Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is all about respect for the franchise and a good multiplayer system

Making games with a ghostly or supernatural theme is no stranger to the folks at Illfonic, as over the years the studio has created some of the most successful multiplayer titles such as Friday the 13th: The Game and Predator: Hunting Grounds. Similarly, the developers have once again looked to cinema for inspiration, and from a love of the seventh art and a passion for videogames comes Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed.

Precisely because they are aware that their previous titles come from more adult cult films, at Illfonic they wanted to make Spirits Unleashed more accessible and comfortable to also open up to a more teenage audience. This is what Chuck Brungardt told us during the interview we had the pleasure of recording with the Illfonic's CEO during Gamescom 2022, which you can see above.

When asked about the gameplay with the Ghostbusters on one side and the ghost (player) on the other, Brungardt said this about how easy it is to play Spirits Unsleashed in its multiplayer system:

"[In our game] we had three players on the ghostbusters team and another real player acting as the ghost, but the fourth ghostbuster was there controlled by the AI. What we're doing with this is filling in any gaps or absences that might occur in the game. We learned this from previous games, that many players come to play alone, or when they can, without a team already set up, and if someone leaves the game (especially if it's the ghost) you'll see the name on screen change and the AI takes over until another player comes in from matchmaking and starts playing".

Ghostbusters crossover gameplay: "You can really cross the streams there!"

A matchmaking that, by the way, shouldn't be particularly difficult or with long waiting room times, as the game will have cross-play from launch between all platforms (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC). As Brungardt says, with cross-play, it's "okay" to cross the proton streams... and the consoles.

Moving away from the technical aspects, we also talked about the inspiration for the game's designs and background. Obviously, there's a clear influence from the original 80s movies, but they've also been very respectful of the more current 'Afterlife' film.

"The game draws a lot from the original film, and it's a big inspiration to do that, but we've also worked with Ghost Corps [the US production company behind the current films and licensing and rights managers] who have picked up the legacy and they were very excited for us to continue to expand the story after Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and we were honoured that they wanted us to do that. I think they really respect the legacy and how they're building something so big from something so small."

It seems that ghost-mania is also in the legacy of Brungardt, who claims to have played Luigi's Mansion with his young daughter, one of the best ghost-hunting games by now.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed will be released on Xbox, PlayStation and PC on 18 October 2022.