Ghostrunner 2 review (PS5): beautiful design let down by a need to grow up

Ghostrunner 2 is a sharply designed sequel that tries too hard.

Ghostrunner 2 review; a neon lit city
(Image: © One More Level / 505 Games)

Our Verdict

Ghostrunner 2 on PS5 excels when its forcing you to think on your feet in a series of clever, fast-paced platform-puzzle levels that look beautiful. When it slows down to tell its story things can drift.

For

  • A beautifully designed world
  • Challenging game design
  • Nostalgic sense of difficulty

Against

  • Can look flat in areas
  • Some pacing issues

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Ghostrunner 2 is a game of skill, persistence and patience. It’s also a game of beautiful visual design filled with subtle world-building that can mask some quirks and flaws. While it manages to build on the game design of the original Ghostrunner, more complexity isn’t really what this cyberpunk, ninja roof-jumper needed.

As with the original, Ghostrunner 2 (reviewed here on PS5) features a highly frustrating one-hit death game design that ensures every shot counts and each misstep is doomed to failure. Considering the game skips along at a zippy frame rate in both Performance and Quality modes, its world a maze of wall-runs, parkour rails and airflow vents to ride, those poorly timed jumps come thick and fast. Ghostrunner 2, like its predecessor, revels in your misfortune.

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The Verdict
7

out of 10

Ghostrunner 2 review (PS5): beautiful design let down by a need to grow up

Ghostrunner 2 on PS5 excels when its forcing you to think on your feet in a series of clever, fast-paced platform-puzzle levels that look beautiful. When it slows down to tell its story things can drift.

Editor, Digital Arts & 3D

Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.