Originally released in 2003 (with special re-releases in 2006 and 2011) Ghost Master is a niche puzzle / strategy game with a small but loyal following. Basically imagine The Sims except instead of controlling the people you control the ghosts who mess with the people. The more afraid of you they are the more powerful your ghosts become and the more they can affect the physical world. You have to decide which ghosts to take with you on new missions, where to place them, and which abilities they should use. Watch out though, if a ghost is located by paranormal investigators or a coven of witches then they will try to banish it from the level. The controls and the graphics are definitely of an older generation, but if you can look past that and relish the idea of scaring the living daylights out of some Sim-like persons then this is right up your alley.
You begin each level with a description of the place you'll be haunting and why your haunting it. The reasons can range from "because we can," to solving a mystery, to stopping certain persons from interfering in the matters of the deceased. You also unlock new ghosts in every level so there's that as well. You get to pick a 'squad' of ghosts, each one with its own unique set of powers and sphere of influence. When you enter the level you'll see a layout similar to The Sims where you can see inside the building(s) one floor at a time with people walking, talking, reading, sleeping, and otherwise moving about their business. You place your squad members at different places throughout the map and then either manually execute their powers or tell them which powers to auto-use. The mortals can't see the ghosts but they can see the affects of their powers (some do make a ghost visible). Each power requires that you have a certain amount of energy stored up which you gain from scaring the mortals. Thankfully using abilities does not drain energy which means that if you have 100e then all of your ghosts can use all of their powers that cost up to 100e indefinitely. Your power (very) slowly decreases to keep your ghosts attached to the physical world but for all except a few levels this will not affect how you play.
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| A gremlin causes a power surge to zap sorority girls around the TV. If this happens a few more times they might think that it's possessed... |
Your ghosts can only be placed according to their type. Gremlins, for example, can be attached to electronic items and all of their abilities have to do with the item they are attached to. They can make it malfunction, act 'creepily', zap nearby people, etc. A water spirit, by contrast, can be attached to a body of water or a piece of equipment / furniture to do with water and they would have water-like abilities from fog to flood to turning water to blood. A wraith, by another contrast, can only be placed on things associated with death and while its abilities are more fear inspiring than malfunctioning electronics and mysterious fog you won't have as much opportunity to use them without being creative. Creative in this case means luring mortals to where your heavy hitter ghosts can scare them. Strange sights and sounds may make mortals curious to investigate while scary things can make them flee in a certain direction. You can re-locate ghosts to another valid position on the map with ease but for some of the stronger types there may only be one or two spots on the map where they can go. Using ghosts also grants them experience which can be used to unlock further abilities.
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| A 'spook' ghost can be attached to any room and is by far the most maneuverable ghost. With so many mortals gathered here it would be a perfect time to turn visible or start moving the furniture around. |
Each mortal has a number of stats for you to take into consideration. The first is their amount of fear. If it gets high enough the mortal will flee the map. The second is there insanity. If you get it high enough they will go bonkers and run around the map disturbing the other mortals. The third is their belief in ghosts, their susceptibility to being scared. Each mortal also has a secret consciousness fear and subconsciousness fear that can be used to your advantage. If a mortal simply does not believe in ghosts then their otherworldly powers will rationalized as a strange occurrence and you will have a hard time scaring them, although providing enough evidence of the existence of ghosts will increase their belief and start making them susceptible. Chaining scares on a group of mortals that is already scared is a good way to create an avalanche of fear and belief which should give you enough energy to use the higher tier abilities on that level. Exposing a mortal to their conscience and subconscious fears will eventually make them go insane with hilarious results.
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| Don't worry it's not real fire... but try telling that to the mortals who are running for their lives! |
More than puzzles and strategy this is a game about messing with things and this is where I had the most fun. It may not be quite as efficient to toy with the mortals but it's the only ghost simulator in existence where you get to be the ghosts so who cares!? This is a game where you can zap unsuspecting people, turn the lights off on them, and make them run screaming with a thunderclap! This is a game where your goal is to create chaos and confusion and you have an arsenal of very capable ghosts at your disposal who specialize at doing just that. The setting and the theme are amazing and even though the execution was a bit clunky (still quite good by 2003 standards) I can not for the life of me figure out why this game never caught on and why nobody made a sequel. You get to set people on (illusory) fire and watch panic ensue as spiders and ghosts and hurricane force winds and falling fish (and more) appear out of nowhere... who wouldn't want that? Granted there are some levels where you need to be strategic and not scare the mortals and while most of these levels are very particular about what will and will not work, the game as a whole is sweet candy.
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