Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release: 25th February 2021
Ghosts ‘N Goblins is one of my all-time favourite series, so I was pleasantly surprised when Capcom announced Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection for the Nintendo Switch. The last real game in the series, Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins was released way back in 2006 for the PSP and I have been hopeful for a successor. So, does Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection live up a fan’s expectations? And is it any good?
Story
The story in a Ghosts ‘n Goblins games is pretty straightforward, and resurrection is no exception. We play as Arthur, a knight with a fondness for boxershorts and we must rescue his beloved Princess Prin Prin (Yes, that’s her real name!) who’s proclivity for being kidnapped by demons almost rivals Princess Peach. Arthur’s quest is, as usual, fight his ways across the levels all the way up to the castle to confront Lucifer, restore peace to the land and of course, save the Princess.
Gameplay
Throughout Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection you will guide Arthur across what are essentially reimagined levels from both Ghosts ‘N Goblins and Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, with a few instances of branching paths, meaning on one playthrough you could choose not to tackle certain levels which is a nice touch and offers a little more re-playability. These levels are not just simple carbon-copies of the originals, but they do follow a similar structure and speaking as someone who has played the previous games to death this was a breath of fresh air and kept me on my toes.
The art style of Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection has a hand-drawn aesthetic and when the game was first revealed, I was really apprehensive, and I worried Capcom may have made it too ‘Cartoonish’. Thankfully, I was wrong, and the style of Resurrection grew on me quickly. I really liked seeing older, familiar enemies in this new style, especially the bosses who all have fantastic redesigns while being instantly recognizable.
As much as I like the new art style here in Resurrection, I really wish Capcom implemented some form of ‘Retro’ graphics mode that could be toggled on or off like the one featured in the Wonder Boy III remake.
The music in Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection is superb featuring renditions from the previous game, some of which have become very iconic and I am glad they don’t stray away from the original music too much, this makes for a very nostalgic experience while still sounding great for newcomers to the series.
The difficulty of the game I could see becoming a point of contention for some, on one hand, it’s brutally difficult but on the other, it’s very fair. The series, in general, has been known for its difficulty and Resurrection has no qualms in reminding you of its brutal heritage, however, the checkpoint system is very well implemented here and you have unlimited retries so there’s really no excuse for not making it through a level, eventually.
For those who are finding Ghosts ‘N Goblins a little too much to handle, there’s a difficulty setting option which even allows you to lower or higher the difficulty on the fly. I egotistically chose Legendary mode and within about 10 minutes lowered it to Knight difficulty where it stayed for the rest of my two playthroughs. Resurrection features four different difficulty modes: Legendary (Hard), Knight (Normal), Squire (Easy) with fewer enemies & finally Page mode (Very easy) which is much like Squire difficulty but allows for on the spot resurrection, which takes all the fun out of the game in my opinion but it perfect for a less experienced gamer who wants to get to grips with the games core mechanics.
The end of each stage has a boss Arthur must defeat to unlock the next area and for me, these encounters were the main highlight of the game. So many familiar bosses from the series make an appearance and they are as brutal as ever, these are the sections that I had to retry the most, yet they never felt overly unfair. Each time I died, I knew it was my fault and not because of bad boss mechanics.
The second from last boss must have had me retry the fight at least 20 times until I finally managed to beat it. A nice little touch added here is if you die while fighting a boss the game will give you a rough indication of how much health you have knocked off the boss as well as some pointers on weaknesses etc, this was very handy and I genuinely found myself relieved on occasions when the game would let me know I ‘was almost there’ with defeating them.
Umbral Bees are scattered throughout each level, finding them allows you to essentially use them as currency back at the Umbral Tree. This is accessible between levels and allows you to teach Arthur various skills and forms of magic, these are very useful so do not ignore them as I did until halfway through my first playthrough. There’s an ability that turns all on-screen enemies into frogs and this helped me out a lot, especially on later levels.
Much like the original game, to see the true ending you must play through the game twice, however, that would be too simple. Resurrection really makes you work for that true ending, you’ll need to beat all the shadow levels, which are much harder version of the main campaign’s levels with different enemy placements etc. This is tough enough, but Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection takes it a few steps further, you will also need to collect all 17 Demon Orbs. Demon Orbs are dropped by each boss but are also found in Hell Holes. To access a Hell Hole, you must locate the Hidden Black chest on each level and defeat the enemy it spawns. Once this is done the Hell Hole will open later in the map. Hell Holes are mini-challenges such as seeing how long you can survive with numerous enemies in the room etc, upon competition you may be awarded a Demon Orb. This makes Resurrection much longer than it otherwise would be and that’s no bad thing at all, albeit a little daunting!
Conclusion
Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection does a great job of paying homage to previous entries in the series while modernizing the gameplay enough to not completely alienate people new to the series. The firm but fair difficulty won’t be for everyone but for anyone who loves a challenge, or classic ‘Nintendo Hard’ style games Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection is a must-play!
8
Nintendo Switch review code kindly provided by Capcom
