Ghost Trick: Phantom Detectiveis a mystery puzzle game by the mastermind behind theAce Attorneyseries. You wake up one dark evening to discover you’re a ghost. Your memory is gone, and you have until sunrise to solve your murder. You spend the night exploring a strange city, using your ghostly powers to prevent a series of deaths somehow connected to your demise.
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Ghost Trick was originally exclusive to the Nintendo DS and was one of the best games on the system. More than a decade later,Capcomhas finally brought this gem toSwitch,PlayStation,Xbox, andSteam. If it’s your first time experiencing this thrilling mystery, knowing some tips and tricks can help you throughout your journey.
10The Basics Of Puzzle Solving
Ghost Trick is separated into 18 chapters. Each contains a series of puzzles, mostly about preventing someone’s untimely demise. These range from accidental deaths to cold-blooded murders. Your goal is to save these people by any means necessary.
You use your supernatural powers tohaunt various locationsand possess inanimate objects to solve puzzles. You toggle between the ghost world, where you can move between objects, and the living world, where you can manipulate what you possess. Possessing things serves many purposes, including distracting the killer, helping the victim get to safety, or even killing the murderer. But you’ll need to be quick because certain puzzles are timed.
9How The Time Limit Works
Whenever you find a corpse, your paranormal abilities allow you totravel back in timeto the moment before they died. These are the only segments with a time limit. Puzzles that take place in the present are more relaxed and allow you to explore without a time crunch.
When you reverse time, you have four minutes to prevent the victim’s death. Time moves normally in the living world, but the timer will stop anytime you switch to the ghost world, allowing you to take your time to examine the surrounding objects. Each object has a brief description of what it does, but you’ll have to switch back to the living world if you want to test it out.
8Look For Clues During The Victim’s Final Moments
When you go back in time to save someone, you see a short cutscene depicting the moments leading up to their death. Pay attention during these scenes and note anytime that game draws your attention to a certain character or object. These can be vital clues to help you solve the puzzle.
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Your biggest takeaway from these cutscenes is learning why the victim died. Did they not notice the killer sneaking up on them? Were they in the wrong place at the wrong time? Knowing the reason for their death can be vital to figuring out how to save them. Keep in mind why they died, and consider how you’re able to change the circumstance to alter the outcome.
7Explore The Crime Scene
The timer can be intimidating. It’s always in the corner of the screen, ticking away. But don’t let that discourage you from exploring. It’s easy to feel like you need to rush, but take some time to experiment with the objects around you. Understanding what each object does is beneficial for solving puzzles.
You can restart the level at any point, and there’s no penalty for doing so. Levels aren’t ranked, and there’s no benefit to getting it right on your first try. Take your time to observe the crime scene. You can always reset if you need to.
6Keep The Victim Alive
Your goal is to keep the victim alive. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stop the murderer. There are times when you may give the bad guys a taste of their own medicine, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes the killer will proceed with their plan no matter what you do.
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It’s important to keep in mind what you may and can’t control about the situation. If you can’t stop the killer, attempt to find another way to keep the victim safe. Can you get the victim to hide? Can you get them to play dead? Every chapter is different, so killing the murderer is not always the solution.
5Try To Delay Deaths
Sometimes you can’t prevent someone from dying, given your current circumstances. If you find yourself stuck, try to delay their demise instead. If it’s a murder, see if you can distract the killer. If it’s an accidental death, look for ways to postpone the danger or temporarily keep the victim safe.
You get a checkpoint every time you alter someone’s fate, and the timer will extend. Even the tiniest changes can open new opportunities, so it’s always worth going for, even if it seems insignificant. You never know what can cause a butterfly effect that changes the outcome in your favor.
4Be Mindful Of Your Radius
Keep in mind that you can’t move around freely. Part of the puzzle is that you can only move from one object to another, and your spirit can only reach so far. This means that certain items will be out of your radius. If that’s the case, look for different paths to get where you need to go.
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Use the camera to look around the crime scene. See if there are any moving objects you can grab onto. Experiment with different objects to see if you can change the room’s layout to create new routes. You can even lure characters into changing things for you if you elicit certain reactions from them.
3Don’t Let The Countdown Scare You
When time is almost up, the timer will fill the screen and start counting down the final seconds. This is intense, and it’s very easy to assume you missed something earlier in the level. But don’t restart just yet. Sometimes the answer to the puzzle is hidden in the final seconds. It’s not over until there’s a corpse.
Even if you did miss something, there’s no penalty for running out of time. You can even get vital clues by running out the clock. The countdown may be scary, but don’t let it get to you. Sometimes it can be worth waiting it out to see if a new opportunity opens or new information comes to light.
2Eavesdrop Whenever You Can
It’s common to see a character talking to themselves or someone else. You don’t have to listen to their conversations, but it never hurts. Eavesdropping can provide useful hints and even open up new paths.
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Part of your ghostly powers is the ability to travel long distances through telephone lines. If you see a character on the phone, always listen. Sometimes the answer is not in your current location, so eavesdropping on calls can unlock new places for you to investigate. This can be a lifesaver if nothing in your current area seems useful.
1Use The Record
Playing mystery games comes with a catch. It’s easy to forget important clues or story moments if it’s been a while since your last play session. It’s not always possible to play the chapters consecutively, but thankfully there’s a solution.
Just like the Ace Attorney games, Ghost Trick keeps a record of all the information you’ve gathered so far. It contains everything from the characters you’ve met to the locations you’ve investigated. If you find yourself struggling to remember things, the record is there throughout the entire game and gets updated constantly.
