all quite adrenaline-pumping, not just due to the considerable speed of the platforming action, but thanks to the fact that without specific skills equipped, both enemies and players die in one hit, so every single movement counts.

None of this would be exciting if Ghostrunner 2 lacked responsiveness. Luckily this isn’t the case. Jack is a dream to control: he turns on a dime, any action required of him by the player, whether it’s a dash, shuriken throw, or jump, comes out fast without unnecessarily long startup animations, and the game in general isn’t burdened by any noticeable input delays from the DualSense controller. These are all positives shared with the first game, so how exactly does the second outing differentiate itself and improve?

The first major enhancement is visible in Ghostrunner 2’s level design. Unlike the first game, this time around there are multiple levels which showcase the world outside the cyberpunk-inspired setting of Dharma tower. These outside-world levels are often larger, while carrying a compelling, lived-in quality communicated through broken down urban structures like bridges and buildings, along with a seemingly endless desert extending into the horizon. They contrast nicely with the slicker, neon cityscapes of Dharma tower, which make up the first half of the experience. Aside from providing visual variety and worldbuilding by expanding the scope of the Ghostrunner universe, the outside-world stages also up the ante with the enemies present within them, with newly introduced creatures like sandworms that burrow and flee once approached, forcing the player to readjust their strategies in order to outmanoeuvre and defeat them. 

The virtual Cybervoid sections, which I criticised for being uncharacteristically dry in the original, are also improved here significantly. The puzzles were more engaging, whether they had a strict timing requirement or demanded additional exploration of the stage to proceed, they all shared a commonality in that they were compelling and didn’t feel shoehorned into the gameplay loop, unlike those present in the first game.

Another area of improvement were the boss fights. The bosses in Ghostrunner 2 are thoughtfully designed and animated, and regularly include multiple escalating stages. All the humanoid bosses also possess diverse, formidable move-sets that make them pretty difficult to beat on the first attempt. While the techno soundtrack is excellent across the board, I was particularly impressed by the background songs during these climactic encounters. The boss stage “YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE PEEKED” is a great example, as here, the track made by combining unrelenting, intense electronic music with occasional choir-like chants helps create a stunningly memorable parkour sequence in the Cybervoid.

I can’t say I am much of a motorcycle guy. They’re just a bit too loud for my liking. As revealed in the trailers though, Ghostrunner 2 does feature a motorcycle, and surprisingly, it was a pretty cool inclusion. The bike handles nicely with near-instant acceleration, has some guns on the front for blasting away the occasional enemy and can even ride on the walls. The mission in which it’s introduced was a real highlight of the game, getting to ride this cycle down the side of this huge wall at breakneck speeds, shooting the creepy crawlies and watching them explode in puffs of blood and smoke, while carefully avoiding shutting doors and laser blockades, that whole experience was simply thrilling.

Outside of set piece missions, the cycle is used sparingly, mostly to transport Jack across long distances in the grander levels, ensuring it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Similarly, the upgrade system is emphasised just enough with UI popups and easy to find RAM modules (collectible upgrades), to draw attention to the available, useful augmentations, but isn’t extensive enough to take focus away from the free running. There is even an upgrade that allows the player to take a hit without dying, provided they can rack up the required kills in quick succession beforehand. 

Like in the previous game, combat is not the only focal point of gameplay. Yes, you need to kill the enemies to proceed through the levels, but since you die in one hit, mindlessly swinging your katana is not viable, so you must parkour to the right places to avoid getting struck by the enemies, before putting yourself in opportune areas to take them out effectively, like above or behind them where you aren’t easily visible. Still, it’s worth noting the new combat upgrades this time around, since they’re universally pretty cool. 

The returning shuriken, for example, can be upgraded to fire three at once, making it ridiculously helpful when surrounded by danger. I even had an achievement pop for dispatching three enemies at once with that upgrade equipped. The new shadow ability is also a great tool in pressure situations, as it allows Jack to create a decoy of himself to distract the enemies, while he himself becomes invisible temporarily. That mechanic in itself isn’t groundbreaking, but the upgrades elevate it immensely, since they can grant additional shurikens to use and extra movement speed, on top of allowing for a safe retreat from combat. All in all, these upgrades provide the necessary options to ensure the naturally high difficulty from the player dying in one hit never feels outright unfair. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the side game mode: Roguerunner.exe. As the name suggests, this is a roguelike mode, where the player has a limited number of lives and once they run out, they have to restart entirely. Lives can be traded for upgrades, which are crucial since Jack starts from scratch with no upgrades or abilities. The levels in Roguerunner aren’t repurposed from the main game; in fact, they seem to be original mini stages, which is definitely a positive. The difficulty isn’t extreme, thankfully, and the levels are pretty short, making the whole mode friendly to replays. I enjoyed the non-linear structure too, since you can choose from a number of different paths depending on whether you want to play more parkour or combat-focused stages. I would compare this favourably to Black Ops‘ “Dead Ops Arcade”, a relatively short, fun mode, structured differently to the main game. A surprising bonus to be sure, but a welcome one.

When I reviewed Ghostrunner 2’s predecessor, I criticised how much importance was placed on a story that was unique neither in execution nor premise. This time around though, the story takes itself a lot less seriously. The protagonist Jack is constantly cracking deadpan jokes, helping his interactions with the cast feel more organic. New character Kira is also a highlight, lending hefty charm to the game’s longer missions, where conversations have to fill the void in quieter sections. Her breakdown of conspiracy theories about how the outside world got to its desolate state was particularly enjoyable since it hilariously mirrored similar discussions in popular podcasts, about aliens and other wacky influences on human history. 

The presentation is serviceable, with detailed texture work on the environment and enemies, and some neat lighting and depth of field effects, when using the slow-motion sensory boost ability. I did experience some stutters in the mission “Pillars of Creation”, which was one of the aforementioned larger missions, with heavy use of the bike and longer draw distances likely causing some issues. Overall, Ghostrunner 2 did have a somewhat blurry look to it, even in the resolution-focused “Quality” mode. Not sure what the reasoning behind this was, but it seems to use temporal anti-aliasing, which can produce softer image quality, especially when not rendering at native resolution. In this case, the dynamic resolution doesn’t appear to maintain a native 4K most of the time. The even lower resolution “Performance” mode is the safer bet for those who are easily irritated by FPS drops, since it runs at a locked 60FPS, but it’s worth noting I beat almost all of Ghostrunner 2 on the “Quality” setting without too many troubles, so it’s certainly viable if you prefer the focus on visual fidelity. 

Reviewed on PlayStation 5 with a review code provided by the publisher.

8 Yeah

Ghostrunner 2 emerges as a riotously entertaining sequel, elevated by its cleverly expanded level design, blistering free running and firm difficulty.