Ghost Teen Escape from Limbo Review for PlayStation 5

I struggled trying to write this review. Usually, a game gives me something to ponder and write about, whether that be good or bad. Eastasiasoft’s Ghost Teen Escape from Limbo is not like those games. Does it have a neat premise of a young, unnamed boy trying to escape limbo by switching between a human and a ghost form?

Yes.

Does the game do that premise justice with an interesting execution?

Sadly, no. Ghost Teen Escape from Limbo is an unremarkable game that, if I were a harsher man, would describe as shovelware. Its unique idea is ultimately hampered by lackluster presentation and unambitious level design.

Ghost Teen Escape’s sprites are, to the game’s credit, pretty good. The sprites for the main character’s human and ghost forms are pretty detailed (surprising, given the 8-bit art style the game is going for), and the sprites for skull turrets and gravestones are the closest the game gets to trying to create an atmosphere. The levels look very generic, and the traps (besides the skull turrets) mostly consist of spikes, bottomless pits, and electric walls, none of which look appropriately “spooky” given the game’s setting. The levels themselves mostly take place in a stark black void most of the time, which, while functional, doesn’t really do anything to set it apart from other games like it. The music could have helped the game carve an identity for itself, but the soundtrack is lacking. The game has two songs: one for the menu and the other for the levels. Neither are very memorable.

As for gameplay, I will say that the central mechanic of switching between ghost and human forms is really cool. It changes the way you think about traps and how you can use death to your advantage. You also have a three life limit, so you can’t abuse the switch mechanic. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t really evolve the kinds of puzzles you solve throughout its 50 levels. When the game does engage with this mechanic, you’ll find that the puzzles you’ll be solving at the beginning of the game and the puzzles you’ll be solving at the end of the game don’t vary in complexity.

Other times, Ghost Teen Escape from Limbo will have the player maneuver through platforming challenges instead of puzzles. While some challenges were a welcome change of pace to break up the puzzle solving, I found that the game relied on these levels so much that it became a crutch in the late game. By level 49, I wasn’t playing a cool puzzle-platformer about switching between life and afterlife. I was playing a generic platformer.

That’s the word I came to the most when I tried approaching this review: “generic.” Ghost Teen Escape from Limbo is, despite the premise, an underwhelming puzzle-platformer. I expect that it would take up an hour of players’ time before it undertakes the sisyphean task of carving out a space in their memories for more than a day. I give it a 5/10.

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Josh Freeman

I love games and love talking about games. Some of my favorites include action games (both 2D and 3D), metroidvanias, roguelikes, shooters, and Indies.