Ghost at Dawn Review

Rating – Recommend!

A 2024 Survival Horror game developed and published by Blue and Red Games, this is also the studio’s debut title. Blue and Red Games are small, as small as you would expect any indie development team to be, which upon reading might not fill you with confidence, but in this case they are mighty! It feels to me that the studio set out to make a love letter to the classic Resident Evil series but also employed their own twists to the formula and I believe they achieve some great things with their take. Developed using Unity and currently only available on PC through Steam for £12.79, Epic Games Store for £11.89 and GOG for £12.79 as of writing this review, and will be released on consoles through the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store in the future. Further research has found the studio has had issues in getting approval for the Nintendo Switch, however that could change further down the line.

Unconventionally, Ghost at Dawn is part 1 of a larger story for what the development team is looking to be an ongoing series, filled with passion for the game, the main menu itself refers to it as part 1 of the Horror Business series. The story follows Detective Ben O’Hara as he has been employed to find a missing girl Emi Kosuke with the last known whereabouts being the abandoned Pines Hotel. The hotel is treacherous, unlike Ghost at Dawn’s main inspiration the hotel does not contain flesh eating zombies or bioweapons, instead Detective O’Hara must defend himself against ghosts and other malevolent spirits of those that have perished inside the hotel and cannot bare to move on to the afterlife, making this feel like an odd mashup of Resident Evil and Fatal Frame/Project Zero. There is another enemy that Detective O’Hara must fight as well, that enemy is mental degradation, letting enemies get too close to you and standing in darkness will impact his mental state or sanity, if you let it drop too low it’s game over, the only way to restore his health is by making use of items that will look to calm Detective O’Hara down, these are in the forms of cigarettes, pills and also a hit flask, which leans into the noir film feeling the game also produces by giving us these common tropes. The hard boiled detective, hired as a private investigator because he was too much of a loose cannon for the official force, numbs the pain with pills and booze, pretty standard stuff just not expected to be paired with a cel-shaded anime aesthetic, but it strikes a chord with me, it wants to be different, it wants to be more than just a homage to classic Resident Evil.

Fixed camera angles are the name of the game here, Ghost at Dawn is a self-described love letter to 90’s Survival Horror, when talking about 90’s Survival Horror there are two major constants, fixed camera angles and tank controls. Fixed Camera angles are static camera angles almost like watching the character through a CCTV camera, as they move from scene to scene the camera angles change. This is a fan favourite for classic Survival Horror fans, having been employed by many classic games such as Resident Evil series up until Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Silent Hill series up until Silent Hill, Dino Crisis series, and the Parasite Eve series to name a few. Initially this camera style was done due to technological constraints and when used can provide not only some impressive camera/scene direction, but they can heighten already tense situations as it leans into the players “Fear of the Unknown”, being able to hear an enemy in the room but not being able to see them, what kind of enemy is it? How big are they? Do you move closer to try and change the camera angle to get a better view, or do you let them come closer to you in hopes that you can take them out before you become their dinner? These are the questions that fixed camera angles pose to players through its carefully crafted scenes.

Utilising them can be difficult, for example making sure that key items are telegraphed and not too hidden is an issue that many will probably face during the design phase, this is where another of Ghost at Dawn’s twists on their Survival Horror formula come into place, there is a hedge maze that you must travel through and in doing so the camera changes to an over the shoulder view for this. This is a great change of pace and shows that each area is being very thoughtfully put together under a coherent vision of what the developer is hoping to achieve.

The other pillar of old school Survival Horror that goes hand in hand with fixed camera angles is tank controls, named after how the control style feels like you’re manoeuvring a literal tank whatever way your character is facing pushing up on the controller will move them forward in whichever way they are facing, both of these are very much present in Ghost at Dawn with the tank controls being optional as they are not everyone’s cup of tea, if you prefer that style but the developers were conscience enough to also include a modern control scheme that many people will be familiar with as pushing up will move you away from the camera, as not being familiar with tank controls can easily result in player frustration. Ghost at Dawn’s art style is a dark, moody cel-shaded art style which is utilised in a very unique and intriguing way that further gives me feelings of being in a noir film.

The gameplay loop is consistent with the classic Survival Horror gameplay, explore, find a key item, use key item to open up more pathways around the inside and outside of the hotel and explore more areas, all the while avoiding certain doom, finding notes to flesh out the story and characters and vanquishing ghosts back to their resting place. You also need to be wary of standing in darkness for too long as doing so will drain your sanity and cause Detective O’Hara to have flashes of their demise, a way of getting around this is by turning on lamps, light switches and even using matches that allow you some grace time to walk through the darkness without having your sanity attacked. One of the strongest points I think for Ghost at Dawn are the scares, I’m not one to find myself jumping at horror games but there were a handful of times that something got me very good.

The gameplay very much aids in the scares and is where I think Ghost at Dawn shines the most, Blue and Red Games have been very deliberate with their placements of the fixed camera angles, with them being placed in specific locations to let you glimpse at small spooky sections such as underneath beds or into mirrors where they might be a set of eyes looking at you for a couple of seconds, or a ghost will disappear inside a bathtub full of water when you enter a bathroom. One scare that got me really good, I was running down a hallway of the hotel trying to get back to the main foyer and as soon as the camera angle changed to show the doors there was a ghost head taking up the entire doorway before slamming the doors shut and leaving me with an airborne controller that had jumped out of my hands. When it comes to combat it’s pretty standard combat, the ghosts can be harmed by your guns so you’re more than welcome to blast them away, however, if they get too close to you they will quickly drain your sanity and result in you dying.

There are plenty of challenge runs that will be sure to please classic Survival Horror fans, not using any healing items or only using specific healing items throughout the game, beating the game within a certain time limit etc. These are all typical mainstay challenges of classic Survival Horror games and it’s great to see that the developer recognises this and encourages players to try and complete them through the allure of achievements.

One aspect of the game that didn’t do much for me was the soundtrack. I don’t feel it lends itself enough to really amplify the story or the scares as much as I’d hoped it would. Sound effects can feel a bit flat at times, an example of this is choosing to begin the game, much like the love letter this game is to it has a sound that plays, in Resident Evil it’s a booming voice saying the title of the game, in Silent Hill it’s a booming echoing sound, Ghost at Dawn employs the same but it almost like a weak discordant piano. It does include a cover of House of the Rising Sun which is a nice surprise when it comes on.

I very much enjoyed my time with Ghost at Dawn. There may be some things that disappointed me like the soundtrack, but it gets the job done. I am not expecting perfection, especially on the first attempt, I wouldn’t even expect perfection on the third, or fourth attempt and I have been comparing it to some of the all time greatest Survival Horror games released, but I think being able to compare them and still come out positive is surely a good sign.. Blue and Red Games, a small indie team, set out to make a love letter to games that a majority of people have moved on from but still holds a dear place in many people’s hearts and I think they have thoroughly smashed it and made a game that is definitely worth your time, especially for the price tag that is being asked. I will certainly be looking forward to the next instalment when that comes!