Overall Impressions

Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed is, on the whole, both a very decent and highly fun game. Additionally, I should also note that, as mentioned earlier in this review, by and large, the launch quality is excellent. I would concede that I personally much preferred to play as the ghost, but I daresay that this would be balanced out should I find some friends to play this with rather than the roulette wheel of randoms (or worse, AI bots).

With that being said, however, this is far from a perfect game. The biggest criticism I can level at it is that if it didn’t have the Ghostbusters name and universe attached to it, this would ultimately be just another relatively generic title in a genre that’s verging on being done to death. Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed doesn’t really do anything new. It mostly just takes what other games have done well and spins it into the Ghostbusters world which, while fantastic for any fan, would likely not pay many dividends for those with only a casual (or zero) interest in the series as a whole.

Another key problem is that although I did only play the game for around 12 hours, I’m pretty sure that within this time I’d already seen everything Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed currently has to offer (and taking it a brutal step further – multiple times over). – There aren’t many maps, and while you can unlock new equipment, cosmetics, and different ghosts, it didn’t really shake things up enough to keep my interest for more than 1-3 hours at a time.

How Much Does it Cost?

Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed is exclusively available on PC via the Epic Games Store for the price of £31.99 (store link here). In terms of the price, here’s where things get tricky. – I genuinely do love this game, but I’ll freely concede that as a massive fan of the film franchise, I’m always going to look more fondly at a project that has been designed by those who share a similar passion than something that is merely a cynical cash grab.

And let me make it clear, Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed is no cynical cash grab. It is an excellent game and worthy addition to the Ghostbusters franchise as a whole.

With that being said though, while this is massively less expensive than most new AAA-gaming releases these days, I’m still not entirely sure that for £31.99 this is really worth its current cost. – No, this isn’t expensive, but at the same time, I’d be lying if said to you that there are masses of content to explore here. There really isn’t.

It sounds like a really petty point, but if this was £29.99, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid, pushing it over the £30 mark, however, just has me ultimately feeling that this is bordering on being a little expensive for a title that, in terms of content, is rather limited.

Final Thoughts!

Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed is a great game, and, for those of you who love the films, you’re probably going to adore this (as I did). Taking a more balanced view though, the biggest problem Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed currently has is that it is an exceptionally limited game that starts to feel more than a little repetitive after just a few short hours.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as I do enjoy a title I can simply dip in and out of without the need for masses of hours of investiture (500+ hours and counting in games like Risk, Dead By Daylight, and FTL). Taking my rose-tinted spectacles off though, for any kind of lengthy session, I’d need to play this with friends because otherwise, I think I’d likely get bored after 2-3 hours.

Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed is a lot of fun and has certainly laid down some excellent foundations for future patches to add more content in the future. – For the moment though, and at its current price, unless you really love the Ghostbusters universe, you’re probably going to want to wait until this hits a sale.

Again though, at the risk of sounding like I’m both loving and hating this, I really do think Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed is excellent. At the same time though, I simply can’t escape the overall feeling that (likely) in the rush to get this out the door before Halloween, a lot of unfinished content was removed from the title to get it ‘ready’ for release.

And no, Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed doesn’t feel unfinished, but it does feel like it needs a hell of a lot more to it (and fast) if this plans to keep the player count reasonably high over the coming months! – And, let’s be honest, there’s nothing really new on offer here either. This has basically taken a lot of elements from other similar asymmetric gaming titles and wrapped them around the Ghostbusters universe.

To conclude though, Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed is amazingly good fun and a fantastic addition to the franchise as a whole. The biggest problem it has right now, however, is that it just desperately crying out for more content!

Quick Fire Thoughts:

• Amazing short-term fun
• A true Ghostbusters gaming experience
• The long-term fun will probably ramp up quite significantly if you can find friends to play this with
• Desperately needs more varied content if this is to stand the test of time (and that’s not a great thing to say on release day!)
• Offers very little new (outside of the Ghostbusters associations) when compared to similar titles
• The in-game AI bots are best avoided – You can play this offline, but don’t!
• Needs some balancing – It seems a ‘good’ ghost will be able to beat a ‘good’ team 9 times out of 10

6.5 out of 10

Update – Illfonic Games have reached out to us to confirm that Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed will be receiving a number of free DLC packs over the coming year to add more maps and new ghosts. – If this is proven accurate, and they don’t come at any additional cost, you can ramp my score up to a 7.5 out of 10.