Vera Blanc: Ghost In The Castle review for PS4, Switch, Xbox One

Platform: PS4
Also on: PC, Xbox One, Switch
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developer: WinterWolves
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: T

Literally everything I wrote about Vera Blanc: Full Moon earlier this year also applies to Vera Blanc: Ghost In The Castle. Visual novel with an artstyle heavily indebted to Pop Art? Check. Overwrought dialogue? You know it. Abnormally busty 18-year-old telepath solving a supernatural mystery? Obviously.

In fact, the only real difference is that if you?re the type who likes Trophies or Achievements, it?s actually even easier to get them all in Ghost In The Castle than it was in Full Moon ? which is kind of astounding, since you could get the Full Moon Platinum in under half an hour. The difference is that Ghost In The Castle doesn?t tie any of its Trophies to minigames; seeing as the minigames were probably the worst part of the Full Moon, that?s basically addition by subtraction.

Of course, the drawback to not requiring players to play minigames is that you?re left to focus entirely on the story ? and this is a murder mystery that makes Scooby-Doo look like an intricately crafted masterpiece. Mind you, given the developer?s other offerings, it could have been a lot worse, so I won?t complain about it too much.

But I also won?t rave about Vera Blanc: Ghost In The Castle, either. As I said, it?s basically the same as the first Vera Blanc, and seeing as you could?ve have skipped that without missing anything, you can skip this one, too.

Ratalaika Games provided us with a Vera Blanc: Ghost In The Castle PS4 code for review purposes.

Grade: C-