Rethinking Ghosts: Beyond the Spooky Stereotypes This Halloween
It’s Halloween again, the night when all sorts of ghouls and goblins come out to play! But let’s be honest, “ghosts” don’t exactly have the best reputation. Words like “vicious,” “hideous,” and “eerie” are often used to describe them. And when we’re slinging insults, who do we target? Lazy ghosts, poor ghosts, lecherous ghosts… it’s clear that ghosts aren’t exactly seen as upstanding citizens.
But what if ghosts are just like us, living their own version of everyday life? What if they’re not all evil, and some are actually kind and helpful? Don’t believe it? Let’s take a look at a few games that might just change your mind about these misunderstood creatures!
Gaming with Ghosts: A New Perspective
Candy Curse: When Ghosts Become the Good Guys
Sometimes, ghosts aren’t the villains destroying the world. Sometimes, they’re the heroes who step up to save it! In Candy Curse, you play as a little boy in a skull mask who accidentally unleashes a horde of candy demons on Halloween night. An evil wizard wants to use these demons to destroy Halloween and take over the world. To fix his mistake, the little boy embarks on a quest to save the day.
The game has a cute, cartoonish style, but the spooky soundtrack adds a touch of eerie charm. You’ll need to collect candy scattered around the levels, avoid traps, and fight off the wizard’s candy monster minions. Each level also has optional side quests that require you to find specific items, so keep your eyes peeled as you explore.
Completing these quests adds the items to your collection, and collecting everything unlocks a special reward. Seeing this brave little skull-masked ghost fearlessly fighting to save the world might just make you believe that good ghosts really do exist.
Yokai in Tokyo: Harmony is Key, Whether You’re Human or Ghost
You might have heard of baku, creatures that devour human dreams. But did you know there are also ghosts dedicated to helping people reclaim their good dreams? Apparently, they live in Tokyo.
In Yokai in Tokyo, you control these not-so-scary ghosts as they soar through the Tokyo night sky, dodging dangers and defeating enemies who are trying to steal people’s dreams. It’s up to you to help them recover those stolen dreams.
The game features a campaign mode and an endless mode. Completing the campaign quickly unlocks the endless mode. Despite the “Tokyo” in the title, the game wasn’t actually made in Japan. However, the frequent appearances of the Tokyo Tower, Mount Fuji, and traditional Japanese architecture give it a distinctly Japanese feel. Watching these purple ghosts protecting human dreams under the cherry blossoms and the full moon, you might just find them kind of cute.
Haunt the House: Terrortown: My House, My Rules!
We often think of ghosts as creatures who love to scare people, popping out of nowhere to give us a fright. But what if we’ve got it all wrong? What if humans are the ones trespassing on their territory, and the ghosts are just trying to defend their homes the only way they know how? Maybe those “haunted” houses are just cases of ghosts who’ve had enough of human interference. So, before we judge ghosts for scaring us, let’s consider that they might just be protecting their property.
In Haunt the House: Terrortown, you play as one of these ghosts. The ghost’s home is a haunted house, and humans keep wandering in and out. You need to use your ghostly powers to possess objects, move them around, and make noises to scare the humans away!
Controlling the ghost is simple – just tap and swipe. Once the ghost possesses an object, it reveals its ghostly form. To attract the humans’ attention, you need to shake the object. Despite the Halloween theme, the game has a bright, colorful style that’s more cute than scary.
Hotel Transylvania 2: Welcome to the Hotel!
Don’t think that ghosts are only good for causing trouble. Like the ghosts in the Hotel Transylvania movies, they can also have happy, everyday lives. The official mobile game, Hotel Transylvania 2, follows the plot of the movie sequel, telling the story of Dracula opening his hotel, previously only for monsters, to humans after his daughter Mavis marries a human named Johnny.
Like most simulation games, you’ll help Dracula build his castle, recruit monsters, and run the hotel. You’ll earn money by building structures, completing quests, and unlocking characters. First, you need to build a theme park to attract guests and employees. As you progress, you’ll level up and unlock new buildings and characters.
The gameplay is similar to other games in the genre and easy to pick up. The main point of introducing this game is to show that ghosts can also run businesses and earn a living, just like humans. The world of ghosts is just another human world, with not too many differences.
Blackwell Series: The Perfect Human-Ghost Partnership
They say “never the twain shall meet,” and that humans and ghosts are destined to be apart. But even if they can’t be lovers, they can still help each other out.
In the Blackwell series, you play as Rosa Blackwell, a woman with psychic abilities. After her aunt’s mysterious death, strange things start happening around her. As she investigates, she learns more about her abilities and meets Joey, a ghost who becomes her partner in solving cases. But as they delve deeper, Joey’s past comes to light. What happened to him that turned him into a ghost? You’ll have to play the game to find out.
The game has simple graphics and controls. Clicking on characters or objects triggers actions like talking, picking up items, or investigating. The dialogue and the characters’ attitudes depend on the answers you choose, so you need to respond and ask questions appropriately. The game has a rich and complex story that requires time to unravel.
Through the game’s story and puzzles, you’ll come to realize that the relationship between humans and ghosts isn’t just about scaring and being scared. They can also help each other and work together. If you had a unique and sincere friend like that, would you still say that all ghosts are bad?