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We spoke with creative director, Anil Glendinning, during our time at London Games Fest's New Game Plus, all in an effort to learn more about the anticipated supernatural hotel renovation title, which is planned to launch in 2026.
"Hello everyone and welcome back to Gamereactor. Today I'm actually at the London Games Fest for the first time actually.
I've never done this event before but this is the New Game Plus and I'm here with Anil from Friday Sundae to talk a little bit about There Are No Ghosts at The Grand.
Now this is a game that I've been following quite eagerly ever since I first saw it."
"And actually the last time we spoke was back at Gamescom. So tell me a little bit about what's happened since then.
How has the game grown and evolved since August?
Well as you know the game is a musical, horror, comedy, renovation, narrative game.
Since then we've also added driving mechanics to the game, golf, metal detecting on the beach and a few new songs and stories."
"There's also an investigation mechanic in the game. Did we tell you about that?
Where you can find clues whilst renovating the properties around the village.
And using a crime board slowly start putting together the supernatural story which we have in the game.
That's a lot of different things that you're incorporating. So how are you balancing it all out?
How are you making sure that everything gets its time in the sun?
Well ultimately everything hinges around the story."
"In the game you play as a young American man who has inherited this probably not haunted hotel in England as well as the surrounding village around it.
Everything is about the story of this young man's journey to discover about himself, his family and the history of this town and his house.
So all of the different gameplay mechanics that we have in the game and there are a variety of them all hinge around this story."
"So sometimes you're renovating, sometimes you're driving around. There's a small open world for you to explore.
And we really want players to kind of explore this little spooky English town at their own pace and discover the story as it comes up naturally.
And obviously you mentioned a minute ago that music has an incredibly important part in the game."
"So tell us a little bit about how you're incorporating that and how it's going to define the experience.
So each of the six characters that you meet within the game all have their own unique musical style and song.
The first time you meet them there will be a song number where they will sing to you and you'll have an option to duet back with them."
"You'll actually be able to make dialogue choices within song and sing some of these sections back to them and alter the story in that way.
Then throughout the rest of the game music and song takes place to really set the mood and to help you understand what's going on.
Whether you're in an investigation phase, whether you're in a spooky phase and when the ghosts come out you'll definitely know about it."
"You know the reggae and the ska and the island themes really matches this town which has seen better days.
And now it has a lot of shops closed up.
And the real question is whether you're there to help the town or whether you're there to hinder them.
And you've brought a band on right to help bring this music to life."
"So tell me a little bit about what it's like working with them.
Well actually we formed a band ourselves together.
We formed a band called The Concierge who plays all of the backing music within the game.
But many of the actors who we haven't yet announced for the game themselves come from a musical background."
"So some recognizable names and some people who bring their own musical styles to the game.
And using our internal band and some of our own developers we create the backing music to create a really unique musical voice for the game.
Interesting. You mentioned obviously the ghosts and the supernatural element.
It's a really core part of the experience."
"So how does that play into the gameplay?
Would there be ghost hunting, ghost busting? What can we expect?
Absolutely. Well the game is set specifically within a day and night cycle.
Now during the day you will be renovating, decorating, exploring and speaking to characters and completing small quests for them as you explore the open world."
"But at night time things completely change.
Many of these environments that you have renovated take on an entirely different personality at night time.
Ghosts and other supernatural entities start to appear.
And you have to use the same tools that you've used to renovate the hotel."
"Such as the sandblaster, the vacuum cleaner, the furniture cannon.
And use these on the supernatural entities that now roam the hotel and roam the town.
And how all of these things are connected are core to the story.
So you'll be looking to explore it."
"But it doesn't change from day to night until the player themselves chooses to.
So be sure to get all of your golfing done, all of your renovations done and all of your metal detecting done during the day.
Because at night time you might be running for your life.
So obviously the game has a linear element to it because you have those 30 days and nights to complete the story."
"But as you say there, you can sort of take it at your own pace.
So what sort of duration are you looking at for There Are No Ghosts of the Grand?
So we're expecting the game, the main campaign, to be about 8 to 10 hours long.
And then a few extra hours to do all of the side activities and side quests that you have."
"But you are absolutely right.
From a story point of view, the game has 30 days.
And fairly early on you know that there is a ticking clock that you have.
But the time doesn't pass until the player themselves chooses."
"So if you want to spend hours and hours and hours renovating and decorating and making the hotel as beautiful and as picturesque as you would like.
That's great, you can do that.
But only when you choose to change over to night and you choose to move to the next day does the storyline then advance.
So you are able to balance the tension of a ticking time clock within the story."
"But also allow players to take their own time to explore it.
So that's why it is kind of a cozy, dark game.
Obviously this game has been handcrafted from the ground up and it's all put together by you guys, by the development team.
But as with anything in this day and age, AI is always a topic and always a point of conversation."
"So what is Friday Sunday's stance on artificial intelligence and video games?
Well within our game we don't use any AI at all.
You know it may be right for other people's games and other people's projects.
For us it's just not a great fit."
"So all of the artwork is created by us because we have quite a distinctive art style as well.
All of the story is written by us, all of the programming is done by us.
We have a small in-house team working together in our studio in Bristol.
There's only about 10 of us, this is our very first game."
"And so for us, you know, I think AI might be more of a problem than it is a hindrance.
Plus I'm at such an age that I'm not entirely sure how the thing works anyway.
So we like to develop our games the old-fashioned way.
Just using our hands, our brains and taking feedback from the community to make sure we're making the game as fun as possible."
"And what's one thing that you think that people should be talking about more when it comes to There Are No Ghosts in the Grand?
I think what we would like for people to talk about is how this is an interesting and unique experience.
It's supposed to sound a little odd, it's supposed to sound a little bit weird with all of these genres.
And we really want people to come and check out the demo and check out the full game when it releases towards the end of this year."
"To see, have we pulled it off?
Have we pulled off this weird genre mix, this strange blend of games?
And does it work as a cohesive, interesting and unique story?
That does what indie games should do, which is tell a unique voice from a unique studio."
"And then as a final question, the game, we sort of prodded with this earlier, but it's still slated for 2026.
How are we looking for launch?
Yeah, we are looking for launching towards the end of this year.
So we're going to be launching on PC, on Steam."
"We'll also be launching on Xbox as well.
And it'll be supportable on Steam Deck and the Xbox handhelds as well.
Other platforms will be announced a little bit later on, but we're going to be looking to get these ones out the door towards the end of this year.
Well, fantastic. For more on There Are No Ghosts of the Grand, be sure to stay tuned to your local Game Retro region."
"And as always, thank you for joining us.
Thank you, everyone."
