Ghosts are all over pop culture around the world from movies to anime to TV shows. They even make it into video games, mostly as villains like in the various adaptations of Ghostbusters. However, it begs the question, what about the games that let you play as a ghost or some sort of spirit?
There are plenty of games where players take the role of a ghost. Whether it's the classic design of a bedsheet with holes for eyes, or a fearsome ghostly apparition. Some of these ghost games might not be scary, but it's a unique experience to have crossed to the other side.
8 Avenging Spirit
Avenging Spirit is both an arcade game and a Game Boy game. While there are differences between the two versions, besides graphics, they ultimately play the same. Players are gunned down and turned into a ghost which sounds gruesome but it is a lighthearted game with a cartoon-like aesthetic.
Players can then possess enemies in levels like mobsters with guns. It’s kind of an obscure title at this time with no good way to play it officially, but thankfully curious players have emulation to fall back on.
7 Crawl
Crawl, unlike Avenging Spirit, is a game that can be accessed easily and on most modern consoles too. It is an indie roguelike dungeon crawler centered on a multiplayer experience. One player will be set up as the hero and three other players will be spirits. These spirits can possess traps to hurt the hero or control monsters as well.
It’s a unique idea for both a ghost game and a multiplayer game too. Since it is older, it might be hard to find a multiplayer session online randomly. So, it may be time to get three other gaming buddies together instead.
6 Geist
Geist is one of the many GameCube exclusives that are still stuck on the console. Players are in control of John Raimi who gets his soul sucked out of him thanks to a terrorist organization. This does not kill him as the experiment instead gives John the ability to possess everything from guards to buckets with mops.
It was a wild idea at the time for a shooter and the GameCube as well. It’s a shame so many of these experiences remain trapped on the hardware but remasters happen all the time. This one is worth waiting for even though it was never perfect.
5 Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is the game that inspired this list because of its re-release. It’s great that such a good adventure game, locked away previously on the DS, could come back for more people to try.
Ghost Trick stars a mysterious man named Sissel who dies. Like most ghosts on the list, Sissel can possess objects too. The biggest difference is that Ghost Trick is a puzzle game. Solving a particular puzzle will change history as Sissel can also time travel.
4 Murdered: Soul Suspect
Murdered: Soul Suspect is about the tattooed Detective Ronan O’Conner who dies on the job one day. The great detective comes back as a ghost and has to solve his murder along with other mysterious deaths in the vicinity.
Murdered: Soul Suspect evolved the adventure game genre by giving players more interactivity with the world from looking at objects to passing through walls. It’s also bizarre as heck because there are Dementor-looking spirits straight out of Harry Potter hunting Detective O’Conner down. It has an uneven pace and some troubling graphical issues, but there are few games like it.
3 The Outbound Ghost
The Outbound Ghost is a newer indie RPG that was inspired by Paper Mario. Players wake up in the afterlife as a ghost without a voice. They soon meet other ghosts willing to help this newbie out on their journey.
Players will split their time between solving puzzles in the overworld and fighting battles in a typical RPG fashion. It is turn-based with attacks adhering to stickers collected in the world and eventually, players can collect new party members.
2 The 3rd Birthday
The 3rd Birthday has a similar setup to Geist except that this protagonist, Aya Brea, volunteers to get her soul sucked out of her. There is also a bit of time travel like Ghost Trick. A disaster has swept through New York and only Aya can figure out what happened via this soul device.
Her soul is sent back into the machine and she can possess other bodies as her normal form can’t take much damage. There is a complicated history to this game’s development, but The 3rd Birthday Parasite Eve franchise.
1 Rogue Spirit
Rogue Spirit is the newest game on the list, having just come out of early access in 2023. Players wake up in a garden as a dead samurai spirit. They can possess other warriors in a never-ending action roguelike game.
The possession mechanics are similar to others here, but the Japanese theming is something new. It’s one of those roguelikes that demands a lot of time be sunk into it to get better rewards. With practice, this may become a new obsession for roguelike fanatics.