Sydney, Australia, 1995. A 6-year-old boy boots up (slowly) his Windows 95 PC. After having a shower, breakfast, and getting dressed, he returns to his PC to find the start-up process has finished. There, on his desktop, are two icons: one reads “Command and Conquer” and the other “Myst”. Both games have gone on to be iconic masterpieces of gaming history, but it’s the latter of the two that captivated me beyond no end. Sure, blasting away the GDI and NOD forces in C&C was fun, but the first-person view of a mysterious island, trying to uncover clues on just exactly what was going on was a mind-blowing gaming concept in the mid-90s. Such a concept returns in the form of ASHGAME’s “Ghost on the Shore”, delivering a nostalgic, be it bright and colourful, nod to the Myst, whilst trailing its own path in the genre.

GAMEPLAY

In “Ghost on the Shore” you play as Riley, who after a boating accident, has been washed aboard the mysterious “Rogue Islands”, and eventually meets a headstrong ghost named Josh. For the most part, Josh isn’t the ‘Casper the friendly Ghost’ floating vapour that zooms around or annoyingly appears like Navi from Legend of Zelda. No, our ghost is kind of in Riley’s head. Together, the inter-dimensional duo begins to work on putting together the clues and history of the island. This is done by exploring and simply wandering around the island, and spam clicking on any and all items you come across. Seriously, it’s mind-blowing how much lore and interactivity this game has!

The game takes on a multiple-choice aspect to in-game pop-up questions or choices, whereby your choices can alter the relationship Riley and the voice in her head/ghost Josh have.

In many of my previous reviews here on MKAU Gaming, I’ve stated that various Indy games have either captivating storylines or blinding beautiful graphics. Well, in the words of Hannah Montana – it’s the best of both worlds! Sorry… Ahem… Ghost on the Shore has such an in-depth, clever and captivating storyline, driven by the voice acting/script of Josh and Riley. Previously reviewed Indy games sometimes feature great dialogue with absolutely abysmal delivery by a voice actor, but not here!

Sadly, all games have their bugs and glitches, and unfortunately, Ghost on the Shore is no exemption, though I really wish it was! Though not game-freezingly bad, some bugs do hinder the playthrough, with a few items, travel, and interaction glitches. Also, some items discovered had no real payoff, in the sense that you never really get an answer as to whether or not, say, a map or diary entry had any relevance towards the end of the game and story. Why did I pick that up? I could have skipped that and been fine, so why was it there? The game offers 4 unique endings, which is just a huge tick for an Indy release, so I’m guessing all items do have their place, but perhaps only feature in alternative paths or endings. I’m not sure, but it was one of the few hiccups I encountered.

GRAPHICS + AUDIO

As stated, this game has some blindingly beautiful scenery and attention to detail that you’d come to expect from a first-person mystery-solving game. Their dedication to the ‘devil in the detail’ is second to none; worn out, crinkled aged books & dusty old discarded bottles litter a seaside cabin and really help to set the tone of the island life. At one point, I found myself staring off into the sunset as the seawaters glistened and then remember I had a game to play – seriously! It’s that engaging of a game, play it and try not to get lost in the sunset, I dare you!

With its captivating story, engaging dialogue, stunning visuals, multiple-choice scenarios, hundreds of interactive items, and a variety of choose-your-own-adventure style endings, Ghost on the Shore is very much a knock-out Indy game release! If you’re a fan of mystery-solving games or Myst in particular, then you’ll really get lost all over again in a world of intrigue, clues, and adventure!

Written by: Brutaleo