Ghost Giant
More actions
| Ghost Giant | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Developer | Zoink |
| Publisher | Zoink (digital); Perp Games (physical PlayStation VR edition) |
| Platform | PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest |
| Device | PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | Puzzle, Adventure |
| Input Device | PlayStation Move (PlayStation VR), motion controllers (Quest) |
| Game Mode | Single-player |
| Release Date | 16 April 2019 (PlayStation VR); 20 February 2020 (Oculus Quest) |
| Price | US$24.99 (PlayStation Store and Meta Horizon Store, October 2026) |
| App Store | PlayStation Store, Meta Horizon Store |
| Website | https://thunderfulgames.com/games/ghost-giant-2/ |
Ghost Giant is a single-player virtual reality puzzle adventure game developed by Zoink, the studio behind Fe and Flipping Death. The player is a giant ghost, visible only to a lonely young cat named Louis, who uses oversized hands to help him and the residents of the small town of Sancourt.[1][2] The story was written by the author Sara Bergmark Elfgren.[3]
The game was announced in June 2018 as part of Sony's Countdown to E3 2018 and released digitally for PlayStation VR on 16 April 2019.[3][4] An Oculus Quest version followed on 20 February 2020.[2][5] Metacritic lists a "generally favorable" score of 80 for the PlayStation 4 version, and the game received an Honorable Mention for Best VR/AR Game at the 2020 Game Developers Choice Awards and won Best VR/XR at the 2020 Nordic Game Awards.[6][7][8]
Gameplay
Louis lives in an out-of-the-way part of Sancourt and tends the family sunflower farm with his mother. Louis is lonely, and the player takes on the role of the Ghost Giant.[3] The player's see-through hands can lift furniture, vehicles and trees, and whole buildings can be rotated or opened to show what is happening inside, so that the town works as what Zoink called "your own little dollhouse sandbox".[3] According to the studio, the giant can also lift off walls and roofs, use a crane as a fishing rod, throw a large rock over the woods, lean in to listen to conversations and put hats on townspeople.[4] Puzzles range from helping Louis harvest sunflowers to operating cranes and moving giant boulders.[2]
The game is divided into 14 scenes. In its review, UploadVR described each scene as "a miniature theatre production", and noted that the player may have to pull a lever to rotate a building or lift its roof off to see what Louis is doing inside.[9] Meta's blog describes the game as a "three- to five-hour-long puzzle and narrative-driven experience".[2] On PlayStation VR it requires the PlayStation Camera and PlayStation Move motion controllers, and the PlayStation Store lists it as a one-player game.[10]
Behind the light presentation, the story deals with Louis's family troubles. UploadVR wrote that the game is "a bold take on depression and neglect" and that "Ghost Giant is not a game about depression, it's a game about its wider impacts on the ones we love and the way we cope with that."[9]
Development
Ghost Giant was Zoink's first VR game.[9] Meta's blog states that it was in development for roughly 18 months.[2] The first prototype was built by a small team led by Zoink CEO Klaus Lyngeled. In that version the story was set in an American, jazzy small town, according to art and creative director Olov Redmalm.[4] Redmalm also said that Louis was originally a bat rather than a cat, and that the player saved him from bullies.[2]
When Sara Bergmark Elfgren, one of the creators of the Engelsfors Trilogy, saw the demo and its pastel colors, she thought of the 1964 film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and proposed setting the story in a fictional France in the 1960s.[4][11] Redmalm then assembled a mood board of small French towns, clothing and cars from the 1950s and 1960s.[4] The art direction drew on children's homemade toy towns: foliage is made of papier-mache lumps and buildings of painted cardboard held together with thumbtacks, nails and tape, and the townspeople were designed to look like carved toy figurines. Redmalm wrote that the handmade texture style also helped optimize the game, because the environment artist could paint textures instead of building high-polygon models.[4]
The team found telling a story at this small scale difficult at first. Redmalm said it helped to treat each scene as a "cozy theater": when something important happens, the game dims the lights, puts a spotlight on the action, lowers the background noise and changes the music.[4] At announcement, Redmalm described the player's main role as "being a supporting friend for a child in need of some guidance".[3][12]
Release
Zoink announced Ghost Giant on the PlayStation Blog on 9 June 2018 as the fourth reveal of Sony's Countdown to E3 2018.[3] The digital PlayStation VR version launched on 16 April 2019.[4][13] Perp Games published a boxed edition, first in Europe and then in North America.[11][13]
A Quest version was first announced in November 2019 for a December release; it missed that date, and Zoink later confirmed 20 February 2020.[14][15] Meta's announcement credited the Quest release to "Zoink Games and Thunderful".[2] In UploadVR's review, the Quest version's tracking removed the need for artificial turning; the player's hands became solid objects instead of translucent blue ones, and moving too far fades the screen to black.[5]
| Platform | Edition | Release date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation VR | Digital | 16 April 2019[4] | Zoink[10] |
| PlayStation VR | Physical, Europe | 19 April 2019[11] | Perp Games |
| PlayStation VR | Physical, North America | 7 May 2019[11] | Perp Games |
| Oculus Quest | Digital (Meta Horizon Store) | 20 February 2020[2] | Zoink Games and Thunderful (as credited by Meta)[2] |
Zoink later became part of Thunderful. The Thunderful game page credits the game to "Zoink (Now Thunderful Games)" and lists PlayStation and Meta as its platforms, with an ESRB Everyone and PEGI 3 rating and support for English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.[16] In October 2026 the game was listed at US$24.99 on the US PlayStation Store and on the Meta Horizon Store.[10][17]
Reception
On Metacritic, the PlayStation 4 version holds a score of 80 based on 32 critic reviews. The site's PC listing, which includes UploadVR's review of the Quest release, shows 85 based on four reviews.[6][18]
UploadVR's PlayStation VR review compared the bond with Louis to Moss and Astro Bot and concluded: "If you want a look at where the true power of VR lies, look no further than Ghost Giant." The same review found that some puzzle solutions were not logical and that a few levels slowed the player down "for longer than you'd like".[9] Push Square, whose review Metacritic records as 90, wrote that it "belongs in the conversation for the very best PSVR game".[19] Destructoid scored it 7/10. Its reviewer praised the "phenomenal sound design" and a story that had the reviewer "choking up a bit", but noted that the story takes only a few hours to finish and that the game "isn't revolutionary".[20]
UploadVR gave the Quest version 5/5, called it "Quest's first must-play of 2020" and judged it better than the PlayStation VR release, mostly because of Quest's tracking. It found the audio through Quest's built-in speakers "a little flat" and the lighting slightly less moody than on PlayStation VR.[5]
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Game Developers Choice Awards | Best VR/AR Game | Honorable Mention[7] |
| 2020 | Nordic Game Awards | Best VR/XR | Won[8][21] |
References
- ↑ Justin Massongill (2019-04-12). "The Drop: New PlayStation Games for April 16, 2019". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2019/04/12/the-drop-new-playstation-games-for-april-16-2019/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "'Ghost Giant' Brings a Small Story with Big Heart Home to Oculus Quest". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. 2020-02-20. https://www.meta.com/blog/ghost-giant-brings-a-small-story-with-big-heart-home-to-oculus-quest/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Olov Redmalm (2018-06-09). "Lend a Hand in Ghost Giant, Coming to PS VR". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2018/06/09/lend-a-hand-in-ghost-giant-coming-to-ps-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Olov Redmalm (2019-04-15). "Heartfelt, Handmade Adventure Ghost Giant Releases Tomorrow on PS VR". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2019/04/15/heartfelt-handmade-adventure-ghost-giant-releases-tomorrow-on-ps-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Jamie Feltham (2020-02-17). "Ghost Giant Oculus Quest Review: A Warming Adventure Made Stronger Still". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/ghost-giant-oculus-quest-review/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Ghost Giant Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/ghost-giant/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Archive - 20th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards". Game Developers Choice Awards. Informa. https://gamechoiceawards.com/archive-gdca-2020/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Markus Hirsilä (2020-05-29). "Remedy's Control wins game of the year at Nordic Game Awards". Gamereactor. https://www.gamereactor.eu/remedys-control-wins-game-of-the-year-at-nordic-game-awards/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Jamie Feltham (2019-04-12). "Ghost Giant Review: A Bold And Brave Adventure That Hides A VR Treasure". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/ghost-giant-review/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Ghost Giant". PlayStation Store. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1241-CUSA12664_00-GHOSTGIANT000000. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "Ghost Giant". Perp Games. https://perpgames.com/game/ghost-giant/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Jon Fingas (2018-06-09). "PSVR's 'Ghost Giant' turns the world into your sandbox". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2018-06-09-ghost-giant-for-playstation-vr.html. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Jamie Feltham (2019-03-03). "Ghost Giant Promises VR Bond Building Next Month". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/ghost-giant-release-date/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Jamie Feltham (2020-02-05). "Ghost Giant Oculus Quest Release Date Confirmed For Later This Month". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/ghost-giant-quest-release-date/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Mustafa Mahmoud (2020-02-06). "PSVR exclusive, Ghost Giant, is coming to Oculus Quest later this month". KitGuru. https://www.kitguru.net/peripherals/mustafa-mahmoud/psvr-exclusive-ghost-giant-is-coming-to-oculus-quest-later-this-month/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Ghost giant". Thunderful Games. https://thunderfulgames.com/games/ghost-giant-2/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Ghost Giant". Meta Horizon Store. Meta Platforms. https://www.meta.com/experiences/2366136696841248/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Ghost Giant Critic Reviews (PC)". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/ghost-giant/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Ghost Giant Critic Reviews (PlayStation 4)". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/ghost-giant/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-4. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Rich Meister (2019-04-14). "Review: Ghost Giant". Destructoid. https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-ghost-giant/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Jamie Davies (2020-04-20). "Check Out the Nominees This Year's Nordic Game Awards". GameGrin. https://www.gamegrin.com/news/check-out-the-nominees-this-years-nordic-game-awards/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.